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Thread: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

  1. #41
    EmperorBatman999's Avatar I say, what, what?
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Thesaurian View Post
    Sleep paralysis can produce sensations and hallucinations that feel acutely visceral to those experiencing it. Happens to around a third of people and so is relatively common.

    https://www.healthline.com/health/sl...d-hag-syndrome

    Meditation can be a useful strategy to relieve anxiety.
    I've been thinking lately about the feeling of God as a personal presence, acting as a helper and intervening actively to solve issues or drive personal decisions. Although I have been trying to grow my faith for years now (baptized Catholic, fell out of all belief as a teenager, and only now in my early/mid-twenties reinvesting in spiritual thought), I can't help but feel like this sort of feeling is a sixth sense which many people possess but I don't. Somehow I can't look at the world as though God is by my side; at best, I can only think most often and consistently that I am here to serve Him instead.

  2. #42

    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by EmperorBatman999 View Post
    I've been thinking lately about the feeling of God as a personal presence, acting as a helper and intervening actively to solve issues or drive personal decisions. Although I have been trying to grow my faith for years now (baptized Catholic, fell out of all belief as a teenager, and only now in my early/mid-twenties reinvesting in spiritual thought), I can't help but feel like this sort of feeling is a sixth sense which many people possess but I don't. Somehow I can't look at the world as though God is by my side; at best, I can only think most often and consistently that I am here to serve Him instead.
    I had a similar experience falling out of religion and coming back to it again as an adult. In my case it didn’t work out in the end, but throughout my life I’ve felt the same way about having a “personal relationship” with God and my inability to grasp the concept. I couldn’t quite fully convince myself God, assuming he exists, is personally involved in my life, or at least, what that means. Eventually I came to a similar conclusion that my purpose must be to obey God and the rest would fall into place, but just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, I lost my faith all over again. It was an interesting exercise while it lasted.
    Of these facts there cannot be any shadow of doubt: for instance, that civil society was renovated in every part by Christian institutions; that in the strength of that renewal the human race was lifted up to better things-nay, that it was brought back from death to life, and to so excellent a life that nothing more perfect had been known before, or will come to be known in the ages that have yet to be. - Pope Leo XIII

  3. #43
    basics's Avatar Vicarius Provinciae
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by EmperorBatman999 View Post
    I've been thinking lately about the feeling of God as a personal presence, acting as a helper and intervening actively to solve issues or drive personal decisions. Although I have been trying to grow my faith for years now (baptized Catholic, fell out of all belief as a teenager, and only now in my early/mid-twenties reinvesting in spiritual thought), I can't help but feel like this sort of feeling is a sixth sense which many people possess but I don't. Somehow I can't look at the world as though God is by my side; at best, I can only think most often and consistently that I am here to serve Him instead.
    EmperorBatman999,

    One can only become a Christian if God has drawn one to Jesus on the understanding of knowing how far from God one actually is. In other words God looks for a broken and contrite heart that needs to repent of one's sinful nature before He will act to bring about rebirth. We as humans cannot do that of our own volition because that too is an act of the Holy Ghost whereupon the need to change becomes overwhelming. It is when realisation hits of how sinful one is, not how good one is, that is when God reveals why Jesus Christ had to die for that person's sake. To bring all this about is God's work and His alone.

  4. #44
    conon394's Avatar hoi polloi
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    that needs to repent of one's sinful nature
    What sinful nature?
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB Dromikaites

    'One day when I fly with my hands - up down the sky, like a bird'

    But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place; some swearing, some crying for surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.

    Hyperides of Athens: We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we (the Demos of Athens) have no need of a master at present, even a good one.

  5. #45
    basics's Avatar Vicarius Provinciae
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by conon394 View Post
    What sinful nature?
    conon394,

    Your sinful nature!

  6. #46
    conon394's Avatar hoi polloi
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by basics View Post
    conon394,

    Your sinful nature!
    Really I am sinful? I wonder what makes you say that.
    Last edited by conon394; February 05, 2022 at 05:22 AM.
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB Dromikaites

    'One day when I fly with my hands - up down the sky, like a bird'

    But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place; some swearing, some crying for surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.

    Hyperides of Athens: We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we (the Demos of Athens) have no need of a master at present, even a good one.

  7. #47
    basics's Avatar Vicarius Provinciae
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by conon394 View Post
    Really I am sinful? I wonder whats you say that.
    conon394,

    Do you just blast away at your keyboard to reply to me or is it that you can't speak English because what's above is like many others you have posted, indiscernible.

  8. #48
    conon394's Avatar hoi polloi
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Corrected typos are typos I don't always have time to check posts this being afterall a bit hobby, time killer while working. I do try to come back around to them however.
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB Dromikaites

    'One day when I fly with my hands - up down the sky, like a bird'

    But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place; some swearing, some crying for surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.

    Hyperides of Athens: We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we (the Demos of Athens) have no need of a master at present, even a good one.

