Is God Real?

[dhh712]

This is not insult the christian belief. I was raised Christian and spent the last 23 years of my life devoted to God, however I have never had a prayer answered. Since I was a little girl I'd pray for this and that. Mostly selfless things like God heal so in so or God bless so in so. Its confusing. Last year into this year has been the worst two years of my life. Everything that can happen to a person emotionally has happened to me. The boyfriend/fiance cheated and left me, two car accidents (one in which the bf did costing over $6k in damages and he will never pay back), the family is against me, I lost my job, I've had to move, depression and anxiety increasing..but throughout this I still had faith. A friend asked me to stop seeking others for advise and to seek God more, so I did. I stepped up my bible game and prayer and meditation. Nothing. Finally I demanded God to reveal himself to me. To speak loudly so that I knew he was still in control. Even if it was in a dream. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't devoting so much time to air. It's been 8 days and nothing. My heart is still broken, my house hold is still cracked, and my faith has gone to nothing. I am starting to believe this is a waste of time. If I hadn't noticed before, the last 6 years (especially last year and this year) have been a real awakening for me. I am about to throw in the towel. I am starting this as a last resort. If someone can prove to me that God is real then do so. And please don't provide scripture. I have studying scripture this last year and talking to God about his word. Ask and you shall receive, all I want is to know hes not imaginary. I don't mind having a crappy life, but I will not have a crappy life keeping a relationship with an imaginary friend.

No one will be able to prove God to you. If that is what you are going to base your faith on, then you don't have any. Where in God's word does he promise his disciples a happy life? Prove where he says that your problems here on earth will be few. God is a Sovereign ruler of the earth and it is not anyone's place to demand anything of him. We deserve nothing at his hands and every moment that our life is free of complete misery is a blessing. It may feel that it is that way to you right now; I however can imagine ways in which it surely can be worse. Even if it can't get any worse (which I doubt), anyone who finds themselves in these situations is not getting anything less than what they deserve.

What was it 23 years ago that made you devote your life to God? What evidences did you have that made you submit yourself to the authority of Jesus? What changed since then so that now you think it is imaginary? What makes you think that someone else's evidences will restore the feeling that you are not talking to something imaginary? God does answer all of our prayers. Just because it is not the answer we want does not mean that is goes unanswered.

My only advice to you would be to attend if you are not already a Bible-believing, Christ-centered church, continue to read the Bible and pray for God to free you from spiritual desertion; it sounds as though that may be what you are going through and it is an awful place to be. One thing that keeps me from despair during these times is knowing that during our time here on earth the process of sanctification will make it so that our lives are conformed to Christ. And one thing is certain is that Christ was a man of sorrows; he was deserted by friends and ultimately deserted by God. The misery we have in this world, Christ has shared with us. If we want the happiness that is to be found in this world and not what God has put in our life (whether it be transitory happiness or a difficult life), then it is a certain thing that we want nothing to do with Jesus.

 

[Thir7ySev3n]

Please stop ! She is not selfish...youre probably a person who God communicates with daily..if you experienced what she did..*exactly* you'd feel the exact same way... We all need a little proof to believe what we believe...so stop bashing her!

Now on to the OP.. I never experienced God's love or felt warm fuzzy feelings but more than anything God has communicated with me through my dreams..i always wondered why God wouldn't talk to me the he talked to others..

However, I have basic faith... When I look into the world...i see god in the trees,sky,people, the stars in the sky and always know he's with with me...

Even if I am physical alone...i just dont feel entirely alone..and that is a blessing

.just look at what you do have..if you just believe god exists.. And read daily..your ahead of alot of people...

God wont hold you accountable for not being a pastor or evangelist if he has called you to be that...

Please hang in there.

I wasn't bashing her, AND I have gone through what she's gone through and more! I have been through terrible breakups, I've been cheated on, I lost my mother in 2011 to suicide so don't assume that I've not been through anything.

