Without evidence, how do you distinguish belief from imagination?

[3sigma]

By taste:

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

So what you are saying is that once you have experienced the hope, the security, the joy or whatever that your belief in your God brings you, you don’t want to lose it. This does nothing to help you distinguish your belief from make-believe. It just tells us why you prefer fantasy to reality.

 

[ephraimanesti]

I’ve been told many times by Christians that there is no sound, objective evidence that their God exists. I’ve even been told to stop asking for evidence. I’ve been told by Christians that the existence of their God cannot be proven or disproven. So I find it difficult to understand how you distinguish your belief from make-believe.

Perhaps a better question would be: how do atheists distinguish their disbelief from wishful thinking? As Paul explains, "All that may be known about God has been made plain to all men, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools."(Romans 1:19-22)

Without evidence or proof, how do you distinguish believing that your God exists from imagining that it exists?

There is more than ample evidence for God's existence for those honest enough--and wise enough--to accept it as such. For example, any honest person familiar with the intricacies of the Universe in all their beauty and glory will have a very hard time swallowing the ludicrous idea that it is all the result of a "great cosmic accident" and random chance.

You can’t use subjective evidence, feelings or faith to distinguish your belief from make-believe

SAYS WHO?

ANSWER: Says atheists whose only way to be able to cling to their self-created Godless worldview is to deny any evidence to the contrary by using self-created "rules" of evidence created out of whole cloth and designed specifically to rule out this threatening evidence to the contrary. Given that Spiritual realities obviously--BY THEIR VERY NATURE--cannot be measured, weighed, photographed, dissected, or grown in a petri dish does not make them any less real than material objects which can.

The bogus "rules of evidence" insisted upon by atheists are meaningless to all but the desperate.

because all those things can be products of your imagination.

i never in my wildest dreams could have imaged the wonderous Loving God who has taken up residence in the hearts of Believers--nor, i believe, could anyone else.

Had i been able to imagine Him, i would have sought Him sooner!!!!!!!

A "godless universe" and the wild theories desperately concocted to explain away the need for a God Who created all the wonders we see around us--now, for sure, is the work of fevered imaginations!

There is no way to tell whether those things are real or imagined unless you have some external evidence to support them. So what do you use to distinguish your belief from make-believe?

When you feel, moment by moment, the presence, working, and direct communication of the Living God in your heart, no external evidence is necessary to support a belief in God. THAT WHICH YOU EXPERIENCE NEEDS NO PROOF BEYOND THE EXPERIENCE. The fact that millions have experienced the same thing over the past 2000 years just supplies further--though unnecessary--cooberation to personal experience.

The nay-saying of the self-deluded/self-blinded just provides cause for sadness and prayer.

A BROTHER/FRIEND/BOND-SLAVE OF CHRIST,
ephraim

 

[chosenpath]

You can dig and dig and dig but what you are trying to find is not of the body but of the spirit.

Mark 16:6
But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.

Luke 24:3 -5
Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?

 

[3sigma]

Perhaps a better question would be: how do atheists distinguish their disbelief from wishful thinking?

Actually, I think that is a nonsensical question. Wishful thinking is believing something without any regard for logic and sound evidence just because you want it to be true. A lack of belief is a lack of wishful thinking. Those who believe engage in wishful thinking—those who don’t believe, do not.

There is more than ample evidence for God's existence for those honest enough--and wise enough--to accept it as such.

Substitute ‘credulous’ and ‘gullible’ for ‘honest’ and ‘wise’ and this will be closer to the truth.

For example, any honest person familiar with the intricacies of the Universe in all their beauty and glory will have a very hard time swallowing the ludicrous idea that it is all the result of a "great cosmic accident" and random chance.

Right… It’s much easier to swallow the story that some undetectable supernatural entity for which there is zero sound, tested evidence spoke it into existence on a whim.

SAYS WHO?

Say those who value logic, reason and sound, tested evidence.

Given that Spiritual realities obviously--BY THEIR VERY NATURE--cannot be measured, weighed, photographed, dissected, or grown in a petri dish does not make them any less real than material objects which can.

Well, actually, that does mean they aren’t real. Spiritual means of or relating to supernatural beings or phenomena. In other words, things outside nature or reality. Real means occurring or existing in actuality; having objective independent existence. The phrase “spiritual realities” is an oxymoron.

The bogus "rules of evidence" insisted upon by atheists are meaningless to all but the desperate.

The type of evidence insisted upon by atheists is the same type of evidence used by scientists and the courts. There is nothing bogus about it at all.

A "godless universe" and the wild theories desperately concocted to explain away the need for a God Who created all the wonders we see around us--now, for sure, is the work of fevered imaginations!

Are you serious? Do you really think that all scientific knowledge and theories have been desperately concocted by fevered imaginations? I’m beginning to think that you are a little too divorced from reality to engage in meaningful conversation.

When you feel, moment by moment, the presence, working, and direct communication of the Living God in your heart, no external evidence is necessary to support a belief in God. THAT WHICH YOU EXPERIENCE NEEDS NO PROOF BEYOND THE EXPERIENCE.

It appears that you have never considered the possibility of self-deception or perhaps there is something causing you to ignore that possibility.

The fact that millions have experienced the same thing over the past 2000 years just supplies further--though unnecessary--cooberation to personal experience.

Right… Because we all know that arguments from popularity couldn’t possibly be wrong and personal experience couldn’t lead to self-deception. So I suppose that because millions of people believe that Santa Claus is real, it must be true. And the further millions who believe in astrology, homeopathy, faith healing, reiki, iridology, reflexology and other pseudoscientific nonsense means that all of those are true as well?

The nay-saying of the self-deluded/self-blinded just provides cause for sadness and prayer.

Of course, a True Christian would never feel superior to atheists in any way…

 

[3sigma]

You can dig and dig and dig but what you are trying to find is not of the body but of the spirit.

I agree. I suppose you know that when you say something is of the spirit, you mean it is of the mind—in other words, it is imaginary.

 

[chosenpath]

I agree. I suppose you know that when you say something is of the spirit, you mean it is of the mind—in other words, it is imaginary.

Thats right I can only imagine because God is omnipotent and nothing here on earth compares.