This is a question I've been pondering recently. I mean, what kinds of things do you think of that convinces you God is real? If you had to explain your thoughts to someone, what would you tell them?
:coffeeread:
Hi Melancholymuse
This is a great question :D
Here's my reasons.
(1) The natural world.
I know evolutionists acknowledge design but say it is "apparent" design, yet blind chance could be in no way responsible for the beauty and design of the natural world. Every new scientific discovery seems to show immense complexity and smaller levels, and simplicity at higher levels... which should not be the case if we simply "evolved". We were wonderfully designed.
(2) The Bible.
Athiests say we can't use the Bible to prove God, but I think the mere existence of a book like the Bible is evidence of the existence of such a Being. Can you think of one other book that claims to explain the origin of the Universe, the origin of life, why we're here, why we suffer, what the future holds, and claims to be inspired of God?
(3) The Universe
The universe continues to confound astronomers. Over the past 30 years, it has been detected that redshift is "quantized", meaning it shifts in phases, concentric circles as it were... with the centre quite close to our galaxy! The universe is an amazing place with too many barriers to its existence apart from a supernatural Creator.
(4) God's personal communications
I guess this will be different for every person, but I think God has ways of communicating with us at our own levels of understanding. They might be answers to prayers, or just simpler things.
I'm not sure that anyone should ever believe another...unless it's a shared experience. In other words, if we're just walking down the street and I tell you 'God is real!', you'd think I'm just another nut. Here, on the board, or with friends who also believe...we just know. It's summed up in a smile or a wink or a nod. I can explain to folks until I'm blue in the face; but unless they're seeking and God himself tells them...it doesn't resonate within. The countryside is THAT much better than the explanation of it. The symphony is THAT much better than me telling you about it. YHWH is an experience.
Once his spirit is manifest with your own, it's all the "proof" you need. The peace you experience is all the explanation necessary.
;)
gus
Wonderful question.
What convinces me that there is a God is
1. The Bible - God's Word
2. I look around at all the beautiful creation and no other could have done this but our Heavenly Father. Also, we would not have Jesus Christ as our reigning King without Jehovah God.
3. Answer to my prayers. Yes, Satan can make things appear like they are from God but I do not let Satan into my life. He can not and will not blind me, change my heart, or cloud my mind. Even though at times it seems like there will be no answer to my heartfelt prayers I exercise patience and endurance and realize that my prayers have been answered and the only one that can hear my prayers and answer my prayers is Jehovah God through his Son, Christ Jesus.
4. Even now, there are scientist that are now saying that with the creation of the earth that there is a much higher being to have created the universe besides evolution.
Hi Melancholymuse: I can only tell you that every single thing around me convinces me of God’s existence, and the only thing that disappoints me from time is the enormous amount of time that God has taken in order to intervene in mankind’s affairs.
However, one thing in particular that convinces me of God’s existence is the riddle of the egg and the chicken. Which one was first? It is “Logical†to think that one had to be before the other; and yet, when we look at the real world it is obvious to us that that cannot be the case, since biologically neither one can be before the other. This symbiotic relationship cannot be explained from an evolutionary point of view. The chicken cannot exist without an egg and an egg cannot exist without a chicken. The same thing happens with the seed and the tree, which one was first?
The only reasonable explanation is that “Something†had to be before the chicken and the egg. That Something first created the chicken, then the rooster, and finally the chicken was able to lay an egg. That Something is obviously God; the Being that in the beginning created the heavens and the earth.
Interestingly, just the other day I watched a documentary on the History Channel. The name of the program was How the Earth Was Created? Even though that documentary puts forward some theories about how that earth was created, it never mentions the Creator who created the earth. -If it does I don’t remember hearing about it-.
All of the above wonderful expressions are included in my reasons.
I can’t remember how the conversation started, but I vividly remember one summer day when I was around 6 or 7 talking with this other kid and we were looking at a lawn and talking about “How did the grass get here?†"The grass SEEDS thtupid!". Then we went to “How did the grass SEED get here?†We attempted to take it further but our limited understandings of seed design stymied us. But the idea of original generation at some way-small point in time stuck with me ever since that day. Then I brought into the discussion something my Mom had said once “Did you know that the universe goes on forever and doesn’t have an end?†and "Did you know that God didn't have a beginning?" Wow!
I think that’s as far as our spiritual adventure got that day - but the conversation stuck with me and looking back I think was for me my first inquiry into finding God – and I believe he was listening in.
I didn’t have much in the way of a formal religious upbringing but I wound up with a conviction that there was a God of some sort “out there†even though I didn’t have much of the detail. As a kid I used to try to read the Bible starting from Genesis in order to find this “God†but I never got too far. I guess that’s why in later life “the truth†attracted me so much because there were The Answers to The Big Questions I always wondered about - and many more I never even knew existed.
