Why Do You Believe In God?

Started by MasterMischief, March 19, 2011, 11:22:31 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Lilias

I was raised in faith (in Greece, which at the time was an overwhelming 97% Eastern Orthodox), and this faith survived all the questioning and rebellion of early adulthood. It's as simple as that. I have wavered in many things, but those are aspects of religious practice, not faith itself. My belief that God exists remains unshaken, despite having been through the gamut of crises that life doles out to anyone who has managed to reach middle age.

To me, belief in God means belief that there is more to this world than I can perceive, in space or time; that existence ultimately makes sense, even if I can't understand it; that I need to treat everyone and everything around me with the respect and love they deserve, for the only reason of being parts of this existence as much as I am. That I do matter in this world, although it does not revolve around me.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

Blueduck4000

I was raised in the Catholic church. I don't really believe on the God that I was raised to believe in. I believe that someone watches me and guides me in one form or another. I believe this because at the worst point of my short life when I thought that everything I had was going to fall apart I felt strength. It happened in a second, suddenly I went from doubting everything to knowing that I could get through it. I know that I was touched that day. Someone gave me the strength to do what I had to do.

Ironwolf85

Quote from: Avi on March 19, 2011, 11:39:23 AM
First of all, I am a Christian.  Born and raised in a Catholic family, I converted to the Church of Christ a little over a year ago.  So, I've grown up with the concept of God and have always believed in Him, regardless of what my personal struggles were.  There are two big reasons why I believe in God, besides the usual "Because the Bible say so".  To just say that is a cop-out in my opinion. 

First of all, I believe in God because, when I look at the universe and see how everything is ordered and placed just so, from the organization of galaxies down to the symmetry of the human body and the structure of molecules, it just screams to me that some force had to put it all in place.  The great "natural laws" which govern physics, chemistry, biology, and geology, among other sciences, had to be set in stone somehow, or everything would be completely different.  To me, that suggests quite strongly that there is some kind of overarching reason for their existence, and to me, that is God.

Secondly, believing in God gives me hope.  Believing in God and in Jesus Christ gives me a reason to believe that things aren't just going to come to an end when I die, that there's a good reason for me to strive and be a better person, regardless of how crappy the world may become and how awful other people might be.  It gives everything a sense of purpose, and it gives me something to look forward to.  It allows me to be an optimist, and hopefully I can encourage others to find that same perspective.  Having that encouragement to keep going and to keep trying to avoid the same mistakes in the future is a great blessing for me.

I'm not cathloic, I'm in the other catagory known as protistant, still the pope seems nice enough.
but you basicly summed up my reasoning right there, thank you very much my friend
Prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, love...
debate any other aspect of my faith these are the heavenly virtues. this flawed mortal is going to try to adhere to them.

Culture: the ability to carve an intricate and beautiful bowl from the skull of a fallen enemy.
Civilization: the ability to put that psycho in prision for killing people.

Envious

I think there is a 'higher power,' but the thought is very... background to my life. I don't go to church. I don't pray. I don't have a religion. I don't have faith. To be honest, it's a very confusing subject to me. I believe there is something else, something bigger, but I don't believe in it, if that makes sense. I'm not sure if that classified as something you didn't want to hear a point of view on. Like I said, it's a very confusing subject to me.