(Note to OP: I do answer your question within this post, and would happy to provide further arguments and evidence if required as I have studied Christian apologetics thoroughly over the last 10 years. However, I have also included some Scripture in here which is important to your situation. Do not be deterred by this, and if you are genuinely seeking answers, I will do everything I can to satisfy your questions. Do not take any blunt admonishment I offer as insult but as constructive criticisms, which they are meant to be)

Her problem is undoubtedly rooted in selfishness. There is much ignorance here as well, but selfishness seems to be the root cause of that as well. I agree that we all need to have our faith reinforced by the activity and presence of God in our lives, but the presence of selfishness in our hearts will always drive a wedge between us and God, and our ability to apprehend that activity and presence when it is provided, which is far more often than we like to realize through a superficial and agitated examination of our lives and general situation. The consequence of our examination filtered through this kind of heart is exactly why Jesus said, speaking in hyperbole:

"“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26)." And also: "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:12-13)."

Why would Jesus make such a powerful statement concerning how our love for Him ought to make our love for others and ourselves look like hatred in comparison, if we weren't expected to have trouble in these relationships? Which is why Jesus also said, concerning the fate of those who bear His name: "From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law (12:52-53)."

Jesus, in response to alerting us to the troubles we would face, admonished and encouraged:

"“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33)." He also said: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27)."

All of that being said, God is gracious and patient, and not willing that any should perish (Matthew 18:14). So concerning your request for evidence of God's existence, there is a plethora in both the natural world and in the substance of the human mind/spirit, such that even the simplest mind can apprehend the existence of God without excuse for rejecting the evidence of the immediately available and obvious observations (Romans 1:20). One of the most powerful, rationally apprehended evidences of the existence of God is the necessity of a first cause that is comprised of criteria sufficient to constitute a description of God on a natural theological level. This argument goes as follows:

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore the universe has a cause.

In addition to the fact that there are no viable models of the universe which can satisfy a self-existing, self-sustaining universe, and that there is no model which even attempts to do so that also does not itself require a beginning, there are two complementary ways we can know the universe must have had a beginning a finite time ago. First, an infinite universe is literally impossible. The problem with positing an infinite universe begins when you attempt to extrapolate from an infinite past the course of time that lead up to the present moment. Think of the answer to this question: If I were your friend, and you were discussing your financial struggles with me, and I told you I was going to give you $6,000 dollars to cover the expense of your damaged vehicle, and you asked "When?", to which I responded "After an infinite amount of time", when would you receive this compensation? Undoubtedly you would understand this as, at best, a poor attempt at a levitating joke. You would understand the point is that you will never receive this gift because an infinite amount of time is, by definition, impossible to reach.

There is no point in time throughout the succession of moments you could even have a concept of closeness, as you are never getting closer to that moment in time at which you will have reached that which has no end. What this means is that if you want to believe the universe has an infinite past, you must believe that there was an infinite amount of time prior to this moment right now, which is equivalent to saying that this moment is equal to infinity+1, which is absurd. It is absurd because you will never reach an actual infinite, neither in the future nor extrapolating into the past.

The second problem with an infinite universe is that we know the resources of the universe are limited and are perpetually expiring of their heat and energy content into an inevitable cold/heat death of the universe. This cold/heat death will be caused by the combination of exploding stars and the corpses of already dead ones, endless drifting apart from one another since the beginning of creation til this present day. This process of the separation of galaxies and the stars and planets within them is accelerating relentlessly, until inevitably we will have reached a point where the universe will be so broadly spread and spent that it will be an utterly dead and unlivable environment. If we had an infinite amount of time before this moment, this is exactly what we would be observing right now, with the universe already infinitely in a state of utter expenditure and cold darkness.

You could try to avoid these issues by saying that perhaps the universe spontaneously appeared inexplicably a finite time ago, out of nothing. But this position is just as logically impossible as the previous one, as something can not come from nothing, since nothing just is not anything. It has no properties, no potentialities, no substance; it is simply the absence of anything at all and so can produce no thing of any kind.

From what we know about the nature of the universe--it's limited time, resources, space, potential and material nature--we can deductively infer that whatever created the universe must transcend all of the qualities possessed by the universe. The first cause must be timeless (this is logically necessary given the aforementioned impossibility if an actual infinite), spaceless (it must extend beyond the borders of all created space to cause all that constitutes its boundaries), immaterial (it must not be of limited energy or resources as it is logically necessarily that it is eternal), incredibly powerful (as expressed through the immense energy required to create the substance of the entire universe), changeless (as explained, it must be eternal/timeless) and personal (as it would have to possess a free agency by which it could determine from an eternal state when to create matter, space and time itself).

