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making sense of it

justaguy

New Member
I'm not sure rationalizing faith has any merit in terms of having faith, but I have a lot of trouble accepting that which seems irrational. Perhaps that in itself is irrational, in regards to faith, but such is only natural.

When I was young I was baptized, at that time I was too young to understand the value of it, or the legitimacy of it. Around age 10 I asked that I be baptized again, and was, because I wanted to ensure it was a conscious act on my behalf, rather than a commune ordered by predecessors... If that makes sense. I wanted to ensure I proclaimed my belief to myself, not just to everyone else.
Even then, just as now, I'm not sure I truly believe in God. I believe there is something out there, greater than us; there has to be, the universe is too large for any other path of logic. Logic holds more truth and carries more weight than anything else, so I find it a valuable transgression of thought.
And even with that said, I just can't see how such a greater thing could truly be so interested in us. We deserve to live life just as much as a seagull or dog or any organism on earth does. Too what degradation of humanity are we justified in being valued by a greater being, such that "he" forever loves us, and will assimilate us into another "Life" after our current life?


True story, there was only one time that I thoroughly believed that I believed in God. It was a time in my life where I was at a complete bottom of my self created pit. I lost everything, and valued nothing. I had recently been re-abused by a parent, whom I had thought had passed from their previous life in which it was the norm -- ie my childhood.
It was nearly 2am, & had sat on my car in the 40 degree weather in shorts for over an hour, listening to the wind, recovering from a buzz of alcohol consumed earlier. As I sat there, I found myself internally shouting at God. Questions like "WHY ME", "What did i do to deserve this", "what the hell am I supposed to do now", "where the f*** are you when I need you", and even things like "screw you God",etc.
Fully enraged by the apparent lack of God, but totally succumbing, or attempting to succumb, to that which I thought did not exist. I was so mad at God, because if he did exist, what permits him to permit such pain and anguish on that(whom) which he "so loves" (seriously). And suddenly, while sitting on my car, smoking my 7th or so cigarette , hands clenched from anger at God and the world, shaking from the cold weather(cold for a texan in shorts outside for over an hour), a strong, VERY strong, gust of wind hit me in an otherwise calm breezy night. It was as if I was slapped by the wind, even the trees nearby bent in it's wake. And I went silent.
It blew the hat off my head, shoved me back against the windshield of the car, and I was forced into silence, within my mind. At that exact moment, I became overwhelmed with warmth, I was no longer shaking from the cold, all of this happening in less than 2 seconds mind you. And words became clear to me, became clear to my suddenly silenced mind, empty mind. "It's time for change". It even gives me chills to this day, thinking about it. All I could do was murmur the word... "Wow"...
It was so sudden, so provided, and so powerful, that it instantly made me cry, I couldn't help it, and the whole thing forced me to smile. I was crying with a smile, with joy in my heart, warmed by the event in cold weather. Suddenly fully believing in God, so happy that I had thought that I had found him & that I understood what I needed to do so suddenly, so accurate, so right.

I have to ponder whether this was actually God speaking, even though the words were just... Made available. There was no tone, no voice speaking, it was just there, as if a large billboard with those words suddenly was placed in front of my eyes... not visually, but rather the effect that such a visual appearance would have... took place.
The shocking part, is that the next day I drove by the same spot that I was sitting at when this took place, and unbeknownst to me at the time, it was the back-end parking lot of a baptist church!! How ironic.



It is the only time that I truly thought that I believed in God... but even though it still gives me chills, can it not be explained by a weak mind longing for strength? A mind of a being who needed change, and was in some form of denial, and needed to remind them self that change is necessary? Could the warmth be simply a bodily reaction to the fear generated in the circumstance? The wind just a coincidence of circumstance, a cause leading to an effect?

And to what end would either case lead? it seems to me that God is available to be believed in, just as much as we need something to believe in -- we make him valid by simply believing. But that doesn't mean he exists, it just means that we need the idea of him; is that not true as a statement?


