Dream Interpretation - Is it New Age?

[Angelina]

Before I got banned, I read in the Sign Gifts forum on CF about a member who had a dream that his church was going to implode. He tried to tell his pastor about it, but the pastor wouldn't listen, so he left the church and a short time later the church did, in fact, implode! So, as you have experienced, there are true dreams that do come from the Holy Spirit!

I have no doubt that some dreams/vision are from the Lord and some are not. There are stories similar to your one above that I was involved in re: a dream about a particular church in my area which I gave to the Pastor and his wife who were ministers there and boy did it cause some serious backlashes.

For me and one of my best prayer warrior friends. It was horrific but in the end, it came to pass and I'm afraid that the Pastor and his wife are not only divorced but the Pastor had lost his ministry and his wife went back to her own country, alone.

 

[Dcopymope]

I have never thought that those dreams were messages from the Lord, and have never tried to interpret them as such, and have put them down to my crazy imagination from watching too many Saturday movies at the Bughouse (His Majesty's Theatre) when I was a kid.

You probably should just dismiss the majority of all those dreams as nothing more than manifestations of your subconscious. Dreaming about someone you know is really nothing special unless you are having recurrent dreams of the same person, and even then it could just be due to issues with that person you haven't resolved. I had a dream about this one woman I know, multiple times. Each dream was different, but this one dream I had of her, we were in a church, and I was trying to hold her up, as if she was suffering, or grieving about something (no idea if she is a believer at all). I didn't really think much of it until I find out shortly afterward that her father just died. As for the other dreams I had of her...well, who cares.

 

[Paul Christensen]

You probably should just dismiss the majority of all those dreams as nothing more than manifestations of your subconscious. Dreaming about someone you know is really nothing special unless you are having recurrent dreams of the same person, and even then it could just be due to issues with that person you haven't resolved. I had a dream about this one woman I know, multiple times. Each dream was different, but this one dream I had of her, we were in a church, and I was trying to hold her up, as if she was suffering, or grieving about something (no idea if she is a believer at all). I didn't really think much of it until I find out shortly afterward that her father just died. As for the other dreams I had of her...well, who cares.

I view any third party interpretation of an image puzzle type dream by a person who claims to have a gift of dream interpretation is New Age divination. There is no such spiritual gift listed in the New Testament, and there are many New Age sites that give the same type of interpretation - in fact, there is a psychology site that has a very comprehensive catalogue of interpretation for any dream you can think of, but it is a New Age divination site.

Here is the interpretation of dreams from Sigmund Freud's point of view.

Dreams, in Freud's view, are formed as the result of two mental processes. The first process involves unconscious forces that construct a wish that is expressed by the dream, and the second is the process of censorship that forcibly distorts the expression of the wish. In Freud's view, all dreams are forms of "wish fulfillment" (later in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud would discuss dreams which do not appear to be wish-fulfillment). Freud states: "My presumption that dreams can be interpreted at once puts me in opposition to the ruling theory of dreams and in fact to every theory of dreams..."

Freud advanced the idea that an analyst can differentiate between the manifest content and latent content of a dream. The manifest content refers to the remembered narrative that plays out in the dream itself. The latent content refers to the underlying meaning of the dream. During sleep, the unconscious condenses, displaces, and forms representations of the dream content, the latent content of which is often unrecognizable to the individual upon waking.

Sources of dream content
Freud claimed that every dream has a connection point with an experience of the previous day. Though, the connection may be minor, as the dream content can be selected from any part of the dreamer's life. He described four possible sources of dreams: a) mentally significant experiences represented directly, b) several recent and significant experiences combined into a single unity by the dream, c) one or more recent and significant experiences which are represented in the content by the mention of a contemporary but indifferent experience, and d) an internal significant experience, such as a memory or train of thought, that is invariably represented in the dream by a mention of a recent but indifferent impression.

Oftentimes people experience external stimuli, such as an alarm clock or music, being distorted and incorporated into their dreams. Freud explained that this is because "the mind is withdrawn from the external world during sleep, and it is unable to give it a correct interpretation ..." He further explained that our mind wishes to continue sleeping, and therefore will try to suppress external stimuli, weave the stimuli into the dream, compel a person to wake up, or encourage him or her to overcome it.