Therefore, from the necessity of timeless, spaceless, immaterial, incredibly powerful, changless personal cause of the universe, we can infer that at least a general theological position is warranted. From there, we would have to progress towards a particularly Christian theism, which entails many arguments for the historical reliability of the Gospels, the accurate translation of Scriptures including Old to New Testament as established by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (which are approximately 99% consistent); It would include the historically attested facts concerning the ultimate fate of Jesus of Nazareth that is attested by even a vast majority of non-Christian New Testament historical critics, that Jesus was in fact crucified by the Romans under the order of Pontius Pilate, that He was burried, that His tomb was found empty and that the disciples genuinely believed He had risen from the dead. The conclusions as to what satisfies these historical facts vary, but the evidence for these facts remains multiply attested. The conclusion of Jesus' resurrection is demonstrably the best explanation for the ultimate fate of Christ, but considering all of the arguments and evidence that exists for all of these claims (not to mention that there is also the evidence of miracle and fulfilled prophecy), I would request that you PM me for more details if you do not find this answer intrinsically satisfactory to your question. I would be happy to oblige.

 

[Noxot]

when an infinite being unites to a finite thing it becomes a type of infinite due to the nature of the thing that is greater, but it also preserves the finite. all things existed in some way inside of God forever otherwise nothing could be created. that is why the Trinity is the primordial reality for all other existence. being cut off from the good who is God who is the perfect being that all beings moves in and is moved towards whilst they remain free, leads to a reality that is to some measure non-being and to some measure being. thus is revealed mortal creation. the Son of God is very important to Christianity. he is the second person of God. he is both fully human and fully God. whatever humanity truly is, is something rooted inside God himself. the first and second adam are ultimately, the same son due to the nature of the Trinity. however in duality there is infinite potential for an eternal separation from God. if there was only the Father then we would all have no wills, no freedom, nothing because it would always be the Father doing things. but another important thing about Christianity is the revelation that God is a Trinity. the love and freedom of the first two revelations of God join in love and freedom to reveal the third person, the eternal kingdom of God where the duality that has the potential to create hell due to separation to God is finally resolved. you can see this "light" of God in our universe and in yourself. all good things that can not be "burned up with fire" are saved and preserved in an eternal world and it reflects itself here to the degree that one is part of that reality, hence why mysticism or theosis is very important to Christianity.

so in religious life we wish to exist as near to God as we can for otherwise we will start to feel the vanity and nothingness of non-being, though God does not let us slip all the way into it as we would not exist and he thinks that insane people, that is, people who are a mixture of good and evil, do not see clearly enough to be able to make the choice to exist or not exist, since evils nature is the lack of good, it wishes to consume itself but it can not and so it trys to destroy that which is - the good. the power of the devil is lies. God is the truth. however we must all reject evils and love God of our own freedom. God has no desire to make us slavish automations... in fact it is the world that wants people to become automatons in order to make 'peace' because the natural world does not requires the freedom of the spirit, it only requires that you keep existing and reproducing and to uphold the systems of natural life on the earth, though everything of this universe ends in death which can not be avoided.

thus freedom is needed for love which is why the possibilities for evil to be exist. only divine love can hold this universe together, when people fall away from the kingdom of God things take their natural course of an inferior reality. this universe is already in some ways broken and if we conform to the natural perception that we have of it alone, we will by no means live in heaven. we will only live in heaven to the degree that we participate in heaven whether we believe in God or not.

because God is much more than beliefs. he is what eternal life is and he is so good that he denied his own freedom that we might have freedom, for freedom that is given is not real freedom. but we don't have this freedom in being and in our natural universe to high degrees yet because a baby with such powers might at a whim do things very chaotic since its freedom is not enlightened by love. thus existing as mortal creatures helps us to become what we are forever becoming, in the image of God in the kingdom of God that God may have someone to love and that God may be loved.

however when we were first created we were all the same and thus the universe as it is and the bodies that we have are all causes and interactions going on with God and his children. the condition of being created good is good but a greater condition of being is to freely choose the good always, thus many of us at some point fell to sleep but the soul of Jesus did not. there are many possible reasons as to why we are here in this kind of reality but I think that they are all linked to the kingdom of God. by going through this kind of experience of our world we become ourselves be it good or evil. thus God waits for each of us to react to his call of love, he desires from each of us a free expression of love. that is why sometimes we find ourselves in such a weakened state. it is for the sake of love.

so one 'proof' of God is that sin messes everything up and that only the kingdom of heaven can make this world nice and beautiful. nothing makes sense in a world cut off from God, it only has meaning as much as we can be with God in it.

