Why I believe in God?

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Originally Posted by Nathster

I haven't always been an agonostic, I was a practising Catholic at one point. But what got rid of that belief was 9/11, the castrophe that befell America, seemed so tragic and I felt so strongly against it towards God, to which I questioned "Are you real? If so, why let this happen?" That day forward, I stopped believing in the power of prayer, and began beleving in the power of action.

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Hi! Nathster.
Well, 9/11 was really a bad thing and a monumental event in the history of mankind. But if we look back clinically, then there have been worse happenings in terms of numbers of deaths for e.g. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atom bombs, world war I and II to just name the few. Also these are events actually caused by human beings and OK, I concede God remained passive. His reasons for this I really do not know but guess it for greater goodness.

Just to loose faith in God because of 9/11, I don’t know how far it is correct. I just wonder whether all those families who were directly affected by the event have lost faith in God or some still continue to have faith. It will make for an interesting survey.
I remember reading a true story ‘Alive’ wherein a plane carrying sportspersons of a nation crashed in snow capped mountains. Many died but there were survivors also who remained alive for a period of over a month. On what food does these surviors live on. Well, they ate from the bodies of their friends because that is all what was there for them to survive. These survivors believed in God and were also close to their dead pals. I recall reading something like.’ When we get up in the morning in midst of these huge mountains, everything was so quiet so beautiful, so still that you could feel the presence of God’. The sentence sent a current through my whole body.

I think when first human beings came on earth with nobody to tell them about God, then in the magnificence of nature, their own smallness, their helplessness, or gratefulness for small miracles, they must have felt the urge to look upwards for a superior power. Sometimes I think God has conditioned our minds to believe that there has to be a God.

Still, it is very good thing for you say you believe more in power of action than in God. If you also remain a decent sort of guy, God may again approach you through His strange ways and make you believe in Him.

Hi, NikolaiI.
Thanks for a nice solid reply. I read what you write in other threads and found it very impressive from a young person like you. I just hope that with passing of years, your faith remain rock solid and help others around you. I believe God in the same sense as you do. Even when I wrote we are also God, I also wrote about a veil separating us and yes, our realizing a God consciousness state is a more appropriate expression.

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Originally Posted by dzebra

In my experience, the most important thing in life is Love. The most wonderful thing in the world is Love. The worst thing to be without is Love. The most sought-after commodity is Love. Nothing can change a person like Love can. When a person has Love, he will tell you he needs nothing more.

A God whose entire teachings can be summed up as "Love everyone" has clearly recognized this. A God who is the embodiment of Love must, by nature, be worthy of worship.

I believe God is Love. Love is an easy God to believe in.

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Well, dzebra. I think you have hit the bull’s eye. It is said that realizing God is being in eternal bliss state – free of hate, anger, jealousy, ego, fear, ignorance, sadness etc.etc. What should be left after filtering all this has to be love and joy.

Thanks, planet earth for the beautiful reply for your believing in God. I just wish there are more readers telling why they believe or don't believe in God.

Honestly, if you believe in a supreme being controlling everything, then you believe that supreme being wanted everyone who is suffering to suffer, everyone who is hurting to hurt, everyone who is killed pointlessly to be killed.

Religious people like to attribute all the good things in the world to god, but why not atribute the bad ones? If someone you know contracts HIV, according to the believer, god wanted it. If someone gets hit by a car and dies, according to the believer, god wanted it. According to the believer, if a child gets kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and brutally murdered, god wanted it.

Alright, have it your way, god wanted it. All the bad in the world, if god exists, is a reflection of god. All the bad things in human kind are reflections of god, as he is the creator. Marry Shelley didn't get her Frankenstein from nowhere. She stole it right out of the Bible.

For all the preaching of the good of Jesus and Christ, I have seen no preaching of the bad. The only consultation given is that in Job, which tells us that god can do whatever he wants, make us suffer whatever he wants, and despite that, we are not aloud to question them. I say **** that, I'd rather keep my money than toss it into that idiotic coffer the church calls charity (and by church I mean synagogue too).

JBI

I think you are actually looking for perfection, and that is why you want everything in this world to be perfect, but why don't you look a little bit further, the perfect world is present, and had been prepared even before we ever existed. That is the simple reason why this very short limited world is non-perfect. If we seek perfection, we must seek The PERFECT. He has actually intentionally made of this world a place that is not perfect to make us strive for him who is Perfect. If we find him we will find perfection even in this world and will sure meet with THE PERFECT, in His Mansion, The Mansion of Peace, soon as he allows this to happen

I believe in God but I believe we have the power to make this earth a place of suffering or not. We are completely responsible for our actions. I think we should keep in mind, however, that the earth is a very small percent of the whole universe, much less God. Beyond the earth is infinite worlds. We have the power to take earth to anywhere in that system.

Hi, JBI I have been thinking what to reply to your post.

You say.” Religious people like to attribute all the good things in the world to god, but why not atribute the bad ones? If someone you know contracts HIV, according to the believer, god wanted it. If someone gets hit by a car and dies, according to the believer, god wanted it. According to the believer, if a child gets kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and brutally murdered, god wanted it.”

I am not sure whether’ God, wanted it’ is a right phrase but yes God was definitely aware of all this and He did not intervene. Why? I guess it as a long-term plan, and not as a ten, twenty or hundred years plans, we human being are conditioned to think. But yes, if a fallen person tries to get up, shake off his dust and move on in life, then he may find God’s help coming.
While thinking out your answer, I tried to find out, what famous Helen Keller who was deaf, dumb and blind person thought about God? She could be more authentic representative than us who lead easier life. I just pray that all this is correct and hope that you find some answer here.
The link is as given:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=4536329


NPR.org, April 4, 2005 · This essay aired circa 1951.
It is Helen Keller who salutes you. You are not familiar with my voice, but my friend Polly Thomson will interpret the belief I have written from my soul.

