I'm an atheist, but I want to believe. As of this moment, I haven't had any compelling reason to believe a god exists, can someone help me?
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ephraimanesti
Senior Veteran
MY DEAR BROTHER,
If you TRULY desire to believe, God, in reality, is the only One who can facilitate your attaining that most worthy of all goals. In all actuality, there is nothing another human being can say which will magically change your opinion from atheist to believer. i am sure you have heard it all before and should realize that this is true. Only God can effect the transformation you state that you are seeking.
That being said, however, it is possible to provide suggestions that will facilitate the working of the Holy Spirit in effecting your conversion. The main one is that you SET ASIDE ALL YOUR PREVIOUS BELIEFS AND PREJUDICES (Yes, although hard, this can be done) and read through the New Testament slowly, prayerfully (asking God to help you TRULY understand what you are reading and to put aside all prejudices from the past which might color that TRUE understanding), and with an open heart and mind. The New Testament is approximately 275 pages in most Bibles--about the length of an average "best seller" and this should not be a problem, probably take a week.
Pay particular attention to the Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--as this is the heart of God's communication to us--the "Good News."
After finishing the New Testament, spent some time meditating upon what you have read and considering whether this is something you find desirable and TRULY wish to believe in and surrender your life to.
If the answer to the above is "Yes", read the New Testament through again, asking God to imprint what you are reading on your Heart and to give you trust and faith in the fact that what you are reading is His Truth.
When you have finished, ask God what the next step is and solicit His aid, support, and guidance in taking the next step--whatever He deems best for you as far as your spiritual growth is concerned. (For many, this might include reading some basic Christian apologetics such as MERE CHRISTIANITY by C.S. Lewis, ORTHODOXY by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton, or something similar.
May our Lord guide you and bless your search for the Truth with success!
ABBA'S fool,ephraim
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seashale76
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Come and see!
I am a firm believer that one can't know what the faith is about truly unless they come and see it for themselves. You must visit a church to learn about the faith. Visiting doesn't lock one into becoming a Christian. I've never yet been to an Orthodox Church where I've seen anyone harassed and hounded into becoming a Christian- and even if you want to become a Christian you would have to be catechized.
Find an Orthodox Church in your area:
Orthodoxy in America
My advice to you:
Pray and do your research.
I will post a few things that it certainly wouldn't hurt for you to read that explain the Christian faith fairly well.
What Is Most Important
The One
Introduction to the Bible
Excerpts from the Orthodox Church by Bishop Kallistos Ware (part 1)
Excerpts from the Orthodox Church by Bishop Kallistos Ware (part 2)
To get you started, here are some helpful resources regarding prayer:
P r a y e r
Let us
Abbreviated Prayerbook
May God continue to guide you to Himself!
YouTube - The Orthodox Church - A visual journey
YouTube - Preview of "A Pilgrim's Way" Orthodox documentary
YouTube - Hermits in Orthodox Christianity
I am a firm believer that one can't know what the faith is about truly unless they come and see it for themselves. You must visit a church to learn about the faith. Visiting doesn't lock one into becoming a Christian. I've never yet been to an Orthodox Church where I've seen anyone harassed and hounded into becoming a Christian- and even if you want to become a Christian you would have to be catechized.
Find an Orthodox Church in your area:
Orthodoxy in America
My advice to you:
Pray and do your research.
I will post a few things that it certainly wouldn't hurt for you to read that explain the Christian faith fairly well.
What Is Most Important
The One
Introduction to the Bible
Excerpts from the Orthodox Church by Bishop Kallistos Ware (part 1)
Excerpts from the Orthodox Church by Bishop Kallistos Ware (part 2)
To get you started, here are some helpful resources regarding prayer:
P r a y e r
Let us
Abbreviated Prayerbook
May God continue to guide you to Himself!
YouTube - The Orthodox Church - A visual journey
YouTube - Preview of "A Pilgrim's Way" Orthodox documentary
YouTube - Hermits in Orthodox Christianity
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If one takes you at your word, then it seems logical that you believe there is a compelling reason to believe God does not exist. If you simply do not believe God does exist, why seek a "compelling reason" to arbitrarily adopt the view that God might exist. Many people think God exists and many people think God does not exist. I suppose you might think all those who hold a differing view are wrong, whereas those that hold the same view as yours are right as rain.
