Maybe it’s too much to say people who experienced this stuff are delusional? I know a lot of them personally and they live a normal life, but they keep saying testimonies about holy experience, that God talks to them etc.
The appropriate explanation is, “I don’t believe you.” Just because somebody believes something strongly and has a story doesn’t make it real.
“But I saw my cousin levitate when we were all praying once! My mom agrees that it happened! Surely that must be God!” Or a demon. Or a freak, natural phenomenon that we have yet to document. Or aliens. Or Loki. Do you see why “I’m not lying” isn’t enough to prove a miracle? Christians have to explain why it’s their god, why it’s their rationale that should be taken as fact. If they can demonstrate their claims in front of a camera, sensors, etc., then we can begin to investigate the truth value of their claims. If they can’t reproduce their magic, why should anyone take it seriously?
And that’s the problem. The minute you bring out actual scientists, set up actual studies, and start really probing, the miracles can never stand up to scrutiny. Ever. Here’s an example: https://showmethetoes.com/
You don’t have to say people are delusional. You can simply demand better evidence than testimony, and you should.
I wrote an extensive comment a good while ago on pretty much this exact topic here
Santa did it with the help of the loch ness monster, and Elvis.
The spirit molecule, the god molecule, DMT, the pineal gland, the light at the end of the tunnel, the cosmic serpent, the tree of knowledge (Ayahuasca), insectoid creatures, aliens, machine elves, the green lady, clowns, angels, fractals/stained glass windows . . . . it is all drugs which are plentiful in our own brains. That explains the OT. The NT, keneh bosem or cannabis. Just watch RIDE WITH LARRY PART THREE to witness demons cast out of a man with a single drop of healing oil which Jesus used for his ministry. The recipe is in Exodus 25 and sports copious amounts of keneh bosem.
Religion = drugs.
Oh, and floaters. DID YOU JUST SEE THAT? I swear I saw something.
The appropriate explanation is that those things don’t exist, either.
Most people have internal monologues.
It’s how we think things through, and usually the voice we hear, is our own. Which makes sense, because we can make it say whatever we like simply by thinking it.
But we often hear other peoples voices, too. Most common is probably the voice of a parent. You might imagine how they’ll sound when they scold you, if you think about doing something they won’t like.
It’s really not that weird that religious people claim to “hear” god. In the exact same way most people imagine what others would say in response to something they might say or do, the religious imagine how god or jesus might react.
But really, they’re just hearing their own mind frame their own thoughts in the way they picture that their religious icons might react to their thoughts and actions.
It’s not really a higher power speaking to them. They’re just interpreting the way the human mind works as supernatural, because their upbringing and belief system has them constantly asking themselves “what would god have me do” the same way we all ask “what would my friends and family have me do”.
There’s really no way to dispel this illusion, except by explaining internal monologues, and giving them time to think about it. You might also have the religious compare notes on what “god” is telling them, untill they dee how each of them hear whatever they would themselves imagine god would say. But this is something they really don’t like doing.
Ok, so I’m not saying it’s aliens, but…
Humans also experience very powerful emotions. It is entirely possible to feel a sense of the sublime or epiphany or profound and misattribute those feelings to some kind of supernatural cause. If you’re never taught to critically examine your emotions, it is easy to bask in those feelings and be accepting of supernatural explanations for those feelings.
The word you’re looking for is “coincidence.” Humans are literally pattern recognition machines; we’ll see patterns in random noise if we look long enough. People finding meaning in patterns they see and can’t explain is pretty natural. It becomes problematic, though, when we do have explanations for things and those explanations are ignored.
