First, let me preface this with my hope that this thread stays civil, and that, hopefully, the mods allow it to stay open as long as it continues to do so. I think I must also apologize for the recent onslaught of religious and life questions lately, but there are things in my life recently that are making me think constantly about things like this. I suppose the question is relatively simple in terms of the answer (yes or no), but I'm not as much interested in the answer itself, but rather, why do you feel this way?
Yes, because he has proven himself to be real, in my family, countless times. I don't believe in coincidences.
MGH, you do not have to apologize for anything. Your questions are valid and meaningful to others and myself. Currently, I believe in God. I go back and forth and I hope that does not offend anyone that I know on here. When I talk with people and really get deep, I feel like I am as spiritually active mentally as anyone I know. I constantly think and analyze things in their specific context as well as the "big picture" in regards to God. I just don't get into the whole church thing or the New Testament, Old Testament, and Qur'an. There is a woman at my work that is expecting twins. She brought in the ultrasound pictures of her two twins yesterday and showed them to me. Some of them were in "4D". I actually sat there and stared at the faces of those two unborn little guys for some period of time. My pregnant friend stared at me as I just drifted into thought.....luckily for me she knows how I get sometimes so she didn't think I was crazy. Those little faces invoked something inside me. They said to me yesterday, "I am God and I exist". Sorry for being weird on this as I flip flop on the existence of God sometimes, but yesterday something kind of clicked in my head. Not really sure what, but it was something.
Belief in God is a good start, but it in no way is enough ..... According to the Bible anyway Jamess 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
I definately believe in God. As a person of science, I went thru a period where I set man up as God. But the more I pondered on the world, past and future, no answer made sense. There has to be something much greater than ourself. I have asked this question since I was a little boy reading "Omni" a science mag in the 80's. If you took off into space, where's the end? If Black holes are real, then whats beyond that? If the stars are infinite, there has to be a creator that we could never grasp. Where and how did time begin, and what was before that? All these questions was not only wrestled with me. I came to the only conclustion, there has to be a God. Now, the believe of Jesus Christ, is a longer story. But God is a start. I pray you find your answers.
[FONT="]Yes, I strongly believe in god. I have personal reasons of things that have happened to me that have convinced me that there is a god But from a logical standpoint, there is too much that makes sense in this world for there not to be a god. [/FONT] [FONT="]How amazing it is that the same air that animals excrete is the same thing plants need and vice versa. [/FONT] [FONT="]Who created Mother Nature to be such a manager of life and death? How could this occur by just by luck? [/FONT] [FONT="]The food chain. It just happened that way? [/FONT] [FONT="]The anatomy of life. [/FONT] [FONT="]How crazy it is that god only gives a person what they can handle. I have a pretty severe case of hearing loss. I wear hearing aids since I was 28. Somehow, I am able to handle it because it is not an easy thing to handle when you are supposed to be in the prime of your life and you have the same problem as an 80 year old (or at least that is what society says). You rarely hear about people handed adversity in their lives and not overcoming it. Think about it. It rarely happens from I've seen.[/FONT] [FONT="]I know this sounds corny but I can feel it when I take communion at church. I can feel my faith being re-energized as I walk back to my seat. I look at my children and wife and once again remember how lucky I am.[/FONT] [FONT="]As far as I am aware of, nothing ever has been proven wrong that has been written in the bible. Amazing for a book that was written 2000 years ago. Chance? I think not. [/FONT] [FONT="]The amazing things that happen in one’s life at the most ironic of times. You see it all the time if you really pay attention when people tell you about important events that have happened in their lives. It's too much of a coincidence both in good and bad times for there not to be divine intervention. [/FONT] [FONT="] Now, let me be clear that what I wrote above should not offend anyone. I can understand why and how some people don't believe in god. It is a very difficult thing for some to commit to and all that invokes god. It's is overwhelming and impossible to fathom it all. No human can do it. There are things you won't and can't understand. It is part of the package. If it were 100% obvious and easy, everyone would have faith. I don't have everything figured out. I'm sure my points above will get picked apart. This is all part of the decision god have given us. Are you a follower of him or are you isolated from him? I am not as good as a Christian as I should be and I've not extremely knowledgeable about god's word. But I do have faith and I know when my judgment time comes my resting place will be at his side. [/FONT]
Absolutely. His presence has been undeniable in my life. I've turned from him and he's been steadfast by my side though it all.