I suppose I wish I could believe, I wish that I had something such as the idea of God, that I could believe in, that would assist me in my passing of life here on earth. But I have experienced too much trauma in my childhood, things that I did not deserve but was spoon fed anyway. For that I cannot forgive the world, I cannot forgive... "god".
We have organs and a brain, just like a dog does. Dogs have dreams, desires, thoughts, and passion. But a dog also has NO concept of God or anything of that nature, because it cannot communicate on that level with other dogs or entities as it is, and furthermore, the dog does not need God. Why do you think that is? A similair questions is, why don't dogs stare up at the sky, at the stars? They are always looking down, because they can make sense of it, because it promotes well-being.
In what way does that make the dog less deserving of God's love; in what way does that make humans more deserving. Both are vessels containing patterned processes formed by neural connections in a bodily tissue. Point being, how can God truly exist, by obvious logic, when his statement that "he loves all his children"( as quoted in many bible variations) is inherently false? If he does exist under said context, then he would have to be a liar.

It seems to me that God is just a higher-intellectual being's rationalization of inability to comprehend. And assume for a second that this might be the case, would that not work perfectly as a supplement for faith? Would that not make it just as legitimate -- thereby legitimizing the logic stating that God is an idea within a neural network, self generated to promote well-being?
 
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justaguy

New Member
God. I've shown above how easily personal need can be mistaken for God.
How can he exist, when having faith in him is equally sufficient as having faith in something that doesn't exist? It proves that we need the idea of God more than we need God to exist, more than we need the Bible to be valid. In this way, it is almost self evident that God doesn't exist... for how can "he" if our minds can believe (and potentially currently ARE believing) in falsehood simply to believe in it? Simply for our own well-being?

Analogically - It seems much more likely that the blind need walking sticks or attuned hearing in order to see their path. If you catch my drift.

Am hoping that you will digress this, attack it, comment on it. Am looking for others opinions on said matter.
 
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justaguy

New Member
Thank you very much, am glad to join the community.

I don't want to say God doesn't exist, because many people across the world believe. I'm just not sure I can believe, and tried to portray that above. Don't want it to get taken wrong way, just looking for I suppose what keeps others believing, and what provides their foundation in that belief.
 

gnomon

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure rationalizing faith has any merit in terms of having faith, but I have a lot of trouble accepting that which seems irrational. Perhaps that in itself is irrational, in regards to faith, but such is only natural.

When I was young I was baptized, at that time I was too young to understand the value of it, or the legitimacy of it. Around age 10 I asked that I be baptized again, and was, because I wanted to ensure it was a conscious act on my behalf, rather than a commune ordered by predecessors... If that makes sense. I wanted to ensure I proclaimed my belief to myself, not just to everyone else.
Even then, just as now, I'm not sure I truly believe in God. I believe there is something out there, greater than us; there has to be, the universe is too large for any other path of logic. Logic holds more truth and carries more weight than anything else, so I find it a valuable transgression of thought.
And even with that said, I just can't see how such a greater thing could truly be so interested in us. We deserve to live life just as much as a seagull or dog or any organism on earth does. Too what degradation of humanity are we justified in being valued by a greater being, such that "he" forever loves us, and will assimilate us into another "Life" after our current life?


True story, there was only one time that I thoroughly believed that I believed in God. It was a time in my life where I was at a complete bottom of my self created pit. I lost everything, and valued nothing. I had recently been re-abused by a parent, whom I had thought had passed from their previous life in which it was the norm -- ie my childhood.
It was nearly 2am, & had sat on my car in the 40 degree weather in shorts for over an hour, listening to the wind, recovering from a buzz of alcohol consumed earlier. As I sat there, I found myself internally shouting at God. Questions like "WHY ME", "What did i do to deserve this", "what the hell am I supposed to do now", "where the f*** are you when I need you", and even things like "screw you God",etc.
Fully enraged by the apparent lack of God, but totally succumbing, or attempting to succumb, to that which I thought did not exist. I was so mad at God, because if he did exist, what permits him to permit such pain and anguish on that(whom) which he "so loves" (seriously). And suddenly, while sitting on my car, smoking my 7th or so cigarette , hands clenched from anger at God and the world, shaking from the cold weather(cold for a texan in shorts outside for over an hour), a strong, VERY strong, gust of wind hit me in an otherwise calm breezy night. It was as if I was slapped by the wind, even the trees nearby bent in it's wake. And I went silent.
It blew the hat off my head, shoved me back against the windshield of the car, and I was forced into silence, within my mind. At that exact moment, I became overwhelmed with warmth, I was no longer shaking from the cold, all of this happening in less than 2 seconds mind you. And words became clear to me, became clear to my suddenly silenced mind, empty mind. "It's time for change". It even gives me chills to this day, thinking about it. All I could do was murmur the word... "Wow"...
It was so sudden, so provided, and so powerful, that it instantly made me cry, I couldn't help it, and the whole thing forced me to smile. I was crying with a smile, with joy in my heart, warmed by the event in cold weather. Suddenly fully believing in God, so happy that I had thought that I had found him & that I understood what I needed to do so suddenly, so accurate, so right.

