I believe in God. Who else does and why?

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Thank your for all your replies!

Mostly, I believe in God. I do struggle with belief sometimes, because do to my autism and a seizure disorder, I am frequently not in control of my body and have had to confront on a daily basis the fact that I'm a mechanistic being of electrons and chemicals and any agency I have in my life is at best tenuous and transitory and possibly an illusion, which is very disturbing and in discord with a lot of belief systems based on free will.

However, belief in God has been intensely powerful and very comforting in really dark places in my life, and I absolutely love religion (theology is my special interest.) Also, I had a very powerful visionary experience when I was 18, when I had a vision of the chariot of God. It was powerful because lets face it, anyone can have an ecstatic experience if they dance long enough, and anyone can have an enlightenment experience if they meditate long enough, but to be walking home from the movie theater one night, ask an idle question of God and then suddenly be struck by a vision so vivid you collapse- I mean, obviously there are natural explanations for what happened, but I don't think I can be faulted for finding that to be a powerful testimony of the supernatural.

Plus, I think that the human capacity to find patterns bigger than ourselves is THE defining feature of humanity, and I think God is a powerful expression of that.

I rejected God three years ago ... the closest thing I come to is being some sort of Deist. I do believe that God exists, but that's it. Everything after is up for debate ...

I think the Dutch theologist Harry Kuitert comes quite close with his famous quote (although I know he meant something different with it). He said that all the talking about up there, comes from down here. Even if they claim it's from up there ...

And according to a church historian, the fastest way to loose your religion is to study church history. Amen to that!

Wow, thank you for sharing sashahunter; that sounds like a cool vision! One time I was really lost and almost out of gas and I prayed to God, "Please God, take me home" and suddenly, someone was knocking on my car window (in the middle of traffic) and I rolled the window down a bit and this person out of nowhere said pointed to a road that I should take and I did take that road and I got home. True story. I didn't see that person again and I didn't even know where the person came from.

Thanks for your thoughts Raven.

I believe in God.

When I pray for things in my life that matter, and I'm sincere and pray hard - my prayers are often answered, sometimes in ways that seem far too coincidental.

So, that's my own experience and that's what I believe.

I indeed believe in God. God has been represented in many different embodiments(Buddah, Krishna, Allah). They are all God. God is everywhere. This is because God is more than an entity. God is a One Mind consciousness. God is even inside us. God is energy, which can never be created nor destroyed. Energy can only expand and change from one form to the next. And God always was, is, and will be even at the end of age. Which means we too, were, are, and will always be even after death: which is merely the end of a chapter in our divine complexity of being. We can never not be. We will change form in the next life. Life is nothing more than righteous judgement. A test to prove our worthiness to reach god consciousness and become a far more superior form of our former selves.

This is why I believe in God.

It is to my understanding that religion is actually an extension of science. Science has existed since the the beginning of ancient civilizations(like Sumeria and Ancient Kemet a.k.a Egypt).

These civilizations used religion as a way to describe, understand, explain, and comprehend reality. Its pure symbolism.

Unfortunately, today, religion is more for total control than truth and knowledge.

This has caused a shift between science and religion, which sadly, used to be one.

Yes, I totally agree.

I, too, believe in God. Doubtlessly a big part of it had been because I had been born, raised, and baptized into the Lutheran faith; and in true Lutheran fashion, I believe I've been given salvation thanks to the election to grace earned by Christ's death and resurrection, and not due to any decision I might make on my part. As for science, I have absolutely no problem with evolution or the geologic age of the earth and universe, as I believe God is the author of all creation, even if modern science doesn't fit in with a literalisitic reading of Genesis.

Which religion would that be?

I believe in the concept of Divinity as an all pervading form of self-aware Consciousness which is nothing like the Judaeo-Christian concept of God (Jehovah).

It is closer to the Hindu notion of Brahman Absolute or the Taoist's Tao.

God is the substratum of existence, or the paper that all human endeavour and achievements write upon.

God is without form, but can assume form - like how water assumes the shape of the vessel it is poured into. We are the vessel of God's consciousness. It is also wholly subjective and experiential and I have experienced it.

The God that can be proven or explained isn't God!

There have been many coincidences in my life that go way beyond mere coincidence.

So, the choice becomes to believe in God or believe that I am psychic.

Humility dictates the former.

This is the worst argument in the sense that it's not even an argument. Every religion tells its followers that it is the truth. I hope you have more specific reasons as to why you think it's truth—and not just things you only believe because that's what you've been told all your life. I used to be like that.



This is how I was. I've gone to church my entire life, so I've had the Christian religion drilled into my head from day one. I used to just go through the motions because I had to (I'm still forced to attend church to this day) and that was all I knew. Although I was never a devoted Christian and considered going to church to be a chore, I still believed because the religion was thrust upon me every Sunday.

Once I started thinking for myself, I realized that I had never fully accepted everything I was taught at Sunday school, and I also discovered the less...agreeable passages within the Bible. Now, it actually frightens me to see how many people—at least in my church—will readily believe anything they're told.

I don't have a problem with anyone for following any religion—as long as they've taken the time to process the information they've been given and the decided for themselves whether they believe it. Some may choose to believe it anyway, and that's fine.

As for me, I remain agnostic. I won't say that there isn't a god, because there very well could be. When I was a pseudo-Christian, I saw religion as a burden; going to church was an obligation, having a 'relationship' with Christ was an obligation, 'sharing the Gospel' was an obligation, and praying was an obligation (and was later incorporated into my OCD). I don't know whether there's a god, but I don't care either.

I think of religion as being "faith"-based. People have "faith" that what they believe is the "truth."

People are religious for a reason. People are atheists for a reason. That reason usually lies deep, deep within the person's soul.

That's why I don't argue religion too vociferously.

I am probably a desist of some sort. I have no use for religion.

Denying the existence of God, is like denying the existence of your mother.