I believe that the Great God YHWH is “out there†probably as much because I want him to be “out there†- then for reasons that I can really prove although I do believe the weight of at least the circumstantial evidence far outweighs the "reasons" why I should believe in evolution . Now and then I drop into an evolutionist chat room out on Paltalk for a reality check – very sobering what people out there actually “believeâ€. I come away so glad that I have faith in something greater than myself. Even if the existence of God can’t be proven and I just invented a good and loving God like YHWH, for me that’s better then the alternative that the universe is a random aimless place with no one running it. One obnoxious guy hit me up with “PROVE there is a God! – YOU can’t PROVE there is one.†That was a watershed moment for me for summarizing conversations with evolutionists - as the reply popped into my head: “YOU can’t PROVE there ISN’T a Godâ€.
I asked myself one day what convinces me that God does not exist. I couldn't come up with a single answer. The miracle of pregnancy perhaps was most convincing. Just last night I was sitting on the couch and my little girl had fallen asleep on me. As I looked down at her closed eyes I was amazed by her eye lashes. I always thought they were nicely aligned. Not at all, they form something like a tight criss cross net before they roll upwards to prevent little intruders from rolling off. The design of the human body is too brilliant to be by chance. Besides male AND female? All that by chance?
Couple days ago at a party I met a woman that disclaimed that she went to Catholic boarding school and that she is now an agnostic moving towards atheist. She asked: "What's the point anyway, look at our sick planet" I asked her if she remembered the payer of the Lord. She started to recite it. I asked her to pay close attention to the part "thy kingdom come....ON EARTH, as it is in heaven. Then I asked her to go back thousands of years and remember the verse in scripture where is says: "I will destroy those that destroy the earth." Even perhaps 200 years ago it would have been some stretch to see a deteriorating earth. Today we don't need much imagination anymore its happening, and it has picked up speed. Braxton Hicks?
Besides the Bible unity itself,the vast evidence in the archeology world.
Here's one reason (There are quite a few others)::D
To quote Kurt Vonnegut:
The only proof I needed for the existence of God was music.
:coolmusic:
Hi Micah,
Where were you?
You were being missed.
:heartbeat::heartbeat::heartbeat:
AR
WELCOME BACK, BEAU!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:
WELCOME BACK, CALIHAVOC, TOO!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:
I've been missing BOTH of you! :love:
iso...
Hi all ...:hibye::grouphug:
What BEAUTIFUL and SWEET pictures jesh and beau ... thanks for sharing ... beau your son has your eyes ... so how can you see ...?:P;):whistle::siskiss::dontknow:
CALI :neofly: ... how WONDERFUL it is to SEE you my dear one :happyheart:... we have been worried about where you have been and hope everything is (or has been) ok with you ...
I too think this is a good question MM ... I have been thinking on it since yesterday ... yeah I know I'm a slow like a turtle ... :giverose: but it really is at least for me ... kind of hard to put it into words ... (yeah it's true in spite of ramblings and rattlings ...:P)
I really loved some of your responses as they are some of the reasons I came up with myself ... but I guess what comes to mind today is ... US ... as HUMANS in the FULLEST sense ...
What I mean by that is the GOOD things we do and can become ...
When we hear of heroic and self-sacrificing love about stories of someone giving their lives to rescue or save someone else ... be it a stranger or family or friend or even animal ...
When we FEEL a 'connection' to the feelings of love, when our hearts seem to grow in our chest because of some joyful thing or feel leaden when we hear of sadness or anger at injustice or our sides hurt from laughing over something funny ...
WHERE does such things come from ... the things that MAKE us human ... so that we are not mere robots 'existing' ... but actually LIVING ... and enjoying (at least to the extent possible right now) life ...
Such good things can IMHO come from NOTHING ... :dontknow: that couldn't just 'spring up' out of thin air ... even the animal kingdom doesn't enjoy life the way that we do ... so their MUST have been a wonderful mastermind behind us ... one who is FULL OF LIFE ... who ENJOYS BEING and wanted to SHARE that joy with others ...:grouphug::heartbeat:
Yes, the human emotions is to me another way in which I KNOW that my God is real ... that he loves us ... and that he cares about us ... and that even if we can ... in our imperfect state ... have the ability to enjoy our life now ... OH MY ... how can we really fathom what JOYS are awaiting us in the future ... :cheer::cheer::cheer:
Well, not sure if I said it right ... but I think some of you may know what I'm trying to say ... :giverose:
Luv to all ... and thanks MM for such a positive and upbuilding thread for us to ponder on ...:nicethread: BR :sheepy: :bouncyhearts:
