what makes you beileve in God?

Babirusa · Feb 15, 2012

If one says "I believe in God because of the Bible", and in this book we see talking snakes, unicorns, giants, a global flood that left absolutely no trace, centuries-old humans in the Bronze Age, genocide, rape, slavery, incest, laws that feature recommendations to kill at the drop of a hat, and a son of God with zero corroborating evidence outside of the Bible, there is a problem with the basis of your belief.

wwjd_kilden · Feb 15, 2012

I am not sure why I believe, but I do.
Maybe because I simply believe that this world is way too complicated to evolve randomly.
To me a God makes more sense than no God. I don't think the wold can appear from nothingess, then a eternal God sees far more likely.

Maybe because I have seen God answer prayers, or because I have been filled with His spirit and felt His love.

He is there, call on His name, and He will reach out. But keep in mind

----
The LORD Speaks to Elijah

”---- And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.[a] 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (<---- THAT was the Lord)

Babirusa · Feb 15, 2012

The world did not "evolve randomly." This is a very common, and probably deliberate, misrepresentation by theists. At any point in time the existing structure of an organism presents a limited set of possibilities for future development. This is canalized development; it's not random.

Does it make sense to attribute everything you don't like or don't understand to "God did it"?

When a small percentage of prayer requests are realized, "God did it." When a much larger percentage are not realized, "God wants you to wait / God moves in mysterious ways / It wasn't his will", etc., etc. It's not God; it's the course of events that would have happened with or without a hypothesized deity.

I doubt the existence of a deity when the argument for its existence is based solely on a book with as many flaws as the bible (as per my previous post).

Here is an example of God's love at work, from 2 Kings 2:23-25:

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

wwjd_kilden · Feb 15, 2012

Allow me to point out this: I did NOT say it prooves anything... I said it is why I believe

Babirusa · Feb 15, 2012

A straw man; I wasn't accusing you of trying to prove anything. And so, as usual, the reason for belief is the desire to believe.

CryingRose94 · Feb 15, 2012

I honestly have been going through the same thoughts and do not know what to believe for myself.

Saul_Durian · Feb 15, 2012

As many people here probably know, I am a big critic of the bible, of any religious text really. What actually really led me to believe in God (or at least some form of higher life form) was quantum physics and the string theory. A subset of the string theory is that there are infinite "dimensions" with some having very different laws of physics then our own universe..giving way to infinite possibilities. If there are infinite possibilities, then all things possible must exist. God is a possibility, and therefore must exist. I just don't believe it is anything that we humans can even hope to comprehend.

It is a lot more complicated then that, but I can't really write a book here, so that is the short and sweet version.

Quantum physics also has some very interesting ideas about the mind, life after death and a whole range of stuff.

BADDOG · Feb 15, 2012

First no one can make you believe in God that you have to do for yourself
so if your after proof we cant show you that
you have to find that out for yourself
As for the bible its a book of questions ,,, but its also a book of answers ,,, but the answers are for your own life not mine ,,, your walk with God is just that ** your walk with God ** so what he shows you will be for your own life ,,,,, just as he has shown me things for my life

theres a place in the bible where it takes about *running a race * now its up to us to run the best race we can (( the race of life ))

so GBU in your search

BADDOG

Dogma · Feb 15, 2012

Saul_Durian said:

You are dead wrong and misinformed sorry (I would encourage you read a book on String Theory/ Quantum mechanics just as I encourage theists to read their bible). String theory mathematically predicts 11 dimensions.

There could very well be infinite amount of universes, but this isn't merely a consequence from the laws of M-Theory, and is far from universally excepted in the scientific community partially because we have no evidence and the idea itself is hard to conceptualize, as you have already pointed out.

And no, quantum mechanics does not dictate that anything is possible. Rather it dictates that anything is possible within the confinements of logic. If you have come to a belief in God through Quantum mechanics, then he too is bound by logic. If this God is bound to logic, than by definition, he is not essential or omnipotent; if he is not omnipotent that he cannot be the Christian God.

JustinFoundChrist · Feb 15, 2012

I believe in him because hes shown himself to me in many ways and always helps me through all the troubles I have.

Saul_Durian · Feb 15, 2012

Dogma said:

I apologize, "dimensions" was not the correct word there. I am aware that M-theory requires spacetime to have 11 dimesnions instead of the traditional 3. I was referring to the possibility of infinite universes. And I pointed out that theory is a subset of string theory.

And no, Quantum Mechanics does not dictate anything is possible, but you should read about Tegmark's classifications. If a universe has different physical constants and definitions. Then it is reasonable to assume human views of logic may not apply.

Dogma · Feb 15, 2012

Saul_Durian said:

It is an interesting notion, the idea that there could exists separable universes where different physical constants could apply, etc. However this does not, under any circumstance, mean that "human" logic does not apply - and of course this can be up for discussion. I would argue that Logic is a transcendent principle of reality, in that it would remain the same under any circumstances. For example, what we denote as "1" added to or plus what we call "2" would always theoretically yield a quantity that we call "3" under any circumstances of reality.

Be_Evergreen · Feb 15, 2012

Titania said:

Titania, doubt is a part of belief. This is what I have been raised to believe. We are not without our doubts, and for some people, doubt is (no doubt!) a very scary and confusing part of the faith.

My personal belief is that God is so great, he is incomprehensible in his full form. Plus, He is not here! He is in Heaven, where He is with those who have spent their lives on earth believing in Him and His Son.

Our Faith is not about proof. I cannot prove something that is closed in the heart of another. It's like trying to explain why you KNOW your political affiliation is right- to someone who believes exactly the opposite as you!

God has told us through the Bible not to worship false idols. There is no God above our God.

Exodus 20:3
You shall have no other gods before me.

As they say, the Lord has commanded, "I am the Lord, thou God. You shall not have strange gods before Me!".

1 Corinthians 10:20
No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.

Deuteronomy 12:30-31
Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

The Bible is special, in that it was originally separate stories by people living at different times. And yet, their stories all agreed with the others, all flowed in the same exact way- they all claimed the same Truths. Amazing, isn't it?

How do we know that it happened... I could just as easily tell you that because I have no proof that you are a real person and not a figment of my imagination, you do not exist. I could say that people of the past, that we have no photos of- how do we know that they exist?

If as you say the Bible is fictional, do you see any fault with living a holy life? Of loving your neighbor, of spreading peace? Again, I point to the fact that the Bible did not have one author- and yet the story still flows, and the different accounts on what happened all match.

But the Bible is NOT fictional. From the Bible, people have cast out demons. People have had experiences of the supernatural kind with God and angels- but this does not mean that we should count on those things in order to believe! Belief is in your heart, and it is between you and God.

Psalm 51
But faith is an assurance of what is hoped for, a conviction of unseen realities. The men of old gained approval by it. By faith we understand that the universe was created at God's command, so that what we now see was made out of what cannot be seen.

Faith is not logic- the world presents us with explanations through logic, and our minds make sense of everyday life (or try to) through reasoning. But while having some sense is good, we are not creatures of logic alone. We yearn for more, and our spirits cry out for more- for logic is not love, is not forgiveness. God is that love and forgiveness.

How are you doing Titania, are you finding yourself with more questions and doubts while reading this thread?

Crazy4GODword · Feb 17, 2012

The reason I believe is because, it is the only truth that I have truly found. After believing, God proved everything. Why take a road heading to pain for eternity than a road in victory and splendors. Everything else seems so false, i was in different religions, but they seems to be nothing as great as this one. Its love, not trying to follow a book by itself. Love does whats right, not envy.

Calmador · Feb 17, 2012

Titania said:

I believe I may have seen God once. If I told you with confidence that I did would you believe me?

My little brother has seen multiple demons and I was sorta there in one of the sightings.

I prayed for God to tell me where to go once, left or right... and a stone flew over to left. That has to be God aswell.

His word makes perfect sense. Not because of my understanding, like other in other religions which rely on their own followers understanding but because of his understanding.

The world says... if your usually doing good then your a good person. God says... always do good and your a good person. The difference is... one is evil and the other is good. One says its ok to lie a few times, rape a girl once (make sure nobody knows), be angry a bit, and any other little or few sins but if you act like a good person afterwards your good person. God says, don't ever do ANY evil things and then your a good person.

Truth is why I believe. God is why I believe.

For God so loved the world (your definitely included, God loves you) that he gave his only begotten son so whoever believes in him may have ever lasting life

Saul_Durian · Feb 17, 2012

Calmador said:

I agree with most of what you said, except for this part. For 1, I don't think rape falls into the category of, act like a good person afterwards and you are fine. And the Bible essentially says the same thing. If you do evil repent and sin no more. So you can sin...and then repent. I mean according to the bible almost everything is forgivable. I could burn down a church during Sunday school service. But if I feel bad and repent..I am good to go.

Not trying to be condescending there, but I do think it is true.

Calmador · Feb 21, 2012

Saul_Durian said:

Rape does fall into the category were talking about... that category being evil. So yeah it does fall into it. If your ok with allowing evil a little... then your ok with allowing a little rape.

Another reason why I use rape, aside from it being absolutely relavent, is because that's how God see's evil, that's how bad evil is.... how bad a lie is, or stealing 1 penny.

Ok next thing, repentance, woah man you gotta read James. Yeah your right God can forgive anything because that's how great and mysterious his love is, true love.

Now when you ask for forgiveness... you really onlyonly need to ask once. Not over and over again, because the sacrfice of Jesus Christ covers all sin, including future sins but sure I don't see why not out of affection say sorry when you mess up, because Christians are not perfect and are being cleaned up by God still.