There are of course many reasons to believe in the possibility of God, even if it is the god of Einstein rather than the God of the Bible.
Let me give you one example of evidence for the possibility of God. At the beginning of time there existed by science calls a singularity. Something very small and held together by what we could call an infinite force. There is no way this singularity could start to expand according to our understand. So some force outside our understanding acted upon the singularity and caused it to start expanding. No this unknown force might be God or non-god, we just do not know. But the fact it started expanding provides evidence for the possibility of God.
There are of course many reasons to believe in the possibility of God, even if it is the god of Einstein rather than the God of the Bible.
Let me give you one example of evidence for the possibility of God. At the beginning of time there existed by science calls a singularity. Something very small and held together by what we could call an infinite force. There is no way this singularity could start to expand according to our understand. So some force outside our understanding acted upon the singularity and caused it to start expanding. No this unknown force might be God or non-god, we just do not know. But the fact it started expanding provides evidence for the possibility of God.
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Joveia
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I come from a philosophical background, and I have a philosophical way of thinking, and this has set how I see Christianity. Maybe if you think the same way this may be helpful.
In philosophy a lot of the time a view is supported not because it 'demolishes' alternative views, but rather because it makes a lot of sense. That is, it fits with our experiences and also our intellectual understanding of the world.
A great example of this is the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, which took over philosophy departments in the 1960s, 70s. Wittgenstein, as far as I know, never argued for his views by demolishing alternative views. He basically laid out a really coherent, clear philosophy and that was basically his argument. A lot of people agreed with him because it explained what philosophy is really about in a clear way.
Christianity, for me, is like this.
Intellectually, we see this beautiful universe that looks like a painting without any visible painter. The laws of physics themselves are beautiful and elegant. Everything started in an explosion that raises a lot of interesting questions. So Christianity makes my world make sense on an intellectual level because there is an eternal, outside-time, infinite cause to everything. And It is a person who wants to take care of Its creations, the which being minds are not completely unlike Itself.
In terms of experience, Christianity says that there is something wrong with the world in a really deep way, and that it's our wrongdoing. There's something wrong with even the best of us. No one is a completely perfect saint. The idea that we've all decided to go our own way instead of relying on God's view (original sin) makes sense of this. And the idea of Jesus dying on the cross is an idea that says any solution to our problems has to come 100% from God and not from humanity, which is understandable. And the idea that God exchanged His perfection for our evil on the cross makes sense to me, as a kind of 'character swap' (like out of science fiction).
In philosophy a lot of the time a view is supported not because it 'demolishes' alternative views, but rather because it makes a lot of sense. That is, it fits with our experiences and also our intellectual understanding of the world.
A great example of this is the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, which took over philosophy departments in the 1960s, 70s. Wittgenstein, as far as I know, never argued for his views by demolishing alternative views. He basically laid out a really coherent, clear philosophy and that was basically his argument. A lot of people agreed with him because it explained what philosophy is really about in a clear way.
Christianity, for me, is like this.
Intellectually, we see this beautiful universe that looks like a painting without any visible painter. The laws of physics themselves are beautiful and elegant. Everything started in an explosion that raises a lot of interesting questions. So Christianity makes my world make sense on an intellectual level because there is an eternal, outside-time, infinite cause to everything. And It is a person who wants to take care of Its creations, the which being minds are not completely unlike Itself.
In terms of experience, Christianity says that there is something wrong with the world in a really deep way, and that it's our wrongdoing. There's something wrong with even the best of us. No one is a completely perfect saint. The idea that we've all decided to go our own way instead of relying on God's view (original sin) makes sense of this. And the idea of Jesus dying on the cross is an idea that says any solution to our problems has to come 100% from God and not from humanity, which is understandable. And the idea that God exchanged His perfection for our evil on the cross makes sense to me, as a kind of 'character swap' (like out of science fiction).
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