  9. #49

    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Materialist reductionism, when you look at it from more broad perspective, is just as arrogant and silly as Abrahamic religions.
    To answer the question, I do believe in forms of higher spiritual existence. Do I consider such being or beings being part of some religious mythos? Also yes and no. I believe a lot of schools of spiritualty hold perennial wisdom, with exceptions of Abrahamic religions like Islam and Judaism, where god (Yahweh, Allah)comes in form of a hateful genocidal psycho.

  10. #50

    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Thesaurian View Post
    Eventually I came to a similar conclusion that my purpose must be to obey God and the rest would fall into place, but just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, I lost my faith all over again. It was an interesting exercise while it lasted.
    This emphasis on obedience might be where you stumbled. You're focusing on what you can do for God and not on what God has already done for you, to which you can contribute nothing. You're still placing your trust fundamentally in yourself and your own works instead of in God, and if that's the case then have you really accepted him as your savior?, or has he merely made your salvation possible, leaving you free to save yourself?
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  11. #51
    EmperorBatman999's Avatar I say, what, what?
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by Prodromos View Post
    This emphasis on obedience might be where you stumbled. You're focusing on what you can do for God and not on what God has already done for you, to which you can contribute nothing. You're still placing your trust fundamentally in yourself and your own works instead of in God, and if that's the case then have you really accepted him as your savior?, or has he merely made your salvation possible, leaving you free to save yourself?
    It seems to be a constant trade between duty and a sense of reward, and determining when reward is warranted. God's grace and understanding is infinite...but if you sin, you must redeem yourself somehow, or your soul is forever doomed. These seem terribly contradictory to me. Much of it, perhaps though, is the result of getting my messaging crossed: I have a Catholic basis for my beliefs but in my day-to-day (such as the school where I work), most of what I hear is from a variety of Protestant denominations.

    Somehow despite my contentment with many things in my life, I can't seem to determine God's part in any of it. I'm left confused wanting to believe, but unable to grasp that belief.
    Last edited by EmperorBatman999; February 05, 2022 at 01:25 PM.

  12. #52

    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by Prodromos View Post
    This emphasis on obedience might be where you stumbled. You're focusing on what you can do for God and not on what God has already done for you, to which you can contribute nothing. You're still placing your trust fundamentally in yourself and your own works instead of in God, and if that's the case then have you really accepted him as your savior?, or has he merely made your salvation possible, leaving you free to save yourself?
    Under the premise of salvation through faith in Jesus, it becomes necessary to know what faith means, because Paul tells the Hebrews without faith it is impossible to please God. One must believe not only that God exists but that he spoke the world into existence and rewards those who earnestly believe in him/Jesus and seek him like Abel, Noah and Abraham. They obeyed God totally and completely even when it didn’t make sense, safe in the belief he would reward them for it in the end. According to John, anyone who claims to know Jesus but does not obey his commandments is a liar, because the love of God is made perfect through our obedience. And so to have faith is to find out what it means to obey God, and do it. Paul tells Timothy everything in the Bible is an instruction on what that means and how to do it.

    All well and good. But for me, if key portions of the instructions fundamentally contradict what we know about the world, how valuable can those instructions be for the diagnosis and treatment of its problems? If the hard evidence says there was no first Adam who introduced death and sin into the world, Paul’s analogy making Jesus the second Adam, the one sent to solve those problems is invalid. The idea that the first Adam’s existence and function are not historical, that they are literary devices or metaphors doesn’t help, because the same might as well therefore apply to the second Adam or the world of eternal perfection the second Adam will bring. To otherwise allege that Paul’s words on the topic are fallible is to undermine the infallible authority of the Bible itself. Since the evidence precludes me from accepting Paul’s Biblical premise as infallibly true, I can’t see how Christianity, as far as I’m capable of understanding it, doesn’t fall apart.
    Of these facts there cannot be any shadow of doubt: for instance, that civil society was renovated in every part by Christian institutions; that in the strength of that renewal the human race was lifted up to better things-nay, that it was brought back from death to life, and to so excellent a life that nothing more perfect had been known before, or will come to be known in the ages that have yet to be. - Pope Leo XIII

  13. #53
    TheDarkKnight's Avatar Compliance will be rewarded
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    The whole "If you don't believe in me you'll suffer eternal damnation...Because I love all my children!"

    Also, far too much bad has happened in history without divine intervention. I don't particularly care for the whole "He's giving us free will to make our own mistakes" argument when you consider the level of suffering a supposedly almighty and loving being is allowing to happen.

    For me it boils simply down to "Why is there so much suffering?" and we are left with several choices.

    1) God is aware, but does not care.
    2) God is aware, but does not have the power to stop it.
    3) God is unaware, therefore does not stop it.
    4) God does not exist.

    If god is aware but doesn't care, why should I worship such a being? Why would I want to?

    If god is aware but can't fix it, why should I worship them? How does that make any difference from the homeless dude I gave food to yesterday? He also is aware, but cannot fix it.

