How can you honestly believe in God.

I think South Park has the best answer to this question. god is just a flying spaghetti monster.

And why would i base any beliefs if any in any form of god on just some guys interpretation of the bible. I think the bible is just a story some people made up about them selves back in the day while they were smoking. and being human and not having an answer they create "God". Simple as that

p.s. i was joking about the smoking and the bible thing, still think its just a story though

and thats your choice to make, God gave you that free will to either believe in Him or to not. thats the awesome thing about God, he doesnt make you do anything.

The question remains.
How are you positive that the encounters you had are with an ACTUAL angel / god.

I believe in this guys story and I have never even met him. maybe it was a human being that had been burdened in his heart by God to give those exact words to this man. God works in mysterious ways. and whoever witnessed to this man did exactly what Christ had commanded, to preach the gospel to all nations, this man was just one out of many.

[edit on 7-8-2007 by Methuselah]

I'm sorry, but I have to say that it just sounds bad when people like you say things like "it's your choice to believe in God, he gave you free will because He loves you."

That's like a parent using ill-logic to trick kids into something, only a little more convoluted...

Kind of like...

"Hey kids, if you eat your broccoli I'll take you out for ice cream! It's your choice, you have free will. Oh yeah, by the way, if you DON'T eat the broccoli, not only are you not getting ice cream, but I'll lock you in your closet for all eternity. But never forget...I GAVE YOU THIS CHOICE BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!"

[edit on 7-8-2007 by iceofspades]

Originally posted by Hexidecimal
Why do you, those that do, believe in God?

...

Prove to me, your god. Why do you believe.

I want to state first that I believe in something... I'm not quite sure what, other than a "higher power." I've never read the Bible or Q'uran or other religious texts, but nevertheless I believe. To answer your question, "Why do you believe in God?" I answer with faith.

All of you that don't believe in God

I said why I believe in God. Now, I want to pose a similar question: "Why do you believe the sun will rise tomorrow?"

[edit on 7-8-2007 by Luap]

Most people deny this statement im about to make but its true for many of people who do not believe in God.

One big reason people do not believe in God is because if they did, it would change their lifestyle.... if they came to accept the bible as fact and truth, it would change them in a way they wouldnt want to be changed, only thing is, they dont know that the change the would go through is so good and so fulfilling. they think they dont want change because being Christian doesnt seem fun, or it cramps their lifestyle, or because they cant be gay anymore or they cant smoke weed anymore, or they have to clean up their language... stupid excuses.

No one said being a Christian was easy, it was promised that we would have eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Let me ask you non-believers something. suppose there were people out there getting arrested and persecuted for crimes they did not commit. what would you do about it???

Originally posted by Methuselah
One big reason people do not believe in God is because if they did, it would change their lifestyle.... if they came to accept the bible as fact and truth, it would change them in a way they wouldnt want to be changed...

You seem to equate "God" with "Bible" here. I'm spiritual, I believe in God, but I've never even read the Bible. Am I a walking contradiction to you?

Methuselah
Let me ask you non-believers something. suppose there were people out there getting arrested and persecuted for crimes they did not commit. what would you do about it???

What does one's spirituality have to do with one's dislike of injustice?

How I lost my faith, a brief history (this only addresses the Christian God)

I was born into a family that was trying, and failing, to be good Christians, and trying to instill those beliefs in me... I did the whole Sunday School thing and by the time I was eight or nine had accepted Christ as my savior, but I was never fully able to be a Christian... how could I, going to a public school, cursing like a sailor by the time I was in fifth grade (along with all the other kids)... years passed, and my "faith" clashed completely with middle school, and then high school life, swearing, dirty jokes, the basics... my father, who'd been an alcoholic had his "turn around" but we still were on the border of the poverty line...

I went to church every Sunday, begged God constantly to change my heart, cleanse me, transform me, do some miracle that would make me a better person, every Sunday I came home thinking I'd been changed, but I was the same hormone bound teenager come Monday... One night I put out a piece of paper, and said "God, if you're real, sign this paper, leave some mark that I know you're real" ... of course there was no mark... doubt clouded my mind "Perhaps I don't have enough faith to get God to answer, perhaps this, perhaps that..."

My dad would pressure me into youth groups and bible clubs that I felt uncomfortable in, and didn't want to join. My dad had me paranoid about the rapture, about having to be ready every waking second of everyday (in fact, when the first news of 911 came in I thought I'd been left behind) but eventually I grew older and farther from my father's religion, because things were started to come to light... CHRISTIANITY DIDN'T MAKE ONE LICK OF SENSE!