Freud believed that dreams were picture-puzzles, and though they may appear nonsensical and worthless on the surface, through the process of interpretation they can form a "poetical phrase of the greatest beauty and significance."

 

[FollowHim]

I have been researching dream interpretation after reading posts on another forum's Sign Gifts forum, and what I saw there worried me. I went to the New Testament and could not find anywhere, other than the experience of Joseph, husband of Mary. There was nothing after the Day of Pentecost giving any support for people's dreams being interpreted. What I saw in the dreams that sJoseph got, they were not puzzles, but clear literal guidance about not being afraid to take the pregnant Mary for his wife, getting out of Bethlehem to save the life of the baby Jesus, and another dream telling him not to go back under Herod's son's jurisdiction.

So I did further research and found that the classic work involving it was Sigmund Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams". I looked it up in Wikipedia and read the description of how Freud wrote about dream interpretation, and what do you know? It is no different to what I saw in the Sign Gifts forum! The interpretations of dreams under Freud where of the same dream puzzles and obscure images that were described in the "Christian" Sign Gift forum.

I also looked up a couple of New Age sites where there were people offering dream interpretations. and there is a psychology website that has a comprehensive list of all the different classifications of dream interpretation that anyone can look up and find one that fits their dream. And the interpretations were identical to the "Christian" interpretations on the Sign Gift thread about the dreams. Absolutely no difference at all!

What does that tell you? I know what it tells me - to keep right away from dream interpretation, avoiding it like the Corona Virus! It has its foundation in New Age occult, and can open up an unwary person to demonic interference in their Christian faith.

The first question is the most obvious, what are dreams and does everyone have them? The answer is yes. Dreams are part of how we relive scenarios and our brains make sense of them, often expressing emotions and how we feel about our lives, and how we fit in. They are like an internal debate, exploration and random walk. Sometimes a dream can appear as real as real life, and you have discussions with people who you know are dead or somewhere else. My daughter phoned me up once to apologise to me for what she had said in a dream. Now it made sense to her, because in her world, she had upset me, and so apologising was her way of making peace. But in the real world it did not exist.

So the dream world reflects our internal reality.
It is why interpretation or getting too involved is not a good idea, as dreams are our internal conversation working things through, and we consciously only see a small part of the larger debate. It is best to be passive, and if it is disturbing, commit it to the Lord and seek peace.

Now our dreams can reflect our walk in Christ as well as our struggles, and sometimes things the Lord is saying to us.
Because it is an internal discussion to let this run or guide our lives puts the focus on us and not the Lord, so not a wise choice.

 

[FollowHim]

I view any third party interpretation of an image puzzle type dream by a person who claims to have a gift of dream interpretation is New Age divination. There is no such spiritual gift listed in the New Testament, and there are many New Age sites that give the same type of interpretation - in fact, there is a psychology site that has a very comprehensive catalogue of interpretation for any dream you can think of, but it is a New Age divination site.

Here is the interpretation of dreams from Sigmund Freud's point of view.

Dreams, in Freud's view, are formed as the result of two mental processes. The first process involves unconscious forces that construct a wish that is expressed by the dream, and the second is the process of censorship that forcibly distorts the expression of the wish. In Freud's view, all dreams are forms of "wish fulfillment" (later in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud would discuss dreams which do not appear to be wish-fulfillment). Freud states: "My presumption that dreams can be interpreted at once puts me in opposition to the ruling theory of dreams and in fact to every theory of dreams..."

Freud advanced the idea that an analyst can differentiate between the manifest content and latent content of a dream. The manifest content refers to the remembered narrative that plays out in the dream itself. The latent content refers to the underlying meaning of the dream. During sleep, the unconscious condenses, displaces, and forms representations of the dream content, the latent content of which is often unrecognizable to the individual upon waking.

Sources of dream content
Freud claimed that every dream has a connection point with an experience of the previous day. Though, the connection may be minor, as the dream content can be selected from any part of the dreamer's life. He described four possible sources of dreams: a) mentally significant experiences represented directly, b) several recent and significant experiences combined into a single unity by the dream, c) one or more recent and significant experiences which are represented in the content by the mention of a contemporary but indifferent experience, and d) an internal significant experience, such as a memory or train of thought, that is invariably represented in the dream by a mention of a recent but indifferent impression.