I choose for my subject faith wrought into life apart from creed or dogma. By faith, I mean a vision of good one cherishes and the enthusiasm that pushes one to seek its fulfillment, regardless of obstacles. Faith is a dynamic power that breaks the chain of routine, and gives a new, fine turn to old commonplaces. Faith reinvigorates the will, enriches the affections, and awakens a sense of creativeness. Active faith knows no fear, and it is a safeguard to me against cynicism and despair.
After all, faith is not one thing or two or three things. It is an indivisible totality of beliefs that inspire me: Belief in God as infinite goodwill and all-seeing Wisdom, whose everlasting arms sustain me walking on the sea of life. Trust in my fellow men, wonder at their fundamental goodness, and confidence that after this night of sorrow and oppression, they will rise up strong and beautiful in the glory of morning. Reverence for the beauty and preciousness of the earth, and a sense of responsibility to do what I can to make it a habitation of health and plenty for all men. Faith in immortality because it renders less bitter the separation from those I have loved and lost, and because it will free me from unnatural limitations, and unfold still more faculties I have in joyous activity.
Even if my vital spark should be blown out, I believe that I should behave with courageous dignity in the presence of fate, and strive to be a worthy companion of the beautiful, the good, and the true. But fate has its master in the faith of those who surmount it, and limitation has its limits for those who, though disillusioned, live greatly.
It was a terrible blow to my faith when I learned that millions of my fellow creatures must labor all their days for food and shelter, bear the most crushing burdens, and die without having known the joy of living. My security vanished forever, and I have never regained the radiant belief of my young years that earth is a happy home and hearth for the majority of mankind. But faith is a state of mind. The believer is not soon disheartened. If he is turned out of his shelter, he builds up a house that the winds of the earth cannot destroy.
When I think of the suffering and famine, and the continued slaughter of men, my spirit bleeds. But the thought comes to me that, like the little deaf, dumb and blind child I once was, mankind is growing out of the darkness of ignorance and hate into the light of a brighter day.

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What I am about to say is next to word for word from a book of which I treasure, All the Kings Men, written by Robert Penn Warren. Rather than read everyone's post here and smash my face through a wall, I will produce a post of why I don't believe in god.

"God cannot be fullness of being. For life is motion. [] For life is Motion towards Knowledge. If God is Complete Knowledge then He is Complete Non-Motion, which is Non-Life, which is Death. Therefore if there is such a God of Fullness of Being, we would worship Death. [] For Life is a fire burning along a piece of string---or is it a fuse to a powder-keg which we call god?---and the string is what we don't know, our Ignorance, and the trail of ash, which, if a gust of wind does not come, keeps the structure of the string, is History, man's Knowledge, but it is dead, and when the fire has burned up all the string, then man's knowledge will be equal to god's knowledge and there won't be any fire, which is Life. Or if the string leads to a power-keg, then there will be a terrific blast of fire, and even the trail of ash will be blown completely away. [] If the object which a man looks at changes constantly so that knowledge of it is constantly untrue and therefore is non-knowledge, then motion is possible. And Eternal Life. Therefore we can believe in Eternal Life only if we deny god, who is complete knowledge"(Robert Penn Warren, All the Kings Men).

This is quoted from a conversation in the book. The "[]" are to show where I jumped around on the page in the conversation.

I meant to post this yesterday but my internet blinked out right before I could... anyway

"Trust in my fellow men, wonder at their fundamental goodness, and confidence that after this night of sorrow and oppression, they will rise up strong and beautiful in the glory of morning."

This is very beautiful! I believe the same thing. Morning always follows night...

I think the sharpest suffering we can experience is simply being separated from God, or turning against Him. I think surrendering to God is the only way to grow, to begin the progress of awakening our divine nature. Since God is unlimited, life in Him is unlimited.

I personally think anyone with religious thoughts or feelings is delusional. Not an insult, as the majority of the world is this way. The human mind is VERY subject to delusions, and when someone experiences a feeling or delusion they can't explain, it's very easy to credit it to something that bases its whole philosophy on figures being too great to be explained. It makes sense, but it is a delusion.

"magic like.."

ugh.

This question merits a lot of reckoning and in point of fact God is not something we can fully understand. From time memorial so many questions have been asked and but sadly we never had the answer of this. All answers about God's existence well up in man's mind. It is really exciting to ask questions with respect to God.
It is really romantic to ask questions about God and more romantic to try to answer out of the fabrics of your imaginations. You can weave beautiful supernatural stories out of imagination and can tag answers to them, and this will be followed by posterity.

In fact if I argue for or against the existence of God I will tell lies to myself. For I have nothing to substantiate this fact other than back up it thru what I have heard from others, thru my conditioned mind.

Let everyone have his or her idea about God. Theism or atheism everyone can have his or her independent idea.

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Originally Posted by NikolaiI

I believe in God but I believe we have the power to make this earth a place of suffering or not. We are completely responsible for our actions. I think we should keep in mind, however, that the earth is a very small percent of the whole universe, much less God. Beyond the earth is infinite worlds. We have the power to take earth to anywhere in that system.

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if i may, where precisely is this place beyond earth?

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Originally Posted by chasestalling

if i may, where precisely is this place beyond earth?

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Of all creation, the materal universe or realm is only about 1/4th of it. The other 3/4ths is taken by the spiritual realm, which is beyond the material sky. We're all here in the material realm because we wished to enjoy separate from God, but when we got here we realize it's like a prison. Our natural state is service to God, and if we remember this and awaken our transcendental God-consciousness, then we go back to Godhead after we die. The only way out of the material universe is to serve and worship God.