I have to ponder whether this was actually God speaking, even though the words were just... Made available. There was no tone, no voice speaking, it was just there, as if a large billboard with those words suddenly was placed in front of my eyes... not visually, but rather the effect that such a visual appearance would have... took place.
The shocking part, is that the next day I drove by the same spot that I was sitting at when this took place, and unbeknownst to me at the time, it was the back-end parking lot of a baptist church!! How ironic.



It is the only time that I truly thought that I believed in God... but even though it still gives me chills, can it not be explained by a weak mind longing for strength? A mind of a being who needed change, and was in some form of denial, and needed to remind them self that change is necessary? Could the warmth be simply a bodily reaction to the fear generated in the circumstance? The wind just a coincidence of circumstance, a cause leading to an effect?

And to what end would either case lead? it seems to me that God is available to be believed in, just as much as we need something to believe in -- we make him valid by simply believing. But that doesn't mean he exists, it just means that we need the idea of him; is that not true as a statement?


I suppose I wish I could believe, I wish that I had something such as the idea of God, that I could believe in, that would assist me in my passing of life here on earth. But I have experienced too much trauma in my childhood, things that I did not deserve but was spoon fed anyway. For that I cannot forgive the world, I cannot forgive... "god".
We have organs and a brain, just like a dog does. Dogs have dreams, desires, thoughts, and passion. But a dog also has NO concept of God or anything of that nature, because it cannot communicate on that level with other dogs or entities as it is, and furthermore, the dog does not need God. Why do you think that is? A similair questions is, why don't dogs stare up at the sky, at the stars? They are always looking down, because they can make sense of it, because it promotes well-being.
In what way does that make the dog less deserving of God's love; in what way does that make humans more deserving. Both are vessels containing patterned processes formed by neural connections in a bodily tissue. Point being, how can God truly exist, by obvious logic, when his statement that "he loves all his children"( as quoted in many bible variations) is inherently false? If he does exist under said context, then he would have to be a liar.

It seems to me that God is just a higher-intellectual being's rationalization of inability to comprehend. And assume for a second that this might be the case, would that not work perfectly as a supplement for faith? Would that not make it just as legitimate -- thereby legitimizing the logic stating that God is an idea within a neural network, self generated to promote well-being?

Much of what people think about about God has less to do with theological questions and more to do with ethnic considerations.

I'm increasingly beginning to believe that the notion of God as much as the modern world concerns the concept has to do with the fact that early ethnic groups concepts of God were adopted into a multicultural framework and fitting the theology into a multicultural framework required a new definition of God.

Another thing to consider is that the concept of any given God, such as an "all loving God", does not necessarily apply to all philosophical considerations of the notion of a God. This is where the problem of debating evil comes into play and one in which I think fellow atheists fall into a trap debating the notion of an all good God, which is nothing more than a fallacious composition, upon all religious belief.

In other words, the concept of God as an eternal being which lies beyond any laws of physics is hardly understandable to a temporal being which is constrained by the laws of physics. This leads to merely speculation on our part and in that sense understanding that early theologies were primarily ethnic centered in developing a cohesive society begins to make much more sense rather than the later theologies which comprised universal concepts of a God.
 

Cordoba

Well-Known Member
Even then, just as now, I'm not sure I truly believe in God. I believe there is something out there, greater than us; there has to be, the universe is too large for any other path of logic. Logic holds more truth and carries more weight than anything else, so I find it a valuable transgression of thought.
And even with that said, I just can't see how such a greater thing could truly be so interested in us. We deserve to live life just as much as a seagull or dog or any organism on earth does. Too what degradation of humanity are we justified in being valued by a greater being, such that "he" forever loves us, and will assimilate us into another "Life" after our current life?

Welcome to the forum

1) You say that you "believe there is something out there, greater than us; there has to be, the universe is too large for any other path of logic"

That's a good starting point

If you believe "there is something out there" then you believe in a Creator who brought us into existence and all this amazing universe

I agree with you on that point

2) As for why such a great Creator would be interested in us, think of a very powerful and wealthy person who own hundreds of companies and billions of dollars, who has a small baby girl just born a few weeks ago. Why would such an important person be interested in spending many hours each day with his little daughter, who knows nothing and is relatively very insignificant?