Oftentimes people experience external stimuli, such as an alarm clock or music, being distorted and incorporated into their dreams. Freud explained that this is because "the mind is withdrawn from the external world during sleep, and it is unable to give it a correct interpretation ..." He further explained that our mind wishes to continue sleeping, and therefore will try to suppress external stimuli, weave the stimuli into the dream, compel a person to wake up, or encourage him or her to overcome it.

Freud believed that dreams were picture-puzzles, and though they may appear nonsensical and worthless on the surface, through the process of interpretation they can form a "poetical phrase of the greatest beauty and significance."

I think Freud put to much emphasis on theory and frameworks rather than focusing on what helped people and was there a physical basis for their disturbing behaviour. The problem with theories, without conclusive elimination of incorrect propositions they can build to a degree that seems sensible but is just totally unhelpful. If statistics show people with freudian counselling did not do better than those with no counselling, the theory is pointless. I am a believer in CBT because it works, it helps stop negative spirals of expectation and failure with positive approaches and practise that build a foundation of good experience and good outcomes. And it uses what people know, not inventing analysis and trying to discover problems. Projection is always our individual problem, on to others, because we assume people are like ourselves, until we discover triggers and reactions do vary and do create situations we have no way of understanding without more input.

Some get angry because of their internal frustrations, while others get angry because of an over active threat response. Seeing anger tells us only a response is happening not why or how. So with dreams, often the person themselves holds the key, not the listener. My daughter once just started crying and asked me why. We talked about her day, and how a friendship crisis had erupted, but not been resolved. This lack of resolution had caused the crying, an emotional overload. We make ourselves more complicated than we are, and leaving emotional positions unchecked, create these flows, which we surprisingly think is irrational, except if you left the tap in bathroom running, it would fill the sink, then the floor then the rooms around etc. Unchecked emotional flows are no different.

I had a dream of falling, because I felt a major work objective was drifting and its implications left me adrift. But in truth, I could easily shift my focus, build another perspective and keep my focus straight, and partially give up, and take a new path. But knowing this was my feeling was an important signal for me to move and resolve this running tap. God bless you

 

[Joseph77]

=========================================================
QUOTE=
"Paul Christensen, post: 733269, member: 8565"]I have been researching dream interpretation after reading posts on another forum's Sign Gifts forum, and what I saw there worried me. I went to the New Testament and could not find anywhere, other than the experience of Joseph, husband of Mary. There was nothing after the Day of Pentecost giving any support for people's dreams being interpreted. What I saw in the dreams that sJoseph got, they were not puzzles, but clear literal guidance about not being afraid to take the pregnant Mary for his wife, getting out of Bethlehem to save the life of the baby Jesus, and another dream telling him not to go back under Herod's son's jurisdiction.

So I did further research and found that the classic work involving it was Sigmund Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams". I looked it up in Wikipedia and read the description of how Freud wrote about dream interpretation, and what do you know? It is no different to what I saw in the Sign Gifts forum! The interpretations of dreams under Freud where of the same dream puzzles and obscure images that were described in the "Christian" Sign Gift forum.

I also looked up a couple of New Age sites where there were people offering dream interpretations. and there is a psychology website that has a comprehensive list of all the different classifications of dream interpretation that anyone can look up and find one that fits their dream. And the interpretations were identical to the "Christian" interpretations on the Sign Gift thread about the dreams. Absolutely no difference at all!

What does that tell you? I know what it tells me - to keep right away from dream interpretation, avoiding it like the Corona Virus! It has its foundation in New Age occult, and can open up an unwary person to demonic interference in their Christian faith.[/QUOTE
=================================================================
This is true of many things posted daily. Practices in today's churches that were never ever seen in the assemblies of Ekklesia born again and immersed in Jesus in the first accounts. Medical, political, financial, body alterations, soulish carnal attractions, greed, idolatry, other gods quite common now.... as in the days of Noah.....

