Lucky the production of the Bible wasn't influenced by pesky, fallible men who struggle to produce an efficient solar panel but think they can explain the original of everything then, huh?
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How do I believe?
- Thread starter Cody123
- Start date
Lucky the production of the Bible wasn't influenced by pesky, fallible men who struggle to produce an efficient solar panel but think they can explain the original of everything then, huh?
The information came from God, through men who did not pretend to know everything, only that God created everything. Now if they claimed to understand how God created everything I would be expecting a reasonably efficient solar panel from them.
Ponder This
Well-Known Member
What exactly are you looking for? If you are looking for God, then what are you thinking to get out of a relationship with Him?
My advice is to not merely seek, but to examine why you seek and to shatter your ideal on the rock of truth.
If you see God as a fantastic story, then perhaps that is what you will find.
Identical to what we call science does in context to nature or cosmos!!! Seems all very "normal" which might as well be a mental disorder compounded by accedamia.
You already believe that believe is a something, when really its just "normal" and has zero do do with the topic god!!! Its interesting how this topic has devolved into a belief fantasy in normalacy of culture.
Etritonakin
Well-Known Member
The bible defines true religion as visiting widows and fatherless in their affliction and keeping one's self unspotted from the world (keeping the commandments).
I would start by proving that the commandments are the best things to do in this time -and in preparation for the next.
Religion is something you do -righteousness is the best possible thing which can be done in any situation (there is also only one overall situation, so there is a basis for absolute right and wrong, good and evil).
Doing things right has its own reward (overall -though some will be persecuted for it, etc.)
Faith in an afterlife -or true faith itself -is not simply blind belief.
To have faith, one must believe God exists and rewards those who diligently seek him. If one draws near to God, God will draw near to them.
Faith is described as th substance of things hoped for, and evidence of things not seen.
The scriptures advise that we "prove all things, hold fast that which is good".
Faith is something you simply have or do not when it comes to doing the right thing regardless of circumstance and leaving the results to God. Otherwise, people often choose what seems to be the lesser of evils in fear.
However, faith in what will happen after we die -or anything which can not be proved directly -can increase by experience, living by faith and recognizing God's influence over time and studying our own reality.
If you think about it, doing anything the first time is the difficult part.
Doing it again is easier -the work has already been done -and it is just a matter of repetition.
Living again is literally (though perhaps not simply) just a matter of bringing things back to a particular state -or to an improved state. It just happens to be beyond human capability.
From a certain perspective, living the first time is more miraculous than living again.
Also... Is it insignificant that humans live just long enough to get the general idea of how to live -and about the time they start to get the gist of things....they die?
Is it insignificant that -unlike other Earth life -human mental capability and imagination vastly surpasses human physical ability?
Even from a purely scientific viewpoint, does that not indicate that our future is to become more than what is presently known as human?
As for the existence of God... God is essentially everything, so it's a bit like not being able to see the forest for the trees -but the existence of God can be known without knowing every last detail -and there is much evidence of a creative intelligence which preceded man.
PureX
Veteran Member
"Faith" is the key. Faith is trusting in an idea that you don't have the knowledge to prove true.
Trust in the idea that God exists, that God loves you unconditionally, and that God shows you this love every day of your life, through the respect, forgiveness, kindness, and generosity of others. And through those same inclinations within yourself. Trust that this love is the spirit of God manifesting in your world. And in you. And that if you want to be "close to God", all you need to do is be "close" to these spiritual expressions of God. Look for them throughout the course of your day. Revel in them when you witness or experience them. Feed them. Be thankful to God for them. Ask God to help you stay within their influence, in your own heart and mind, so you can share them with others.
It's really very easy. But I think it's a lot easier if you drop the religion, stuff. And drop the need for 'intellectual evidence'. And then simply make the decision to trust in a God that manifests in your life as love, and forgiveness, and kindness, and generosity. Trust in that spirit. Live in that spirit. Revel in that spirit, and you're home free! The rest won't matter.
.
Bo T
New Member
Cody, your question, how do I find faith and what justifies creation of mankind are both great questions, and you are right to be skeptical of religion. We all have built within us a desire to have faith or believe in something. Some people find comfort in having faith in religion, others in the naturalism, humanism, atheism, and all the other isms. While having faith or a belief in a god that has been created by man or is part of the creation may have benefits but they are at best short lived. So the question really comes down to two options, are we going to worship the created or the creator which is the God of the Bible. The Christian faith is not a religion but a relationship with the living God. Seek Him and you will find Him. The Bible will provide the most historically accurate and currently relevant answers to both of the questions you asked and any other questions you may have. If I may suggest the book of John in the New Testament is a good place to start. Joh_3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
MonkeyFire
Well-Known Member
You can't acquire it. One of us is the Faith, the rest only hear. The nature manifest as thought.
osgart
Nothing my eye, Something for sure
well if evolution is real, it still begs the question why is there intelligence in existence, and why do living creatures come with body parts that are intelligently made, the eye, the hand, a birdwing,etc.
The mystery still remains, what intelligence created us, and is there more to reality than meets the eye. science gives us reason to say there is.
I don't see a God so ideal evidenced in nature, so you may have to scale down your expectations.
I want God to be real, but that desire is frustrating.
perhaps one might create for themselves a higher power that is true and fits reality. dream or imagine a better way of life and see if it sells.
ultimately what you achieve will be your reward.
humans can create their own reality, trouble is you might find yourself alone in that journey.
The mystery still remains, what intelligence created us, and is there more to reality than meets the eye. science gives us reason to say there is.
I don't see a God so ideal evidenced in nature, so you may have to scale down your expectations.
I want God to be real, but that desire is frustrating.
perhaps one might create for themselves a higher power that is true and fits reality. dream or imagine a better way of life and see if it sells.
ultimately what you achieve will be your reward.
humans can create their own reality, trouble is you might find yourself alone in that journey.
Well I would hardly call the eye, with it's built in blindspot intelligently made. The birdwing is just years of trial and error until it got it relatively right, the hand is pretty weak, really. It is rather susceptible to arthritis, if one uses it often enough (laborer work, building etc.)
I mean if you look at the ancestors of animals, they kind of look like nature's rejects. It's fascinating really. To see the "errors" of the past, so to speak.
That's not to say that evolution and believing in some kind of intelligent creator or "God" are mutually exclusive concepts, of course.
Science nourishes the mind, God nourishes the soul. Or something like that, right.
I'm happy for you to take that on faith. There's only one way a Bible could help warm a house, so inefficient or not, the solar panel has some advantages.
osgart
Nothing my eye, Something for sure
far from perfect it is, but a crude mind not out of the question.
I suppose.
It's always the question for me, though. If an intelligent being formed us, that being knows how to create humans both with and without a plantaris muscle. So why the differences?
Why can some animals synthesize their own vitamin c but humans (amongst others) cannot?
I'm okay with admitting we don't know, but science would suggest that evolution provides some plausible answers, rightly or wrongly, and historically has shown an ability to improve answers over time, something some see as a bad thing.
arthra
Baha'i
Don't give up searching... What you seek could be very near and close to you.
Akivah
Well-Known Member
So you do believe in an afterlife that you can't see, but don't believe in a god that you can't see?
Akivah
Well-Known Member
For me, it was an inner study about why I believed in certain things and why I did certain things. My personal search led me to the G-d of my fathers. I found certainty in G-d's existence and made some changes to my life. It was an overwhelming positive experience and quite life-changing.