We can say that a mystical experience is one where you feel overwhelmed or even bowled over by God’s presence. As Stephen Colbert shows, sometimes it comes in a kind of dramatic, seemingly once-in-a-lifetime encounter where you are sure that this is God. www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/0...
Faith is a mental illness. I know that's true because I read it in my Holy Profile Description
I’m sorry but mystical experience without presence of what you call God is possible. Not all spirituality is monopolized by Christianity (and thankfully so)
Paywall. Ugh!
I haven’t ever lost my Catholic faith, but I have lost faith in the Church as an institution. Especially the Church leadership in the US who supported the rise of fascism in America.
You haven’t read much Catholic history have you?
I have! I guess I was naive in the 2000s when I was 20 years old and thought that we had gotten past that era of Christian nationalism. We’ve all been there.
The US is a country founded in heresy. We American Catholics are blessed by the trial of living in a country struggling to find God. Life isn't perfect - that's eternity with our Creator. God uses good and evil to accomplish His redemptive plan.
That’s so weird.
I should have said, "America is a country founded [out of] heresy." Because I believe the US to be founded more in accordance with Christian values than any other. The heresy being the power struggle between protestantism and Catholicism. Nothing belongs to Caesar because everything is God's.
Try going back a few more years… there was this thing about torture and burning at the stake kind of stuff… but I’m guessing lots of good Catholics tend to ignore that. 🤔
Dude… I told you I know my history. And before the Joan of Arc stuff there was the Crusades which was a giant farcical holy war. But again… when I grew up, it seemed like that was all in the past and we were prepared to learn from it.
Calm down, no need to get excited.
I just had a mystical experience of hitting the paywall🙂. But as long as Colbert continues as good as he'd been so far, he can profess whatever faith he feels good at, from my humble point of view. I hope that whatever deities are out there, if any - (s)he or they like him as well.
Well "Mr Stephen" you may lose your TV show, but sir, your honor and the respect others have for you, will be as strong as ever.
The institution of the Catholic Church is structured for self-preservation. There are many good people that were raised in it believing and living values of honesty and respect for others. However its mandate of unconditional subservience to its doctrines as "truth" is a disservice to truth.
Thank you, Jim, Stephen, Maggi, for the deep dive of intellectual, theological, relatable conversation! You offer a veritable feast for reflection! Thank you! 💖💖💖
Thank you, Jim, Stephen, Maggi, for the deep dive of intellectual, theological, relatable conversation! You offer a veritable feast for reflection! Thank you! 💖💖💖
Sad to hear he lost his ability to use basic reason/rational thought and has instead decided to play pretend. Irrationality like that should not be admired, it should be pitied. Either he can demonstrate that a God exists, or he is by definition irrational, and his belief is entirely unjustified.
Realizing your own mortality and making Pascal’s wager is not a mystical experience lmao
Why the fuck is this shit on my timeline?
You can say that. I'd say there's some funky brain chemistry going on that doesn't require a deity to explain.
Sad to hear that Colbert has had some kind of mid-life psychotic break. I hope he recovers.
The church is a protective shell preserving the Faith, which transcends time and culture. It is a precious gem which the fools of the world mock. God is real, Christ is His Son, and He will return to judge the living and the dead. Never doubt, never fear, God is Love.