Oh, what is truth, what is from the Father, is still truth, but is little known or recognized.
Every good gift if from above - and what the Father gives, is good , true, holy, wise, and so forth - all as God Says in His Word...

no abominations, no heresies, no defiling His Temple (the body), when from God.

 

[Dcopymope]

I view any third party interpretation of an image puzzle type dream by a person who claims to have a gift of dream interpretation is New Age divination. There is no such spiritual gift listed in the New Testament, and there are many New Age sites that give the same type of interpretation - in fact, there is a psychology site that has a very comprehensive catalogue of interpretation for any dream you can think of, but it is a New Age divination site.

Here is the interpretation of dreams from Sigmund Freud's point of view.

Dreams, in Freud's view, are formed as the result of two mental processes. The first process involves unconscious forces that construct a wish that is expressed by the dream, and the second is the process of censorship that forcibly distorts the expression of the wish. In Freud's view, all dreams are forms of "wish fulfillment" (later in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud would discuss dreams which do not appear to be wish-fulfillment). Freud states: "My presumption that dreams can be interpreted at once puts me in opposition to the ruling theory of dreams and in fact to every theory of dreams..."

Freud advanced the idea that an analyst can differentiate between the manifest content and latent content of a dream. The manifest content refers to the remembered narrative that plays out in the dream itself. The latent content refers to the underlying meaning of the dream. During sleep, the unconscious condenses, displaces, and forms representations of the dream content, the latent content of which is often unrecognizable to the individual upon waking.

Sources of dream content
Freud claimed that every dream has a connection point with an experience of the previous day. Though, the connection may be minor, as the dream content can be selected from any part of the dreamer's life. He described four possible sources of dreams: a) mentally significant experiences represented directly, b) several recent and significant experiences combined into a single unity by the dream, c) one or more recent and significant experiences which are represented in the content by the mention of a contemporary but indifferent experience, and d) an internal significant experience, such as a memory or train of thought, that is invariably represented in the dream by a mention of a recent but indifferent impression.

Oftentimes people experience external stimuli, such as an alarm clock or music, being distorted and incorporated into their dreams. Freud explained that this is because "the mind is withdrawn from the external world during sleep, and it is unable to give it a correct interpretation ..." He further explained that our mind wishes to continue sleeping, and therefore will try to suppress external stimuli, weave the stimuli into the dream, compel a person to wake up, or encourage him or her to overcome it.

Freud believed that dreams were picture-puzzles, and though they may appear nonsensical and worthless on the surface, through the process of interpretation they can form a "poetical phrase of the greatest beauty and significance."

I'm not surprised to see a so called "psychology" site promoting this rubbish. Psychology is arguably very secular at its core, and so is new age philosophy. The only relevant difference between the two is the latter is nothing more than pantheistic eastern mysticism tweaked for the western populace, but both belief systems are very humanistic, secular.

 

[Enoch111]

Psychology is arguably very secular at its core, and so is new age philosophy. The only relevant difference between the two is the latter is nothing more than pantheistic eastern mysticism tweaked for the western populace, but both belief systems are very humanistic, secular.

And this is clearly illustrated by the Pope's recent New Age comments.

Pope issues disturbing New Age pronouncements during Earth Day address

...he advised the billions of Catholics around the world to ask forgiveness from the earth in a screed that sounded more akin to a New Age movement speech than a Christian one.... it is not just our home but also God’s home... it will be necessary for our children to take to the streets... The earth never forgives: If we have despoiled the earth, the response will be very bad.”

Pope issues disturbing New Age pronouncements during Earth Day address - WND

The only one from whom Christians can ask forgiveness is God Himself, and Heaven is His home. As to taking to the streets, that is pure Communistic rhetoric. Pope Francis did not speak according to Scripture but according to New Age beliefs about Mother Earth.

The Pope is a globalist who focus more on Climate Change than Christ. Also, the globalists are trying to connect Climate Change to coronavirus, while evil Bill Gates says that China should not be held accountable (since Gates is a part of the Chinese conspiracy).

 

[Dcopymope]

And this is clearly illustrated by the Pope's recent New Age comments.