 

[Razare]

I stepped up my bible game and prayer and meditation. Nothing. Finally I demanded God to reveal himself to me. To speak loudly so that I knew he was still in control. Even if it was in a dream. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't devoting so much time to air. It's been 8 days and nothing.

I want to say, I believe your faith is amazing. And I think you are a wonderful person to seeking God this diligently.

I have met God twice in vision and dream, once as the Father and once as Christ as the Morning Star. I have also had open visions of demons and spirits.

I have to say, had I never had any feedback from God, I probably wouldn't be a Christian. When Christ came to me as the morning star, and I believed I was God's child then, it led me to Christ. But had that not happened, I am not sure I would be a Christian. And even before that, I had assistance from God to believe in God.

Yet how all this started was not by experience. I didn't have this dramatic experience where God showed up. It actually started a lot simpler than that. I was an atheist, and I was looking for ways to believe in God, but I realized this hinged upon what truth was. So I went looking for the truth first, this is where I started. I found truth out of the bible when I studied the concept of moral philosophy taught by Christ. I believed it. I lived it.

Then by believing and living it, it led me down a path in life which ultimately led me into dramatic experiences, but the beliefs came first.

So what do you believe? What is true?

If someone can prove to me that God is real then do so. And please don't provide scripture.

I can, yes. But "please don't provide scripture" is the wrong attitude, because scripture is how God is going to reveal himself to you. And I'm not talking about just reading the word, I'm talking about miracles and visions. Those come out of scripture too.

So here is how you prove God without the visions because God controls visions, we don't.

We prove God by miraculous healing. This is what Christ did, this is what the Apostles did, and this is what we are commanded to do.

You mentioned you prayed for healing of others. That's kind of sketchy. It is called "faith healing" because those other people have to have faith, and so interceding can work for them but it's imperfect. If it just worked 100% at distances like this without any authority, then I could just get the whole human race healed tomorrow. It can't be done because I don't have authority over the human race. I have authority relating to some humans, but those people also have authority over themselves, and so this is intercession... I speak life over them in the spirit, and they speak death over themselves, and I know that in Christ, my words are stronger than the death they speak and they end up blessed. But it is a constant battle.

However!!! Concerning myself, I have complete authority, so I have been healed miraculously of all sickness and disease. I no longer get colds or flues. I intentionally expose myself to it as well, to show the devil I do not believe in his illnesses. So, this is where you start. You should be in perfect health as a Christian, and you do it with the authority of God.

Believer's Authority the book by Kenneth Hagin is what first taught me to use my authority. This is when miracles began happening in my life and the lives of others.

Where you may have issue is that I came into this already 100% certain of God and certain of Christ. So then I had no doubt about the miracles either. That said, the devil is so weak, he is going to have to obey your words if you speak them in faith.

You have faith because you have been reading the Bible a lot. This is good. This means that you can bulldoze the unbelief you're experiencing because you have God's spirit in you which can bulldoze it in-spite of yourself.

When you have faith in God's word, asking God what his will is, or "ask and you shall receive" is unbelief if you stay stuck in the asking. You have to get to the point where you already got it. And so, when you command healing with authority, with a conviction in your heart that you're willing to die over, the devil moves and caves every step of the way by Christ.

If you don't have any health issues for yourself or your children, then you can also pray (command) for weather miracles.

Weather miracles and healing are the minor exercises of faith, the only level below this is giving tithes and offerings. You should also be giving tithes and offerings, if you haven't done this, then you haven't exercised the least of your faith, and your faith can dry up and be hindered.

So, Giving in faith + commanding God's will be done on Earth (deliverance from the curses) according to the word, will manifest miracles 100% of the time. What fails in this equation is us, not God.

But be sure to command, I do ask God stuff but asking 9 times out of 10 is unbelief by Christians. "Is it your will to heal?" "Please heal me." Both are unbelief and oppose God's word. If God said he healed you already in Isaiah 53, why would anyone ask for something he already said he did? You wouldn't. It's unbelief and nothing will happen.