The clear answer is Love

God created us and He loves us, that's why He cares for us, even though we are insignificant, like a drop in the ocean

Makes sense?
 

The Sum of Awe

Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.
Staff member
Premium Member
Welcome to the forum

1) You say that you "believe there is something out there, greater than us; there has to be, the universe is too large for any other path of logic"

That's a good starting point

If you believe "there is something out there" then you believe in a Creator who brought us into existence and all this amazing universe

I agree with you on that point

2) As for why such a great Creator would be interested in us, think of a very powerful and wealthy person who own hundreds of companies and billions of dollars, who has a small baby girl just born a few weeks ago. Why would such an important person be interested in spending many hours each day with his little daughter, who knows nothing and is relatively very insignificant?

The clear answer is Love

God created us and He loves us, that's why He cares for us, even though we are insignificant, like a drop in the ocean

Makes sense?

How did you jump to the conclusion that this Creator created us specifically?
 

Cordoba

Well-Known Member
How did you jump to the conclusion that this Creator created us specifically?

If we agree that (there is something out there, greater than us), and we know that the universe came into existence around 14 billion years ago, but can't explain how, while The Creator (something out there, greater than us) informs us that He created us and this universe, (with an accurate description of the process detailed in The Qur'an) the pieces of the puzzle would fit

Makes sense?
 

blackout

Violet.
You express yourSelf beautifully, JustAGuy.

I think we help ourSelves,
and sometimes others help us,
in the I'mage of "god".
(god as we I'magine)

It is not a lie to see 'God' in the wind
even if the wind
is only the wind.

YOUR LIFE is Your Story to tell.
You are doing a fine job.

:hug:

V
 

Starsoul

Truth
The thought of God made you calm and made you feel at ease, then it is definitely worth a try ,trying to find out more about Him.

welcome to the forums.
 

Kathryn

It was on fire when I laid down on it.
Love your post. Your honest humility is very refreshing on this forum. I have to go to work right now, so I don't have time for a thorough answer, but I will come back to it. Meanwhile, just know this - God isn't intimidated or angered by our honest questions. At least, that's my opinion. Keep searching for truth and wisdom. There's never any harm in that as long as you don't allow baggage to weigh you down.
 

Starsoul

Truth
What could be more elaborate than saying what one just feels like. Its all about doing the simple 2+2=4 math, or trying to do it the hard way by breaking it down to 0.01+ 0.02+0.02 x.x+ x.x+ n = 4, the result is going to be the same, always. The universal constant Never changes, no matter how many x's it takes us to reach there.

Breaking the pattern down may indicate that you're very intelligent, but not willing to arrive at what the correct answer adds up to, is just not intelligent.
 

Yeshe Dawa

Lotus Born
When I was young I was baptized, at that time I was too young to understand the value of it, or the legitimacy of it. Around age 10 I asked that I be baptized again, and was, because I wanted to ensure it was a conscious act on my behalf, rather than a commune ordered by predecessors... If that makes sense. I wanted to ensure I proclaimed my belief to myself, not just to everyone else.

Hi Justaguy!

I think you were quite self-possessed and mature for your age - good for you! I read through your account of being spoken to through the wind, and I think you will find that many people have had experiences where they felt they were being spoken to. I certainly have! Some people will tell you that it is coincidence, others will confirm your belief that it was something more. In the end, you have to decide for yourself what those types of events mean. The message, if you decide there was one, was meant for you, so don't look too hard for validation from other unenlightened beings.

Peace and blessings
Yeshe
:flower2:
 

InChrist

Free4ever
Justaguy, I really appreciated reading your post. I have no doubt that God was speaking to you. I have had similar experiences. I know others who have also. Some have continued to seek God finding He continues to answer and others have ignored God even when He makes His presence known loud and clear. I believe it is God Himself we need, not merely an idea. Humans, unlike dogs were created in the image of God to have fellowship with their Creator that is the reason everyone is aware of God in one way or another. Nevertheless, the scriptures show that God cares for the animals and takes notice when even a sparrow falls. I hope despite the trauma of you childhood you continue to ask your questions and seek answers from God Himself. He is capable of answering. I can understand and agree that you are not able by your own ability to forgive those who have hurt you, but one of the greatest gift God gives is forgiveness.

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Luke 11:9-10
 
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