Pope issues disturbing New Age pronouncements during Earth Day address

...he advised the billions of Catholics around the world to ask forgiveness from the earth in a screed that sounded more akin to a New Age movement speech than a Christian one.... it is not just our home but also God’s home... it will be necessary for our children to take to the streets... The earth never forgives: If we have despoiled the earth, the response will be very bad.”

Pope issues disturbing New Age pronouncements during Earth Day address - WND

The only one from whom Christians can ask forgiveness is God Himself, and Heaven is His home. As to taking to the streets, that is pure Communistic rhetoric. Pope Francis did not speak according to Scripture but according to New Age beliefs about Mother Earth.

The Pope is a globalists who focus mre on Climate change than Christ. Also, the globalists are trying to connect Climate Change to coronvirus, while evil Bill Gates says that China should not be held accountable (since Gates is a part of the Chinese conspiracy).

Yes, he and the Catholic church are globalists who focuses more on climate change, evolution, mixing pantheism with the word of God, and putting a spin on angelic beings as aliens from another planet.

 

[marks]

I have been researching dream interpretation after reading posts on another forum's Sign Gifts forum, and what I saw there worried me. I went to the New Testament and could not find anywhere, other than the experience of Joseph, husband of Mary. There was nothing after the Day of Pentecost giving any support for people's dreams being interpreted. What I saw in the dreams that sJoseph got, they were not puzzles, but clear literal guidance about not being afraid to take the pregnant Mary for his wife, getting out of Bethlehem to save the life of the baby Jesus, and another dream telling him not to go back under Herod's son's jurisdiction.

So I did further research and found that the classic work involving it was Sigmund Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams". I looked it up in Wikipedia and read the description of how Freud wrote about dream interpretation, and what do you know? It is no different to what I saw in the Sign Gifts forum! The interpretations of dreams under Freud where of the same dream puzzles and obscure images that were described in the "Christian" Sign Gift forum.

I also looked up a couple of New Age sites where there were people offering dream interpretations. and there is a psychology website that has a comprehensive list of all the different classifications of dream interpretation that anyone can look up and find one that fits their dream. And the interpretations were identical to the "Christian" interpretations on the Sign Gift thread about the dreams. Absolutely no difference at all!

What does that tell you? I know what it tells me - to keep right away from dream interpretation, avoiding it like the Corona Virus! It has its foundation in New Age occult, and can open up an unwary person to demonic interference in their Christian faith.

Hi Paul,

Interesting post!

I've been thinking about dream interpretations since it came up here a couple of months ago. Your post helps puts some things in focus.

As I'm thinking about the dreams in the Bible, God either spoke plainly to people, like Solomon, Moses, Abimelech, or expressed Himself in symbols that were plainly understood, like with Joseph's dreams of his family bowing down, and Jacob's ladder to heaven.

There are some exceptions I can think of. Pharaoh did not understand his dreams of the 7 years. This baker and cupbearer didn't understand their dreams. Joseph had to interpret them.

Nebuchadnezzar didn't understand his dreams, Daniel had to interpret. Naturally those interpretations came from God.

Here's an interesting verse:

Numbers 12:6 "And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream."

Gideon went to the camp of the Midianites, and overheard one man share a dream, and the other share it's interpretation.

Of Daniel, we're told he had understanding of all visions and dreams. I'm guessing somewhere someone has written a "Daniel's Dream Interpretation Manual". I don't question whether he had that understanding, I'm certain he did. Daniel, when he dreamed in ch. 7 needed to ask for understanding of what he himself saw. And that explanation was contained within the vision. Later, Daniel would be told to go away, the words were sealed.

It seems to me that for the most part, God's people didn't need their dreams interpretted, but others did. Daniel alone is said to "understand visions and dreams", and Daniel alone, of God's people, didn't understand his own dream. But it is also called a vision, so I think that has more to do with why. I think that dreams are one kind of thing, and visions another, but I wouldn't be dogmatic about that.

I'm wondering what place dream interpretation occupies.

It's not mentioned in the places that speak of spiritual gifts, though interpretation of tongues is.

I don't see any examples in the Bible, and particularly in those places that teach about the ministry in the church, of interpreting dreams.