Another thing is Faith without works is dead faith. Here's a verse that'll help you understand...

17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Basically... in english... hey do you believe in God and his teachings? God literally BEING love, BEING truth, BEING respect... so when you believe in God, it's like believing in Love, believing in Truth... so now that being said, if you believe in Love... are you gonna go around parading the streets doing sins cause your "forgiven".... nope, heck I would suspect that your not forgiven if you think like that because a believer understands that sin is a terrible thing and that there is a God.

Here's a passage on it.. James 2:14-26 NKJV - Faith Without Works Is Dead - What does - Bible Gateway

So if you have Faith, then there will be works... if your just fooling people and saying HEY I believe and then turn around and burn a church... nobody, even non-christians won't believe you (idealy, unfortunatly some non-christians don't think logically sometimes tho)

So yeah, I'd question if your saved and have faith if your going around burning churches lol

It's a new life and also on that note, I want to also say that it's also a process.... people don't turn into angels in a second... God timely removes all the garbage in us.

Years ago, I used to be racist, to the point of possibly going underground, like KKK sorta thing. Now, I just think it's very foolish to think like that and apprecaite people much more for who they are instead of the color of thier skin.

So yeah people could be saved and still be dirty with sin, at first just so you know but your life slowly changes. I have works, I'm not thinking of joining some underground group like I was before... thats one works that shows my faith, and how God seriously helped me.

Saul_Durian · Feb 21, 2012

Calmador said:

Rape does fall into the category were talking about... that category being evil. So yeah it does fall into it. If your ok with allowing evil a little... then your ok with allowing a little rape.

Another reason why I use rape, aside from it being absolutely relavent, is because that's how God see's evil, that's how bad evil is.... how bad a lie is, or stealing 1 penny.

Ok next thing, repentance, woah man you gotta read James. Yeah your right God can forgive anything because that's how great and mysterious his love is, true love.

Now when you ask for forgiveness... you really onlyonly need to ask once. Not over and over again, because the sacrfice of Jesus Christ covers all sin, including future sins but sure I don't see why not out of affection say sorry when you mess up, because Christians are not perfect and are being cleaned up by God still.

Another thing is Faith without works is dead faith. Here's a verse that'll help you understand...

17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Basically... in english... hey do you believe in God and his teachings? God literally BEING love, BEING truth, BEING respect... so when you believe in God, it's like believing in Love, believing in Truth... so now that being said, if you believe in Love... are you gonna go around parading the streets doing sins cause your "forgiven".... nope, heck I would suspect that your not forgiven if you think like that because a believer understands that sin is a terrible thing and that there is a God.

Here's a passage on it.. James 2:14-26 NKJV - Faith Without Works Is Dead - What does - Bible Gateway

So if you have Faith, then there will be works... if your just fooling people and saying HEY I believe and then turn around and burn a church... nobody, even non-christians won't believe you (idealy, unfortunatly some non-christians don't think logically sometimes tho)

So yeah, I'd question if your saved and have faith if your going around burning churches lol

It's a new life and also on that note, I want to also say that it's also a process.... people don't turn into angels in a second... God timely removes all the garbage in us.

Years ago, I used to be racist, to the point of possibly going underground, like KKK sorta thing. Now, I just think it's very foolish to think like that and apprecaite people much more for who they are instead of the color of thier skin.

So yeah people could be saved and still be dirty with sin, at first just so you know but your life slowly changes. I have works, I'm not thinking of joining some underground group like I was before... thats one works that shows my faith, and how God seriously helped me.

You completely missed my point. And you are contradicting yourself. You say it is wrong for the world to allow mistakes and long as the person is generally good, but it is ok for a believer to make mistakes because they are saved?

And I what I mean with the rape thing. Rape is not something you do a little of and everyone thinks you are swell person

Jade63 · Feb 24, 2012

Well, me and my fiance were talking about this whole thing just a few days ago.About there are so many gods and religions that how do we know which one is actually real.. What made me believe are miracles.. My uncle got in a really bad accident was on drugs and the car was totaled we dont even know how he even got out of the car. He came out with not bruises or scratches.. His guardian angels were protecting him because he has a reason for living.. I came to believe in god because of miracles.. and not everybody has "seen" god. I havent but i want too.

Relena7 · Feb 24, 2012

I am not as strong in my faith as I can be (as in, I have some problems in my life now, and I don't know how to pray to heal myself or others), I am still growing spiritually, but I believe in God the amount I do because a nagging strong feeling that is stronger and more silent than anything will not let me stop seeking just because it seems impossible to understand with a human mind.

Personally, I am a strong believer in the possibilities of things that human minds cannot understand. So why not God?

what makes you beileve in God?

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