What makes you so...

[Sieben]

Confident that you believe correctly?
How do you know?
There are so many counter arguments out there.

One could say it is basically almost impossible to be saved because of it.

 

[Nom De Guerre]

Faith I suppose, my experiences (many of which I've shared with you), and a constant reminder of how close I am to Him; those certainly help, but it's really been my whole life if I were to look at it all. I was born for a reason, resurrected at 2 weeks old under prayer, and have witnessed (along side others) His Glory in ways which were constantly miraculous.

 

[Sieben]

People have all those... they span from many different faiths too...

I don't see how you can be comforted by those

I even have experiences

I have literally had the Spirit touch me, manifest him self to me when I asked him to.

But even that is not comforting

 

[twnsrkr]

The fact that no one else is doing it. The man who teaches me is also quite extraordinary.

 

[Nom De Guerre]

But that Holy Ghost is the comforter, and seeing His hands in your life (and my own, obviously) is something many people wish to see throughout their entire lifetime and never do; it's things like this which make me know that you and I are very much alike, that you are even greater than you allow yourself to believe, and that I've been so blessed to have you in my life.

There are many, many, people whom never know God this way and even if you did show them these miracles they would still not believe (how could they, if they are incapable of understanding Earthly things, how could they understand the Heavens?).

My faith is the faith of joy, love, and all the seeds of the spirit; I know that what I believe about Him is true because we have the living word and our witness (Holy Ghost) to define it for us. I know you know what it's like to be chastised and changed from it, you know that His spirit does many things which will guide and bless you as you delve deeper into the knowledge of the truth and not just the human understanding of words.

 

[MacFall]

Faith is intellectual assent to an unproven proposition. It is not certain knowledge of anything.

 

[Sieben]

Faith is intellectual assent to an unproven proposition. It is not certain knowledge of anything.

Blind faith does not save, though
the gate to life is small, and the path to life is narrow, and few people find it.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

Confident that you believe correctly?
How do you know?
There are so many counter arguments out there.

One could say it is basically almost impossible to be saved because of it.

I'm not completely confident. I don't pretend to know absolutely. Faith is not fact and cannot be proven. If it could, everyone would be a Christian. However, I figure that it maes most sense to place my allegiance in the faith that adheres to the most members, as I feel like it's as close to certainty as I can get.

But heck, for all I know, there could in fact be a Flying Spaghetti Monster.

 

[MacFall]

"Intellectual assent" and "blind faith" are mutually exclusive.

 

[wayfaring man]

If I didn't believe what I believe was true, I wouldn't believe it.

And what I believe, is that God is faithful to confirm His Truth in everyone who comes to Him through receiving Christ's Testimony & Spirit of Faith.

Now this may take some time to be perfected in...but if both God and we wills for it to be so...none can prevent it, for none is greater than He, and if we're in agreement with Him, then we're in the place to freely receive.

And once the truth is confirmed in us, with experience, it's relatively easy to rule out everything which doesn't fit due to incompatibility...or at least leave alone as uncertain, for the time being.

Doubt is strengthened by dwelling on the questionable.

Dwell on what is most certain, and faith grows !

And May The Lord Be Magnified !

wm

 

[Saucy]

I think reaching God and His perfection is impossible, so Jesus took care of that for us. The phrase, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” is used three times in the Bible—once in Joel 2:32 as part of a prophetic account, once in Acts 2:21 by the Apostle Peter during his address at Pentecost, and once in Romans 10:13 by the Apostle Paul in his address to the Roman church.

It IS the easy. And for a reason because man kind can NOT do anything to reach salvation. He is not good enough. The best a man can offer is dirty, filthy rags.

I think if anyone or anything tries to say differently, that you need to jump through hoops, that you need to punish yourself, you need to work so many hours in a church or say a certain amount of hail marys or whatever it is, is a lie from the enemy to get man to attempt to atone for his own sin. He simply cannot do it.

So man may have a lot of different ideas about how to get to God and try many methods, but the only way is through Jesus Christ. God is no respecter of persons. One of us is not better in His eyes because we're ultra-religious. I might as well be Charles Manson.

 

[Rose of Eden]

Faith is intellectual assent to an unproven proposition.

Blind faith does not save, though
the gate to life is small, and the path to life is narrow, and few people find it.

"Intellectual assent" and "blind faith" are mutually exclusive.

The answer really is faith. The Bible says: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) Only when we have faith can we act on it. But how can one become sure of what they hope and certain of what they don't see? Certainly not by blind faith! I think it's when they have seen so much evidence for something to be true and no other possibility even comes remotely close.