Where do we get the idea that God speaks to us in ways we cannot understand? That is, excepting those that He has made known?

Shouldn't we expect to understand a dream in which God is telling us something?

Why do some people think that God is speaking in dreams of which they do not know the meaning?

For all my life I've routinely dreamed lucid dreams. I've dreamed all manner of dreams, I think. Some dreams have seemed decidedly supernatural in origin. I've always thought that the ones where God showed me something, and I understood, that these were more likely from God, and the others, random, wild, obsure, whatever, these were all . . . dreams.

Ecclesiastes 5
2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.
4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

Much love!

 

[marks]

It means that the New Testament prophets were still operating in prophecy by interpreting prophetic dreams and visions just like the Old Testament prophets did.

You may want to review a record of how that all happened, and what it looked like. I just did. Daniel is the exception, and his exception is very interesting!

Much love!

 

[marks]

But until we get to Heaven, Biblical prophecy has always been and will always be a practice that involves interpreting dreams and visions, because we still presently "see through a glass darkly," i.e. in enigmas; in riddles.

Could you elaborate from Scripture on this bolded part?

Much love!

 

[marks]

I agree with you except "if it doesn't come to pass"....this can be tricky. There are prophesies in the Bible that still haven't come to pass...so in the eyes of the people that lived in that period would they deem them false because it didn't happen in their lifetime? .....We consider prophets of the OT true prophets even though there are prophesies yet to happen. So I think our best defense is to test it...pray...confirm it with another witness....
Any other ways?

I think the options are . . . it comes to pass . . . or . . . it's what the Bible says . . . or you have an internal subjective experience which you believe in.

Now, I'm not saying that we don't go with internal subjective experiences, such as, the Spirit testifies wiht our spirit that we are children of God. Just to say, that's what it is.

Some would say, a burning in the bosom.

Not trying to make light of anything.

Much love!

 

[marks]

The first question is the most obvious, what are dreams and does everyone have them? The answer is yes. Dreams are part of how we relive scenarios and our brains make sense of them, often expressing emotions and how we feel about our lives, and how we fit in. They are like an internal debate, exploration and random walk. Sometimes a dream can appear as real as real life, and you have discussions with people who you know are dead or somewhere else. My daughter phoned me up once to apologise to me for what she had said in a dream. Now it made sense to her, because in her world, she had upset me, and so apologising was her way of making peace. But in the real world it did not exist.

Hi FollowHim,

I've been doing some very interesting reading on dreams and memory consolidation. Kind of, dreams are like watching the brain's filing system in action.

Much love!

 

[Hidden In Him]

Could you elaborate from Scripture on this bolded part?

Much love!

Partly explained in the duplicate thread (See Post #10).
Dream Interpretation - New Age?

 

[marks]

Partly explained in the duplicate thread (See Post #10).
Dream Interpretation - New Age?

Not seeing it, but OK.

Alright . . . I think I see what you may be alluding to . . .

Scripture prophesies that the Spirit of God is going to be greatly poured out in the end-times, and with it, our sons and daughters will prophecy, our young men will see visions, and our old men will dream dreams (Joel 2:28). The suggestion here is that operating in the prophetic will involve receiving dreams and visions, and that these will become extremely prevalent among the end-time saints. It will in fact become the trademark for how the Spirit manifests Himself once He is poured out.

So then you see it "suggested".

Saying some will prophecy, and some will dream dreams, and some will see visions.

So we should conclude that dreamers and visioners are prophets who prophecy the interpretations of dreams and visions.

Is that the idea?

Much love!

 

[Hidden In Him]

I view any third party interpretation of an image puzzle type dream by a person who claims to have a gift of dream interpretation is New Age divination. There is no such spiritual gift listed in the New Testament, and there are many New Age sites that give the same type of interpretation - in fact, there is a psychology site that has a very comprehensive catalogue of interpretation for any dream you can think of, but it is a New Age divination site.

Here is the interpretation of dreams from Sigmund Freud's point of view.

