Bringing you the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and His Church While PROMOTING CATHOLIC Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's magisterium
Home About
AskACatholic.com
What's New? Resources The Church Family Life Mass and
Adoration
Ask A Catholic
Knowledge base
AskACatholic Disclaimer
Search the
AskACatholic Database
Donate and
Support our work
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
New Questions
Cool Catholic Videos
About Saints
Disciplines and Practices for distinct Church seasons
Purgatory and Indulgences
About the Holy Mass
About Mary
Searching and Confused
Contemplating becoming a Catholic or Coming home
Homosexual and Gender Issues
Life, Dating, and Family
No Salvation Outside the Church
Sacred Scripture
non-Catholic Cults
Justification and Salvation
The Pope and Papacy
The Sacraments
Relationships and Marriage situations
Specific people, organizations and events
back
Doctrine and Teachings
Specific Practices
Church Internals
Church History

Olamide Olajiga wrote:

Hi, guys —

  • What are dreams?
  • Are they events that have happened, are currently happening, or will happen in the future?
  • Can God communicate through dreams?

Olamide

  { What are dreams; are they past, present or future events and can God communicate via dreams? }

Eric replied:

Dear Olamide,

No one really knows what dreams are.

They are typically completely unrelated to reality. They reflect, in many cases, elements of our experience, for example if we encounter a friend we rarely see, we may later dream of that friend, but usually in a bizarre way that only barely touches on reality.

I have heard of people who have had dreams that predict the future, but that is exceedingly rare.

God has been known to communicate to people through dreams, but that, too, is exceedingly rare.

Eric Ewanco

Bob replied:

Dear Olamide,

Dreams are the subconscious playing out mental, emotional and even spiritual elements to find an inner harmony. It is like the brain is a hard drive and is organizing the data and formatting it better during off hours.

That being said, dreams can reflect circumstances that have happened, are happening, and sometimes even circumstances that will come. Many people feel their dreams have been like premonitions, but you have to be careful not to become superstitious about them. Just because you dreamt it doesn't mean it will happen, unless God told you — which can happen in some circumstances.

The Bible definitely shows us that God does speak through dreams and to important figures like Joseph, Jesus' foster father (Matthew 2), and Daniel from the Old Testament (Daniel 7:1-8) among others: (Genesis 20:1-7, Genesis 28:10-12, Genesis 31:1-24, Genesis 37:1-20, Genesis 40:1-17, Genesis 41:1-32).

God may choose to speak in this context because it is less intimidating than an actual awake encounter, but keep in mind that demons can influence dreams as well, so good discernment is still necessary.

Peace,

Bob Kirby

Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
© 2012 Panoramic Sites
The Early Church Fathers Church Fathers on the Primacy of Peter. The Early Church Fathers on the Catholic Church and the term Catholic. The Early Church Fathers on the importance of the Roman Catholic Church centered in Rome.