Have you ever had a calling from God?

[stanzaorganza]

My neighbour is an accountant. He is 33, married to a lovely woman and has no children. They are both very Christian and regularly talk about God in everyday conversation ie. when they got married they could feel God’s presence etc.

He has recently had a calling from God to try a long held dream to become a singer. He says he has felt God leading him down this path and can no longer refuse him.

This is all great but what does a calling from God actually involve? What’s the difference between that and just deciding you fancy a career change? As a non Christian this is not something I have ever experienced but interested to find out.

And many gay not Christian friends*

@Mischance

I think faith is courageous.

I think this thread alone, demonstrates the courage it takes to step out and embrace a Christian identity.

I do make my own decisions, why do you care if I believe God is with me?

It’s a common occurrence for people who have mental health disorders.

No but I went to a convent boarding school and every so often a student would have a "calling" as it would mean lots of special attention and extra cake.

I do recall one of the lovely nuns explaining her own decision to become a nun. She was 17 and her mum was devastated. The mum begged her to take a year out and go to college but the nun was adamant that this was the life she was meant for: God was calling her. She was one of the kindest women in a lovely gentle and generous order but I totally got her mum's pov. I would be crushed if my daughter wanted to give her life up like that. Even though these nuns were kind and seemed very happy.

So no, OP, never had a calling but I'm poor on instinct so if God was calling me, he would have to be very loud and obvious like the signs in Bruce Almighty, but louder and even more obvious!

I had a calling from God.

I didn’t want a smart meter, so I politely declined.

@Samtsirch you sound lovely.

@Beebie2
I meant no disrespect, it's only from a long history of working with children and adults who have diagnosed mental health issues,
religion and God played an important part in their illness and the way they rationalised their thoughts and behaviour.
Sorry if I offended you , that was not my intention.😟

So what is the difference between 'a calling from God' to become a doctor, for instance, and a passion for medicine and therefore a strong wish to become a doctor?

Do Christians really believe that their God is actually involved in making these sorts of decisions for them, as in God actually really wanting them to do something and therefore causing it to happen, or is it just a way of explaining their strong desire?

It just sounds incredibly arrogant and egotistical to me, for someone to claim that this God, a God that is all seeing and all powerful, has singled them out for a special calling. Do they really think they're that important?

If I believed in a being so omnipotent, I really wouldn't expect to get individual messages from that being.

And there ain't no prayin
Cos you weren't there for me
Just sayin
Radio 4
Unchained
Worth a listen@Beebie2

@samtsirch
you made a sweeping statement that people who have a relationship with God, do so because of their mental illness. Have you ever considered, someone may have mental illness AND a relationship with God?

Within many areas of mental health - faith is considered positive in relation to recovery. I hope you treat your Christian clients with respect, and don’t merely brush off their beliefs as being integral to their illness.

I think that lots of people convince themselves that God is on their side to spur themselves on.

I do believe in God, but I don't believe that he's busy himself with making pop stars when we already have Simon Cowell.

I've not had a calling however a few years ago I completely changed tack. I had worked for many years to get to a position then gave it all up overnight. Everyone around me thought I was nuts, but I just knew. Sometimes you just know, and there is no logic or reason behind it.

@Beebie2
I think I will give you that one 👍
I wish you all of the best.
Please forgive me my sins.
A war of attrition would outlive us all.
😊

@pigsDOfly i suppose the difference lies with if you have faith or not.

‘Christians’ have wide ranging beliefs I don’t speak for them all.

I believe God loves everyone. Yes, I do think He gives me guidance, but I believe he would guide you too. I don’t think that’s egotistical.

If you don’t have faith in God, that’s ok. I don't feel the need to understand you, mainly because I don’t know you, and I don’t wish to abandon my faith.

Maybe you’re more interested in finding out than you think.

My very religious cousin in Australia fancied moving to the UK when he was about 25. Instead of telling his very religious mother that he just wanted to go he said that God had told him to go. That way she couldn't complain about him moving to the other side of the world. I felt that he wasn't taking ownership of his own decision.

However, he did meet his wife in the UK and still lives here 35 years later.

I think he’s been watching too much Manifest on Sky .

I did have kind of one, but from the Universe, as an atheist, after I started reading The Secret as my life was so shit and I had a big trauma I was trying to overcome and wanted to believe in something. I ignored it though as it would have taken a long time and I couldn’t be arsed. Gives me an idea for putting lockdown to good use!

@Beebie2
I am still waiting for God to have a calling from me.
It surely works both ways?
Likewise 😊

I am not particularly spiritual or religious so haven’t experienced anything like that personally, but faith is very personal and individual so I believe a ‘calling’ would vary and be unique to the person experiencing it. It’s not up to me to judge that or question authenticity etc, as it’s not something I understand fully.

@Beebie2
Are you able to outline the fundamental core of your faith, as in could you explain it simply to someone who doesn’t understand?

@Beebie2 Trust me, I have absolutely no interest in what anyone's God can do for me. And I can assure you I am most definitely not 'more interested in finding out than I think'.

I must admit though that I'm puzzled as to why you say that you don't feel the need to understand me because you don't wish to abandon your faith? Why would understanding someone else's point of view involve you abandoning your faith?

My question stems merely from puzzlement at the idea that Christians think that their God wants to involve himself in the minutia of their lives.

Someone explaining that to me will most certainly not cause me to abandon my atheism.

I'm not asking because I want someone to explain their God to me. I'm only interested in the human thought process around the idea that this superior being would, as I say, involve himself in organising their lives for them.

If there was a god he wouldn’t be telling people to be singers. FULL STOP.

I was brought up catholic, I don’t believe. I have huge respect the friends I know who do believe and follow the Church, they are generally good people.
This is bollocks.

Christians believe God is with them at all times and knows all things.

Is this a calling to become a famous singer earning loads? Or to give up all his worldly goods and sing the praises of the lord our saviour? Bit of a difference.....

I am going to be kind and assume that this man can actually sing. Perhaps he's decided that if God has given him the gift of a beautiful singing voice then he should use it?

you made a sweeping statement that people who have a relationship with God, do so because of their mental illness

No she didn’t. She said it was a common occurrence in people with mental illness to feel that they were getting messages from God. If you’d worked in the mental health field you’d know this. She wasn’t saying that all people who feel they have received a calling from God are suffering from mental illness. Sort out the flaw in your reasoning.