A perfect God promotes his right hand man and suddenly EVIL IS SPAWNED FROM NOWHERE! From a perfect world where there was no sin sin suddenly came into being?! God throws Satan to Earth but then decides its a nice place to start a new species?! And God also manages to plant trees he doesn't want anyone to eat from right where he creates his beloved new creation... Rather than contact his fallen creation through MANY RELIGIONS this God decides to use just one... God, an all powerful omnipotent being created Heaven and Hell, Hell for the devil and his angels, and yet us, his creation, whom he supposedly loves enough to send his own son, are doomed to go to hell if we commit one little sin that we don't repent of (or if we never accept Jesus alltogether)... couldn't God create another place to put sinners, what there isn't enough room in the whole universe for a Dimension of Lenient Punishment...?

and the worst one of all: Jesus claims to set you free, but in order to be free you must serve him, I used to see that as a sort of "Holy Paradox" but as soon as I was out of the church for a length of time it didn't make sense... its like this: There are two slave masters, Satan and God, if you're Satan's slave you get squalid quarters, and ridiculously hard labor, if you're God's slave you get a big slave house and fairly easy labor (though sometimes you will be persecuted)... I don't want to be a slave to anyone, deity or otherwise...

I'm still open to the idea of a deity, or a higher power of some other kind, but, like us all, we can never KNOW a god/God exists until we pass from life, until then the best any of us can do is BELIEVE...

Originally posted by Methuselah

The question remains.
How are you positive that the encounters you had are with an ACTUAL angel / god.

I believe in this guys story and I have never even met him. maybe it was a human being that had been burdened in his heart by God to give those exact words to this man. God works in mysterious ways. and whoever witnessed to this man did exactly what Christ had commanded, to preach the gospel to all nations, this man was just one out of many.

[edit on 7-8-2007 by Methuselah]

Just to let you know I am not a "guy", I am a woman and I thank you for your belief in my story. This is not the first angel encounter I have had in my life but it was the one that had the greatest impact on me. From this encounter I discovered I had a destiny to help other victims of gang stalking.
The choice to not believe in a higher power or my story is your choice alone and I refuse to waste my energy on trying to convince people of the existence of a higher power. I know that God has helped me and gave me a mouth to do his work and my job is to use my mouth for the exposure of GANG STALKING AND HARASSMENT. I refuse to waste my energy on trying to convince those who do not believe in God and I only want to spend my most valuable time and energy on getting the word out about gang stalking. I am an activist and I use this and other forums to try to educate people about this travesty of justice. My post was an activism moment THAT HAD RELAVANCE TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTION.
Debbie Newhook

[edit on 8-8-2007 by iamcanadian2]

much of the bible is a triple cryptic message i think. You know how there is a bible code after the computer age..

well i think you can combine the 1. text, the 2.actual artifacts in some cases mentioned and the 3. bible maybe, and it will lead you to some ancient knowledge maybe. I cant think a message like that would make any other logical sense.

Just to let you know I am not a "guy", I am a woman and I thank you for your belief in my story.

sorry about that, I didnt read close enough. either way, im sure you got my point. hope I didnt offend you. :-(

You seem to equate "God" with "Bible" here. I'm spiritual, I believe in God, but I've never even read the Bible. Am I a walking contradiction to you?

Psalms 119:11 says "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." if you never read the bible, you will never know how to not sin against God. you can only glean off of other people for so long before you have to find the answers for yourself.

Guys, I am new to this site, but I am going to throw my couple cents in. There are very complex things in the world, as people have said. One thing is the complexity of the human brain. Not bashing evolution, but even the most Darwinist people have agreed that for DNA to randomly come together is like taking all the pieces of a watch, putting it in a box, shaking it until it becomes a functional watch. People will probably say that it is possible, it would just take a long time. This is very true. But keep in mind, humans are the only ones that have any concept of divinity, or higher brain functions for that matter. What makes us different than apes, our closest ancestor?

Another thing, there is too much that science cannot explain, how many times have scientists went back and said "oops, my bad, Earth is round" or "well, the sun is the center of the solar system". Nothing wrong with science, I am all for it. I am an astronomy minor, and I think it is amazing. But science is not perfect and never has been. Then again, neither has the Catholic "Church" or any religious system for that better. Basically, I am trying to say something made Order out of Chaos, whatever it is.

Just to give the "religions" some credit, without them, would people be out on the corners during winter ringing bells? Would people be taking a day off and feeding those who have no food? Would people give a flying frank about anyone else but themselves?