Yes I do. But it'll take the rest of my life to figure out the "why?" and the much more important, "now what?....." I'm thankful for everyday that I get to stumble through these questions!
You're right. The Bible says we need to accept Jesus Christ as our saviour.....and we're "golden". I'm all over the place in my feelings/views. Some of them would have some of you rupturing your spleens - typing a hole in your keyboards......in an effort to throw out a big 'ol internet un-uh!!!!!!!!!! But, do I believe in God? Yes.
This whole professing to Jesus or your screwed thing gets me a bit and there are many people I have spoken with over the years that echo the below event......they just won't say it outright, but will allude to it. My wife was told by a guy in college that Hitler would sooner go to Heaven because he professed his belief in Jesus Christ, than my wife's great uncles who were exterminated in the gas chambers of the concentration camps in WWII. I guess those Jews who lived peaceful lives and helped others didn't deserve to go to heaven. I guess those dirtbag SS soldiers who gassed the Jews by the millions deserved to go to heaven because they professed their belief in Jesus. Back on topic. A good topic at that my friends.
Absolutely - times in my life when God was critical to getting me through some things that no way I would have made solo.
Brett: Your scenario bolsters one of my views, also. You see.....I figure God (since he sort of patented it) to have some common sense (both intellectual and a sense of decency).
Far too short on time to give a good answer. But, I'll simply state "definitely not." As some state their reasons for believing, I've had similar experiences and reasons for not. More so, of everyone I've talked to, from regular people all the way up to religious leaders, chaplains, priests and even a theology professor, none of them have been able to give reasons enough for me to believe. More so, it's pushed me away from it even further. Am I closed minded? Certainly not. I'm more than willing to give a decent in depth look to things in order to make an informed decision. Sadly, of late, it seems those whom I know that believe are the ones which are closed minded. The stronger the conviction, the more vocal and belittling they are. It's a matter of personal choice, IMO. I respect people for whom they are and their actions, not by what they believe in.
No, but that probably isn't surprising as I also don't believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy. I sure hope Sasquatch is real though. How has someone not captured him yet? I did believe in God at one point. I was raised a catholic, and attended a catholic school for 9 years. At some point during my college years, things stopped making sense to me. I had many questions, and was not satisfied by the answers. Citing scripture to answer a question isn't enough for me. Too many holes. And with what was going on in the catholic church, I renounced my religion, but still believed in God. I eventually found I believed in God only out of fear, so I stopped believing altogether. If I had to label myself, I would say I'm a agnostic. I won't rule it out completely, but I also believe there is no way we can know for sure. If God does exist, can he/she please provide a more updated version of the Bible? The old one has been interpreted too many ways. I can walk into 3 different churches and get 3 different explanations of one verse...and everyone of them thinks they are right.
No I was raised in a very religious home. My parents were great parents. They raised me with a proper set a values. I was in church every Wednesday and Sunday my entire life. I always listened. It never made sense. I would ask questions, and I would never get adequate answers. Like Vito said, citing a bible verse is not an answer, at least not in my mind. As a teenage, I always participated in youth groups at the local churches, but only because that is what all my friends were doing. During the sermons, I found myself picking apart the preacher's points from a logical standpoint. I have never believed. Would I like to believe? Of course. Who wants to believe that when they die, they just die? That is a sad existence. I know that it saddens my parents deeply that I do not attend church or discuss religion with them, and that hurts. I don't want them to believe they failed, but they do. But I have always refused to do something just to satisfy them. Every time I have had a discussion about religion, no matter who it has been, the end result is always "you just have to have faith". I'm sorry. That is just not good enough for me. How do you obtain this faith? Do you ask God to give it to you? Because I have. Nothing. I have asked this God several times to show me something, come into my heart, give me faith, anything. Nothing every time.
I definitely believe in God but... I am extremely doubtful of the accuracy of the bible. Maybe this stems from my lack of knowledge of how todays bible came to be but when there are different versions from different religions, each bible wrote, rewrote and translated over the last 2000 years, you have to believe some things are distorted or inaccurate. I'm Catholic and we are told the council of Nicene altered today's bible hundreds of years ago. That bothers me because who knows their reasons for leaving out some things and adding some things in. Why would you need to take somethings out that were in there previously? The conspirator may say that they hid the fact that Mary Magdeline was Jesus' wife and she was actually a disciple, is this true? No one knows for sure - hence the doubt.
