Why do you believe?

[SuitCase]

Good morning, everyone. I just joined, hope you don't mind me getting right to the point.

I'd like to get to know what your reason(s) were to start believing in god. It's as simple as that, really, I'm just curious. Additionally, if there's an interesting development, I'd like to know about that, too. I would like you to use this structure:

How it started: (for instance...) my parents told me about god (plus additional information if you want)

Today: (for instance) I still believe, but I base that belief more/less on the bible than I used to, because...

So I'm really only looking at personal reasons. I hope for many replies.

 

[Catherineanne]

Good morning, everyone. I just joined, hope you don't mind me getting right to the point.

I'd like to get to know what your reason(s) were to start believing in god. It's as simple as that, really, I'm just curious. I would like you to use this structure:

How it started: (for instance...) my parents told me about god (plus additional information if you want)

Today: I still believe, because...

So I'm really only looking at personal reasons. I hope for many replies.

I cannot remember how it started. As far as I can remember, God has always been with me, and I have always been aware of his presence beside me. It has often been a better presence than any other. I am told I attended Sunday School from a very young age, and that my brother liked it because the vicar's wife made salmon sandwiches for us, but I don't remember any of that. My earliest memory of Sunday School is distinctly unpleasant. We had moved house and at the new Sunday School the teacher asked me if I knew the Lord's Prayer, and I didn't know what she meant, so she made fun of me in front of the other children. I can see the room in front of me now, and I can still feel that humiliation. I was five, and the chances are that if she had started, 'Our Father ...' I would have been able to continue. She did not put me off God, but she did put me off Sunday School.

I still believe today because God has never left me. He has always been faithful to me, so I have no reason to be unfaithful to him. As with the Sunday School example, I do not hold God responsible for the failings of his church, wherever I encounter them. If we allowed the church to put us off God, there would be no believers at all.

I am not sure if that answers your questions or not.

 

[SuitCase]

Oh, quite elaborate. Thank you.

Judging from your answers, I assume you were brought up in a Christian household and therefore you were directly 'in touch' with the Christian faith from very early on. Were there rituals at your home, saying grace or praying together in general? What did you like about religious practices (+which) as a child?
When you say god never left you, what role does god play in your life? As in solace, comfort, decision making (+how),...

 

[Catherineanne]

Oh, quite elaborate. Thank you.

Judging from your answers, I assume you were brought up in a Christian household and therefore you were directly 'in touch' with the Christian faith from very early on. Were there rituals at your home, saying grace or praying together in general? What did you like about religious practices (+which) as a child?

No, none of that. My dad was formerly a Methodist lay preacher, but had stopped some years before I came along. No family prayers or rituals whatever. My parents sent us to Sunday School, but they did not ever go to church themselves except for weddings and funerals.

When you say god never left you, what role does god play in your life? As in solace, comfort, decision making (+how),...

God is beside me in my journey. I would usually ask him about important issues, in case he wants to direct which way I go, but he very rarely does; usually if I get an answer it is, 'You choose', so I do. I don't ask him silly things, such as what milk or loaf of bread to buy.

I pray a lot, because that helps me to stay on track, but in one sense I never stop praying, because God is always here.

 

[ebia]

My family is nominally Church of England, but little actual involvement in faith.

I choose to go to the sunday school in the village's independent Evangelical church, and later to go to the Church of England church. Got confirmed and became a server. Drifted away a bit after university and got tugged back.

Just a series of constant pulls by God towards his people over time.

 

[Jo-Jo]

Ermm, I was brought up in an athiest household so I was very sure that God did not exist. But when I was about 15 I started to have doubts and a close christian friend of mine told me to pray - so I did. I think I asked God to help me find him if He was there - and He did. I believed from then on. I can never explain to people what changed my mind apart from the fact I just KNEW God was listening to me I hope that answered your question!

 

[Bible2]

Why do you believe?

God has made it so that people cannot possibly come into faith through their own will (Romans 9:16, John 1:13, 6:44) or through their own intellect (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16). Instead, faith can only come as a miraculous gift from God (Ephesians 2:8, John 6:65, 1 Corinthians 3:5, Acts 13:48) as people read the Bible (Romans 10:17), without hardening their hearts against it (Hebrews 3:15).