    God is unaware...how? Is God on vacation around a newly forming star and solar system and too busy with creating nuHumans Aiden and Evelyn now that he saw what a mistake he made with us?

    So I come to 4. It's the only reasonable option for my mind to consider.

    There also of course is the fact that god's fan club is...undesirable to me for a variety of reasons. And even as an atheist I find it insultingly presumptuous for said fan Club to go through life 150% convinced their way can only be the way while saying polytheism is silly.

    god desperately needs a new PR Manager if he actually exists and lets those people speak for him.
    Things I trust more than American conservatives:

    Drinks from Bill Cosby, Flint Michigan tap water, Plane rides from Al Qaeda, Anything on the menu at Chipotle, Medical procedures from Mengele

  14. #54
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by EmperorBatman999 View Post
    I've been thinking lately about the feeling of God as a personal presence, acting as a helper and intervening actively to solve issues or drive personal decisions. Although I have been trying to grow my faith for years now (baptized Catholic, fell out of all belief as a teenager, and only now in my early/mid-twenties reinvesting in spiritual thought), I can't help but feel like this sort of feeling is a sixth sense which many people possess but I don't. Somehow I can't look at the world as though God is by my side; at best, I can only think most often and consistently that I am here to serve Him instead.
    Beautiful mate, you seem a very mature spirit for your age.

    I doubt the Gods of the Bible (I read it too much to believe YEC or such nonsense), but the basic argument that there's a universe and likely a creator to my puny intellect seems invincible. My basic nature is to be grateful for the good things and I do feel grateful for the life I've been given by family friends, even enemies, and the likely Creator.
    Jatte lambastes Calico Rat

  15. #55
    basics's Avatar Vicarius Provinciae
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    TheDarkKnight,

    It is written that we as well as all other things were made for God's good pleasure. In other words He authored everything before the worlds were made to be a story about Him as the Central Character, us being bitpart players in this story. If you read Genesis and then the Revelation of Jesus Christ you see our beginning and our end, all in the middle being historical, poetical and figurative expressing God and His dealings with a fallen humanity as the story unfolds. Not much seems understandible until the entry of Jesus Christ into the story for not only did He reveal Himself as God but was witnessed to be God by so many, why? Well it is written that the Jews must have signs and the Greeks or Gentiles wisdom and so by His presence He was the sign and by His words He was and still is the wisdom that this fallen world needs.

    As it turned out the Jews rejected the signs and the Greeks didn't have the wisdom because they were all bound in sin and the Only Person Who could alter that was God Himself which he did by sending His Son to be a Saviour for mankind. To break through sin God drew and still draws men and women to Jesus particularly His action on the cross and His resurrection that they might see at last the depth of their sin and how far that put them from their Maker. In other words the key to the story is what Jesus did at the cross and His resurrection from death for Salvation is built on that Gospel. He is the good news for there is no-one else or anything else that can deliver fallen man from the wrath of God.

  16. #56
    conon394's Avatar hoi polloi
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Still unclear why anyone today basics is fallen and faces any wrath to begin with. Of their actions as adult sure but just in general nonsensical.
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB Dromikaites

    'One day when I fly with my hands - up down the sky, like a bird'

    But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place; some swearing, some crying for surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.

    Hyperides of Athens: We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we (the Demos of Athens) have no need of a master at present, even a good one.

  17. #57
    Morticia Iunia Bruti's Avatar Praeses
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    A god, who sees newborn babies as fallen, deserves no veneration.
    Cause tomorrow is a brand-new day
    And tomorrow you'll be on your way
    Don't give a damn about what other people say
    Because tomorrow is a brand-new day


  18. #58
    conon394's Avatar hoi polloi
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Predestination and the plan for some (why not all ) to be everlasting sock puppets.
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB Dromikaites

    'One day when I fly with my hands - up down the sky, like a bird'

    But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place; some swearing, some crying for surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.

    Hyperides of Athens: We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we (the Demos of Athens) have no need of a master at present, even a good one.

  19. #59
    basics's Avatar Vicarius Provinciae
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by Morticia Iunia Bruti View Post
    A god, who sees newborn babies as fallen, deserves no veneration.
    Morticia lunia Bruti,

    And what about the babies that don't get to be born at all? Who decides that and yet expect to be acceptable members of our communities? Jesus said that we are conceived in sin meaning until we are born again sin is an integral part of our nature thanks to Adam. The key is as Prodromos has written in that it is not what you can do for God, rather what God has done for you in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  20. #60
    Morticia Iunia Bruti's Avatar Praeses
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    Default Re: Why do you believe in God, or why not?

    Adam didn't exist. He's only a parable.

    And what about the babies that don't get to be born at all?
    The pregnant woman. No one else. She's the only one, who has to bear the dangers of birth.
    Last edited by Morticia Iunia Bruti; February 07, 2022 at 02:21 AM.
    Cause tomorrow is a brand-new day
    And tomorrow you'll be on your way
    Don't give a damn about what other people say
    Because tomorrow is a brand-new day


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