Daniel 1:17 – As for these four youths, God gave them
learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding
in all visions and dreams.
When I was a teenager I remember eating spicy food while
watching a scary movie. The combination of the two gave me nightmares. I woke
up the next morning exhausted from all the crazy dreams I had. After having
this happen to me a couple of times, I learned not to combine those two things
together before going to sleep.
Dreams are caused by a wide variety of things. Many theorize
that dreams are our sub-conscious mind’s way of sorting out what is going on in
our lives. But could dreams be more than that? We read stories in the Bible
where dreams had specific meanings. Many of us have had unique dreams that made
us wonder if God was trying to send us a message.
Kelley Bulkeley is a dream researcher and theologian who
wrote Big Dreams: The Science of Dreaming
and the Origins of Religion. Bulkeley reports in an April 4, 2016 article
in Time magazine that modern
neuroscience “says that dreams can prime us to be spiritual, in one form or
another.” She goes on to explain that the Sleep and Dream Database includes extensive
research that shows “that half of American adults say they’ve had at least one
visitation dream” where someone came to them in a dream to give them a message.
Some people focused on the people in their dreams, but most focused on the
message itself. Could this message have meaning beyond just spicy food and
scary movies?
This is a question many evangelical Christians are also
asking. Could God use dreams to
communicate messages to His people? Some strands of evangelicalism widely
accept dreams as messages from God. Other strands of evangelicalism
are more skeptical. Most evangelicals who accept the possibility of God sending
messages in dreams make it clear that God would never contradict Himself. That
means that if a dream was in opposition to the Bible, then it could not be from
God. Dreams that contradict the scripture are more likely the result of spicy
food and scary movies. But what about the ones that seem to confirm what God
has already declared in scripture? There is no real way to prove either side of that debate because dreams are too subjective for that. Therefore, scholars will keep debating that issue until
the end of time.
So what good is Bulkeley’s research if we can’t really prove
that any particular dream is from God? Her research provides an interesting
conversation starter with our non-believing friends about how dreams and faith
might be connected. Bulkeley concludes that though “Science may not be able to
prove the existence of God . . . it can prove that, for many people, dreams
offer a way to expand their sense of reality and attain a higher level of
being.” As our culture becomes post-Christian and fewer people know the Bible,
discussing dreams might open the door for a larger conversation about
spirituality. These discussions could be the means by which the Lord causes
people to think about spirituality. It is good for evangelical Christians, even
ones skeptical about spiritual messages through dreams, to know something about
this topic so that we can use this issue as one of our tools for starting
Gospel conversations with others.
Lord, help us take every opportunity You give us to talk to
our friends about issues of faith. Amen.
Dr. Terry W. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter,
denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20
years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather.
He is a cancer survivor and believes that God
works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively
and you can find all of his books at:
http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY
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