Why do you believe in god?

[drich0150]

Well that subject deserves a whole new tread otherwise this one will get derailed. In the interest of Christian cohesion in this thread and in the interest of sticking with the topics at hand, I probably should not have mentioned my annihilation stance. But if you want to talk about it, feel free to PM me, I did a study on this issue fairly recently so I can definitely rustle up some good verses/ arguments for you if you like.

I started a new thread so we can openly bring to light all of your "revelations."

I had to move it to general theology Here's a link:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7432901/#post53927837

 

[ebia]

The title says it all. I'm just curious - why do you or do you not believe in god? I don't want this to be a flame fest, so try and keep it clean.

Because I cannot not.

 

[Hammster]

It is true that you can't make yourself believe anything. That is why you won't believe in God unless or until God reveals Himself to you...

 

[sb81]

I have been a self-proclaimed non-practicing Christian for my whole life but had been drifting further away from God. Recently, I asked myself if I still believed in God. I came to the conclusion that it is easier for me to believe in God than to not.

Yes, I believe that the Eternal God created the universe, earth and us, and really what is the alternative? An inexplicable event caused the universe to come into being? The earth that miraculously can support life, which in itself inexplicably came from some non-living substance, also randomly came into being?

So yes, I find it much easier to believe God created everything rather than believing we are here by impossible odds and that our lives are utterly meaningless. Don't get me wrong, I love my life and it is far from meaningless, but it is God and his direction that has given it meaning. All praise belongs to him!

And for anyone unsure about their beliefs, I highly suggest the book, "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist" written by Dr. Frank Turek and Norman Geisler. - Amazon.com: I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (9781581345612): Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek, David Limbaugh: Books

EDIT: In response to the topic of why is there evil in the world, the answer is because we have free will. Men are evil from birth and full of sin. It is our free will that allows us to disobey. So why do we have free will? Because our God is a loving God, and you can't have love without free will. Forcing one to love another is not love.

 

[twob4me]

~~~~~~~~~MOD HAT ON!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This thread has gone through a clean up to remove all NON Christian posts that are not the OP per this EC FSG rule:

If another non-Christian seeker wishes to ask questions about the Christian faith, they may start their own thread. No more than one non-Christian (the OP) may post in a thread.

Please remember that rule when replying to threads in the EC forum.

~~~~~~~~~MOD HAT OFF!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[fm107]

The universal laws of God are written into all men's hearts. Anywhere you go in the world, no matter the race or the language, everyone has the same conscience.

Everyone knows when they are stealing something or lying about something that they are wrong, their conscience’s are pricked, they cry out that what we are doing is wrong. Your own conscience condemns you! That is why you are left with guilt.

A conscience can only come from God.

Romans 2:15-16
They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. And this is the message I proclaim--that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone's secret life.

That is just one reason why I believe in God.

 

[Trustguard]

Why I believe in God- His creation, His gift of grace, salvation, and faith to me, the indwelling Holy Spirit, His Word in which He reveals Himself to His own, answered prayer, the love He demonstrates, the mercies He shows me- they are new every morning, and because life would be without meaning if there were no Sovereign God, and I have the hope with assurance of eternal life when I die (if Christ doesn't come back before that happens). Why I love God- because He first loved me.

 

[Joveia]

When I became a Christian it was because I had an overwhelming sense that it was true when I read the Gospel of Matthew, but I didn't investigate it rationally until after I became a Christian. So why have I chosen to keep holding on to my belief in Jesus after doing a philosophy degree where I was exposed to all sorts of objections to it? I have a few thoughts on this.

One is that if Christianity is true, we don't really hold the truth, the truth holds us, to quote Tom Gilson, and so we need to remember that God actually keeps us believing. I have had times of doubt but something keeps pulling me back towards Christianity.

Secondly, Christian doctrines make the most sense of the world from a practical point-of-view. If there's a god then logically everyone should be perfectly happy and live in wonderful communities. But the world is really messed up. The Christian explanation is that there's nothing stopping a perfect world from God's end, but people keep frustrating everything. This is what the Adam and Eve story symbolises - evil comes through us, not God. Original sin makes sense when you read the newspaper. And it makes sense that if there's any solution, it would have to come 100% from God's end, because even the most holy and righteous people in this world have flaws.

Thirdly, it's not like no one has thought of arguments for God. Even if atheists can pick holes in them, an argument can be OK although it may not be as strong as 2 + 2 = 4. The resurrection argument is pretty interesting.

 

[Dionysiou]

I believe in God because he has given me spiritual experiences which confirm my belief. The gift of prophecy, visions and miracles are very convincing for the doubtful.

 

[marcusfetzer]

I think therefore I am; I am therefore I believe