Dreams, in Freud's view, are formed as the result of two mental processes. The first process involves unconscious forces that construct a wish that is expressed by the dream, and the second is the process of censorship that forcibly distorts the expression of the wish. In Freud's view, all dreams are forms of "wish fulfillment" (later in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud would discuss dreams which do not appear to be wish-fulfillment). Freud states: "My presumption that dreams can be interpreted at once puts me in opposition to the ruling theory of dreams and in fact to every theory of dreams..."

Freud advanced the idea that an analyst can differentiate between the manifest content and latent content of a dream. The manifest content refers to the remembered narrative that plays out in the dream itself. The latent content refers to the underlying meaning of the dream. During sleep, the unconscious condenses, displaces, and forms representations of the dream content, the latent content of which is often unrecognizable to the individual upon waking.

Sources of dream content
Freud claimed that every dream has a connection point with an experience of the previous day. Though, the connection may be minor, as the dream content can be selected from any part of the dreamer's life. He described four possible sources of dreams: a) mentally significant experiences represented directly, b) several recent and significant experiences combined into a single unity by the dream, c) one or more recent and significant experiences which are represented in the content by the mention of a contemporary but indifferent experience, and d) an internal significant experience, such as a memory or train of thought, that is invariably represented in the dream by a mention of a recent but indifferent impression.

Oftentimes people experience external stimuli, such as an alarm clock or music, being distorted and incorporated into their dreams. Freud explained that this is because "the mind is withdrawn from the external world during sleep, and it is unable to give it a correct interpretation ..." He further explained that our mind wishes to continue sleeping, and therefore will try to suppress external stimuli, weave the stimuli into the dream, compel a person to wake up, or encourage him or her to overcome it.

Freud believed that dreams were picture-puzzles, and though they may appear nonsensical and worthless on the surface, through the process of interpretation they can form a "poetical phrase of the greatest beauty and significance."

Paul, this is a complete double down on your OP argument after posting the following to me regarding my refutation of it from scripture.

A very informative post, which gives an interesting insight into it.

Reconcile how my post is "informative insight" when it completely disagrees with your OP and your most recent double down.

 

[marks]

@Hidden In Him

did you see my post 30 above?

 

[Hidden In Him]

@Hidden In Him

did you see my post 30 above?

No. I have something I wish to discuss with Paul first.

God bless. Maybe later.

 

[Paul Christensen]

Paul, this is a complete double down on your OP argument after posting the following to me regarding my refutation of it from scripture.



Reconcile how my post is "informative insight" when it completely disagrees with your OP and your most recent double down.

I don't see dream interpretation as a gift of the Spirit, or any form of guidance from the Holy Spirit anywhere in the instructions for Christians in the New Testament. This should show a red light on the instrument panel for a start.

If someone has a dream that shows definite information, not an image puzzle, that can be easily understood by the person having the dream, and what is given is consistent with written Scripture, then the dream can be taken seriously. If the dream involves another person, or a church, then a word of wisdom needs to be received from the Lord as to how this is going to be shared, or just kept as a basis for intercession.

If anyone purports to have a gift of dream interpretation, I would be asking where they got that gift from because they didn't get it from the Holy Spirit. I believe that interpreting someone else's dream is at the same level as the New Age sites that deal with dream interpretation, and could very well involve divination.

The two examples I approved of were those involving definite information involving warnings, and what was warned about in the dreams actually came to pass. So, it is possible that a believer can get a word of knowledge through a dream, or a vision - such as the one Paul got of the Macedonian men saying, "Come over and help us".

I have already said that if I have a dream involving someone I know, I take it as a signal to lift them up before the Lord in prayer. The dream itself doesn't relate to anything and I wouldn't try and interpret it to try and guess the circumstances of the person involved.

But, dreams, visions, and prophecies are the least reliable forms of guidance and need to be viewed with much care. I heard the story of a preacher who had self-appointed prophets come to him and predicted that he would be popular, famous, and prosperous in his life and ministry. He didn't accept it, but decided to put it on the back burner. Soon afterwards he developed severe back pain which was not cured after three surgeries. Then someone asked him whether he had been involved in the occult in any way. He said no, not ever; but he did remember the prophecy. It was explained to him that the prophecy was false and a spirit of divination came with it and attacked him physically. When he renounced the prophecy, the back pain immediately disappeared.