Think this kind of faith is impossible? Think again! We have and act on this kind of faith every single day of our lives. We make plans for tomorrow (are we absolutely certain that we're not going to die tonight?) We step onto the ground (how sure are we that the grass beneath your feet isn't really quick sand, hidden by an optical illusion?) We take a breath of air (can you prove that someone didn't poison the air around you with deadly carbon monoxide?) We believe what we hear about history to be true (we weren't actually there to see World War II ourselves...what if all of the evidence for it was fabricated and all witnesses were simply liars and actors? Can you really prove otherwise?) But we believe all of these things and we act on them daily because we have faith. We have seen so much evidence for them to be true that, while we're not 1000% certain, we believe wholeheartedly because no other possibility comes anywhere close. This is how Christians can act on their beliefs I think. We have seen so much of how awesome, amazing, and REAL God is that after considering other possibilites, Christianity makes the most sense...by FAR.

My two cents.

 

[Thunder Peel]

Jesus said He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. That's part of having faith. Also, the change I've seen in myself and others makes me sure. I have yet to see another religion or belief system that changes lives so radically and impacts people as personally as Christianity does. When I look at what God has done in my life and in the lives of those around me I have no doubt that He is who He says He is.

 

[Saucy]

I believe that all other religions on earth are works-based if I'm remembering correctly. Jesus is the only one that says He did the work to atone for all of mankind. I find it funny that Christians seem to want to earn their salvation for some reason and they can't.

 

[MehGuy]

Because I see no good reason to believe in a God. The next best thing I can do is at least be agnostic about a God existing but deep down I lean more towards the Atheist side. I know I do not know with 100% certainty but I wouldn't hold my breath over meeting any God anytime soon.

 

[Rose of Eden]

I believe that all other religions on earth are works-based if I'm remembering correctly. Jesus is the only one that says He did the work to atone for all of mankind. I find it funny that Christians seem to want to earn their salvation for some reason and they can't.

I'm pretty sure you're correct about all other religions.

And my opinion as to why we Christians often attempt to "earn our salvation" when we know we better? Pride. We're naturally sinful, rebellious, wicked creatures and Christ's sacrifice doesn't always feel "good enough" for us. We want to feel like we "deserve" it, because that makes us feel good, important, and special. It all boils down to pride. But that's another topic for another thread!

 

[crishmael]

Confident that you believe correctly?
How do you know?
There are so many counter arguments out there.

One could say it is basically almost impossible to be saved because of it.

I'm not confident I believe correctly. I was raised with the paranoia of a belief system that insisted your beliefs had to be perfectly lined up or you were pretty much hell hound. Thank God, I'm recovering from that garbage and have spent the past few years reevaluating a lot of things and I'm not worried about any kind of purity of belief because I'm comfortable with ambiguity and doubt right now.

And the funny thing is, in Matthew where Jesus describes the judgment of humanity he portrays himself judging people by their works and not their beliefs. I find that kind of funny considering the hysteria some Christians work themselves up to over the idea that works might in any way gain God's approval. I tend to think our faith and works are meant to be two parts of the whole even if sometimes we're stronger in one than another.

 

[Saucy]

It is amusing, but it doesn't speak to the validity of the faith. So what it isn't based on your works? How does that make it any more or less true.
Personally I never understood that.

as others have said, it's about faith. some people won't believe in something unless it smacks them over the head and they have proof of its existence. I used to be an atheist. a militant atheist and I had an encounter with God. Much like Saul before he became Paul I made fun of Christians and mocked their faith and said God isn't real, but deep down inside I always knew God was real and prayed to Him when I wanted something. I always felt watched and cared for.

Now after all the studying and watching and praying and actually truthfully seeking out the evidence, I believe it's impossible that God can't exist. He has to.

Why? because science tells us that the universe had a beginning. there is too much design and intelligence in the creation. the bible says we can just look at creation and know God exists. You can look at a house and know it was design and created by multiple people with creative minds, but you look at a tree that is MUCH more advanced and developed than the house and think it got there on its own? Even the tree will take care of itself but a house will crumble.

One of my favorite apologists says that if you walked on this beach and you were all by yourself and you found this sand castle, would you assume that it created itself? that there were some forces; the waves, the wind or whatever; that created it?? No. You would think someone intelligently created that sand castle. Why would you think that? You don't see anyone around. You can't feel, touch, see, smell the designer of it. You can't explain why or how it exists OTHER than it was created by someone at some time.

That's why I believe there's a God. I see everything around me and see it was designed. Just because I can't see the designer (even though I've heard Him and felt Him and experienced Him) doesn't mean He's not there. the only reason I can think of that someone doesn't want to believe in God is simply because they choose not to for whatever personal reason they choose. the bible says it's rebellion, but i'm not going to insult someone or judge them of it because i've been rebellious. i've known God has existed and felt Him around me as a kid and teenager and still chose to say He wasn't real.

If you can explain to me how that sand castle got there without intelligent design, then you might have a legitimate case to prove that there's no God. Otherwise, I have nothing else to go on.

 

[Ryu2000]

[deleted by M. Bison]

 

[Lord Herdsetk]

I don't really know for sure, but if I did what good would it do me? Knowledge and studying are great, but too much studying is a bad thing. That's not me saying I'm content with ignorance, I'm just content with not having to have all the answers. Life is much more amazing when you don't know what happens next or who or what God really is or looks like. it's alright to live in the unknowns.