A Dream

This is a dream that I had not too long ago. The timing of the dream is important. It occurred while taking a Philosophy class. I and a partner being Christians had to take on the role of Atheists. As an Atheist, I had to research, write a paper, and hold a formal debate against two Christians that held to Calvinistic doctrines. The premise of the debate/paper went something like this:

The Problem of Evil

McCloskey states that, “there is evil in the world; yet the world is still said to be the creation of a good, omnipotent God. How is this possible? Surely a good omnipotent being would have made a world that is free of evil of any kind. ‘Either God cannot abolish evil or He will not.; if He cannot, then He is not all-powerful; if He will not than He is not all good.’”(187). If God is good, than how could there be evil in the world? There seems to be a contradiction when it comes to how God can be a wholly-good and omnipotent creator, yet evil exists in his world and creation and if this is so then the Christian theists God, according to the Calvinists description cannot exist.

The premise was based around the problem of evil, God being wholly good, omniscient, omnipotent, and completely sovereign. As the Atheist, I had to attack this claim and the Calvinists had to defend it. During the research, I was personally challenged in what I believe about God and what I have been taught about Him. My world began to unravel and I began to panic. This dream has a lot of metaphors that relate to my life and past, but it was also in direct correlation with what I was struggling with in my beliefs about God. It definitely made me reevaluate my theology. I have not posted the paper because as I said, it was written from an Atheistic worldview and I do not want to hinder anyone’s faith because the findings are very convincing. On the other hand, there is a lot that can be gleaned from the paper and it could really challenge Christians in what they believe, why they believe it, and help prepare them to answer or defend these types of attacks. Comments on whether or not to post the paper are welcomed. Now the dream…

A Dream

I was with another guy, who was Jewish. I cannot recall his name or face. He was on a pursuit to find out how the Jewish Temple had been destroyed. Somehow I knew that he was searching for something else. Somehow I knew that it was not only the physical temple that he was investigating, but it also represented the church. I do not remember his final theory on how the temple was destroyed, but I remember that it had something to do with an earthquake.

We were at the temple and the temple itself lay in ruins. Half of it was on dry land and the other half had fallen into a lake. The half that was in the lake had pillars protruding out of the water in a circle. I stood holding onto the outside of one of the pillars looking into the circle. A sudden fear came over me as I realized that this was the holy of holies where God dwells. The thought of even placing my hand between the pillars into the circle made me tremble. I began to weep and repent to God. I repented for doubting who he was and all that he had done. Suddenly, whereas before everything had been in black and white, now everything was in color and God’s presence was no longer just inside the circle of pillars, but he was everywhere yet, it was strongest right where I was standing. He told me in some non-communicable (none that I am familiar with anyway) that he is, always has been, and always will be with me. My fears dissipated and they were replaced with the pure tranquility of just knowing that He is who He is.

I began to look around me and everything had changed. The water was crystal clear where as before; it was dark and menacing, the colors were vivid some of which I had never seen before. Also, there were birds, fish, and other animals that I had never seen before and as I gazed at all of the world’s beauty God said, “I (God) created all of this.” I could see and feel God’s presence in his creation. Dare I say that it felt and looked like heaven on earth?

Suddenly, my attention was drawn back to the person that I was with at the beginning of the dream. I looked to the left and he was ascending a staircase on dry land. The stairs and all that lay around it were in ruin. I began to follow him. As I ascended the stairs, I began to see colorful dolls and other strange woven trinkets such as those that you would find at a street market perhaps in Africa or the Bahamas. The dolls were rather new yet; they were also broken and strewn about. Somehow I realized that they had something to do with the Church and its brokenness. And it was God who destroyed the temple and the dolls. When we reached the top of the stairs, I realized that we were looking at the alter where sacrifices had been made to God. There were also more broken dolls and such strewn around it. The guy in front of me was trying to climb to the top of the alter, suddenly there was a voice that told him that he was hurt by his father and he was searching in the wrong place—he began to weep bitterly.

This is where the dream drastically changed. Perhaps I had woken up and fallen back to sleep but now we were in a war. Again I was with a guy, but I do not know if he was the same person that I was with at the temple. He was wounded and laying on a bed. The war resembled the Vietnam War. We were in some sort of hut inside of a jungle. The hut seemed more modern than I would have expected. The doors slid open and shut and they were left open just enough so that I could peer outside. Directly in front of the hut was a river and there were people floating down it as well as walking by the hut. Some of the people had been wounded and had to be helped along by others. I was crouched in the corner of the hut with a machine gun and I aimed it at every person that went by the hut so that I could blow their heads off at the first sign of danger. I was not only trying to survive this war, which I and the other person had been in for so long, but I was also concerned about protecting the person that I was with. I also knew that this other person desperately longed to find and be with his father.

I felt reduced to an animal that had only a desire and instinct to live. It was kill or be killed; trust No One! As time went on the people in the river began to change. They were no longer wearing camouflaged army gear but they were in suits and other modern day clothing. The river was now a hallway and the hut that we were in had been expanded into some sort of modern day business office while at the same time keeping the resemblance of a hut. Suddenly someone was calling out a name (a name that I cannot recall) but it was the name of the person that I was protecting. I suddenly realized that this was the person’s father so he must be safe. I called him into the room. The father had also desperately been searching for his son and desiring to embrace him. When the father saw his wounded son lying on the bed bleeding, he picked him up and carried him as if he was a child and they both began to weep.

I suspiciously eyed the father and kept my gun trained on him but then lowered it. The father asked me what I was doing and I explained that we were trying to survive the war. He told me that the war had long been over and that it was safe to come out. I could not or would not believe him! I stepped into the hallway and began to slowly and suspiciously walk down it. There were other people walking around and as usual I aimed my gun at them not knowing who they were or if they could be trusted. At first, I was in shock and dismay that the war was over then I became enraged that no-one had told me that it was over. As I realized the truth of the matter, I became angry toward the people around me because there were so many others still in a war that did not exist and none of these people told them or cared to find them. They had simply gone about life as if there was nothing left to say about the war. Wrought with anguish, I crumbled to the ground and wept bitterly. I cradled the gun and began to sob so hard that my body was in convulsions. When I woke up I felt all of these emotions as if I had been experiencing them in real life.