What If Your God/desses Asked You To Do Something Contrary To Your Nature?

[Aster Breo]

The entities I have direct interaction with?  Are not "the powers that govern the universe".

And, even for those who do believe their deities have some kind of substantial power within the universe, "chit chat" isn't necessarily a fair description of the interaction.

I can only speak to my own experiences, but the (very few) times I've actually heard Brighid's voice were times of great stress or huge importance in my life, and therefore, relevant to my usefulness as Her tool.  Those times included:

* an extremely fraught emotional moment -- I was suicidal, to be precise

* the middle of an accident that would have killed me if I hadn't followed Her instructions and which did completely change my life by physically disabling me

* an oracular ritual in which I asked to speak with Her and the seer consented to allow Brighid to possess her body for a few minutes -- long enough to speak words that have kept my faith strong for many years.

Maybe that's narcissistic and delusional of me, but it's hardly chit chat. I fully accept that I might have imagined each incident, but I choose to believe what my senses told me at the time.

Do you consider a mechanic's or carpenter's tools narcissistic and delusional when their owner repairs them, cleans them, and puts them away so they're ready for the next time they're needed?

[EJay]

I do think it's a bit nutty that people think deities talk to them, and that they think they are so special that the powers that govern the universe want to chit-chat with them.

I'm a panentheist ("All in God") and a hard-polytheist who interacts with Pele on occasion.

I believe we're all "special"--as Pythagoras put it, "Thou Art God."  I don't understand why you think it would be nutty that the universe would want to chit-chat with its own.

I don't have conversations with God or Pele, except on my end, but they definitely communicate with me through circumstances and patterns.  Math, for me, is the language of God and in that sense, I've had lots of chit-chats.

I wonder that you don't think yourself worthy of being noticed by your deities.  You have worth, as much as any god.  You're not just a piece of gum on the bottom of some titan's shoe.

"Thou Art God."

I think that some of the deities actually enjoy chit-chatting and the universe has a fine sense of humor.

[Nyktelios]

I assume that, if someone doesn't mind sounding insulting in a conversation, then they are okay with it. :whis:

Reading this thread over again, I wish I hadn't been so insulting. I apologize, as I was going through a stressful time a few weeks ago and so I had limited patience for people who disagreed with me. It's really none of my business how people interact with their deities, and not my place to call anyone delusional (not that it's necessarily a bad thing, I admit that I'm delusional in some ways, myself :p). All I meant to say was that it's not part of my personal paradigm for deities to ask specific things of me outside the usual realms of appropriate offerings, ritual purity, and living a truthful life.

I wonder that you don't think yourself worthy of being noticed by your deities.  You have worth, as much as any god.  You're not just a piece of gum on the bottom of some titan's shoe.

I guess I'm just conditioned by more traditional forms of Greek piety, in which people are told to "Know Thyself", that is, to know that we are only mortal and not on the same level of being as the gods.

I think that some of the deities actually enjoy chit-chatting and the universe has a fine sense of humor.

I definitely agree with you there.

[Hrútsvinr]

I just ran into a reference of Abraham being told by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and it got me to thinking. ...

Would any of you step outside your normal values if you truly believed your deity was telling you to?  Or would you jump ship, like I said I would in my little farce?

Do we only hang with our deities because we think THEY think like us?  Or are we true servants and should do as our God/desses bid?

I think it depends on what I was being asked. But generally, I would follow my god because I trust Him and I have never known Him to be wrong, even though it's seemed like it at the time.
If it were something like, "Arin, go kill your son/daughter/husband because I say so" I would jump ship, because that's simply too much - I can't kill my family. Especially if it's a test of my faith - I would find it a little insulting, since I've been following Him for so long. I clearly have faith in Him. Just not to a blind extent.
If it were something like, "Go shoplift; I want you to see what happens" then I would probably do it, because He would be teaching me something, even though it would feel wrong to me.

Mostly, I don't think my God wouldn't ask me to do things like that, because my relationship with Him is about inner truth, and how to do things that feel right. As I said, He has always been right about those sorts of things, and he has never inspired me to do something that I know or sense to be wrong. This is Heimdall, by the way. I am closest to Him out of all my gods.

If it were Loki asking me to do something, or Odin, I would consider it, but if the deed were too contrary to my values, I would drop it immediately. I simply don't know Their natures well enough to follow them automatically, and they are more likely than my other Gods to 'deceive' me, just because that's how They are (I think), be it for Their purposes or ultimately to teach me. I feel like things could get really messy with Loki or Odin. But not Heimdall. I don't believe His nature is like that.

I'm rambling. The main thing here, as others have said, is probably to keep an inquisitive and critical mind, especially since it's hard to tell even if it really is our Gods speaking to us, or just disguised spirits, or even ourselves. But blind faith is dangerous.