If you don't want to do weather miracles, you can also do miraculous finances. That one is pretty good too. God has tripled my income in 3 years since becoming a Christian, and one of my failed investments is up 1000%.

So God is awesome and he is real, and he wants to reveal himself to you, but I think the issue is strongholds of unbelief and not doing what the word says in order to see miracles. The miraculous is always born first from the word. Even God must operate that way as in Genesis 1.

And send me a private message if you have an issue and want some advice to see a miracle in that situation by prayer. I know how to pray okay. If it concerns yourself, it can certainly be done. But with other people, it goes into the realm of intercession. When we intercede, we don't always see victory. For our personal lives, the victory in Christ is always attainable, but always by a level of commitment from us.

Edit: Listening to that video I was wrong about receiving visions, you can get visions from God by the word, I just never knew the verses about receiving it so that they would actually happen based on what we're doing in relation to the word. So you could go directly for visions / revelation from God if you use those verses he gives. I'll have to do it myself.

 

[NothingIsImpossible]

Problem is you are talking about God as if He is a genie. Genies give you whatever you want, whenever...etc. God does not. God knew when you would be born, he knows when you will die. He knows everything. The thing about praying is His answer isn't always yes. Sometimes its no. Sometimes its wait. In some cases He will not give you a yes because Hes waiting for something in you to change. For me I made finding love my idol for years. Made many bad decisions because of it to. Including losing my virginity unmarried. After getting help on this forum I stopped making love my idol and thats when He lead me to my wife.

Alot of my prayers don't get answered how I would like them to. And honestly when I was younger it made me mad at God. I rebelled for WAY to long because I never would get healed. Didn't help I heard people saying "Your not praying hard enough!". I know He has plans to help me, not hurt me. Which is another thing to remember. If He gives you an answer other then yes then its for a reason. We tend to think of our futures and plan accordingly. But He has better plans. So sometimes we need to take those no answers and say "Well God, even though I really want this thing, You must have something better planned for me!".

Heres something to consider when it comes to wanting stuff. Everything you have is from Him. And He gives you TONS of gifts every day. Confused? You woke up this morning with another day of life right? You have a roof over your head. You have some way to get online. Clothes on your back. Food to eat. Maybe even transportation. You live in a country where you head will not be cut off. He blesses us every day with this stuff but because of sin being around we always want more and forget to be thankful for what we do have.

Now, lets assume you get a yes to something you prayed for. Lets say its to finding a husband for example. By the next day there may be a problem anyways. What do I mean? Well even if every prayer gets answered, there will always be problems in life. And these two last years, for all you know there may be harder ones at some point in your life. I think this is why so many christians struggle (even I did and do at times). Its because we think being a christian will be a cake walk. Like some hollywood movie or romance novel. But lifes not like that as a christian. And really in some cases our lives will be harder because we have to fend off a world which dislikes how we live. Views we have and so on. Even the bible said we will be hated because of His name.

IF you take anything from all this remember God loves you beyond ANY love a human can show you. Beyond words. A love we will never fully understand while here. He sees you upset and His hand is on your shoulder and He weeps for you. People forget that. He doesn't sit there enjoying our suffering.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Hi sounds like you are going through a bit of a testing time. I once had a person tell me that what I was going through would help others. I had a lot of trouble, not believing in God as such, but I had trouble believing he could use me or even cared that I existed. I thought I was gong to hell.

However I have come out of that time and have now seen many miracles. I have seen God instantly heal a woman with a bad back through my prayer. We have had a family member who was given death notices, raised back to life through prayer, not just my prayer, I attribute it to her father a Christian who would not give up praying for her. People in our church (who have since move on to do a church plant) have seen even paralysed people walk, and keep walking, fully restored. Our pastor has seen some healing too. I have heard from God many times, often he will tell me future events, things that will come to pass and they do. He told me once a famous person would die, and they did. He also told me once he was going to put a client on TV, and they were. Many things like that. I attribute the miraculous to spending time with God, and living obedient to His word. I am not perfect, I fail to do a lot God would ask (spiritually speaking), but He still lets me in on stuff, and uses me from time to time. DO I know God is real? Yes 100%, not even 1% doubt.