Again, just throwing my opinion out there, those are my beliefs and I take them seriously as I take all the other opinions mentioned in this forum.

Best Regards

That's an easy one. Everything that anyone accepts as truth is "belief".

People believe all sorts of things, but the most predominant belief through the entirety of human history has been in Gods of some sort.

Its the personification of "Here there be dragons". Pretty normal actually for people to believe in God. Whether or not its pure folly, pretty much everyone's belief is at some level pure folly, especially those logic buffs.

I don't believe in god per se. I just need something to believe in. I put my faith in a power higher than myself.

well see that bad thing is this if everyone who believes in God is wrong then nothing happens when they die good woohoo......buuut the scary thing is this for everyone who ignores God and Christ when they die it'll be hell like as the whole going to hell part will suck......so acknowledging there is a God seems like more of a better choice.....ignoring him is just dumb

Originally posted by thestatue
well see that bad thing is this if everyone who believes in God is wrong then nothing happens when they die good woohoo......buuut the scary thing is this for everyone who ignores God and Christ when they die it'll be hell like as the whole going to hell part will suck......so acknowledging there is a God seems like more of a better choice.....ignoring him is just dumb

I quite agree. It's better to be safe than sorry.

All i have to say about this is that I personally don't beleive in god because if there was a supererior being that created everything wouldn't he have control over everything. And if he did create everything why would he create diseases like AIDS or Cancer. And If this so called "God" controlled everything why is there innocent young children that live in third world countries dying everyday of starvation. How could this "God" let these things happen to his very own creations. Cuz if he does exist wouldnt we all technically be his children, if you had the power to create the world would you create things that could potentially hurt or kill your very own children. And say that a god does exist there is so many different religions and different gods how can you say that the religion or god that you beleive in is the right one?..You can't. There is no way of proving that he exists or doesnt. All im saying is what kind of Person/God/Supirior being could knowingly cause the deaths of his own children..

Originally posted by thestatue
well see that bad thing is this if everyone who believes in God is wrong then nothing happens when they die good woohoo......buuut the scary thing is this for everyone who ignores God and Christ when they die it'll be hell like as the whole going to hell part will suck......so acknowledging there is a God seems like more of a better choice.....ignoring him is just dumb

but what if baal is real and you don't woship baal? then you go to baalist hell.

you're throwing out the flawed pascal's wager argument, but the thing is that you're actually worse off worshipping the wrong deity than no deity at all.

Originally posted by thestatue
well see that bad thing is this if everyone who believes in God is wrong then nothing happens when they die good woohoo......buuut the scary thing is this for everyone who ignores God and Christ when they die it'll be hell like as the whole going to hell part will suck......so acknowledging there is a God seems like more of a better choice.....ignoring him is just dumb

So you believe out of fear? Wow...

Do you forget that Jesus never talked about a heaven after death, but a kingdom of heaven that was at hand. Live for today, forget about after death.

Originally posted by Hexidecimal
So someone primitive wrote down some ideas, and someone later in time make a book out of them. Doesn't mean it was.

Prove to me, your god. Why do you believe.

So you go to the river... fashion some clay into a bowl.

Let it dry out... then eat a meal from the bowl.

Is the object you have labled "a bowl" not still just a glob of river clay?

Through dillusion, you may call it a bowl... ask someone to pass you the bowl... You may even wash out the bowl... have your dog lick the bottom when you're done eating from it...

But it is still just a glob of river clay.

You can change the world, label it, like or dislike it, use it or just bear witness to it... but like the bowl is clay... the world, the whole of the universe, is still just God.

I am,

Sri Oracle

ha ha only problem God is the one true God not some pagantrized worshipped demon named baal.i am an angel i am not a believer of any faith my existence is part of a faith system.all other religions are man's search for God but christianity is God's search for mankind

Originally posted by Methuselah

Psalms 119:11 says "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." if you never read the bible, you will never know how to not sin against God. you can only glean off of other people for so long before you have to find the answers for yourself.

Actually, when you think about it, that's an extremely un-Christian thing you believe in. Jesus taught to all people, regardless of their literacy or comprehension of religious texts. That was one of his purposes--to assure people that you don't need some book to make you holy. All you need is to believe in God and DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE DONE UNTO YOU.

It amazes me how much that simple, all-inclusive idea has escaped the majority of Christians throughout the religion's history. Jesus DID NOT PREACH THE BIBLE. He preached goodwill and justice, nothing more.