Do You Believe in God?

When analyzing the reality of God and the existence of said God or gods, it's safe to say that there is a capital-S "something."

Being raised Catholic, I grew up with stories about miracles and salvific actions and such, but I never came to question their authenticity. As of a few years ago, however, I decided to delve into some research.

Now, concerning Jesus, the man believed to be unexplicably God and man. When a miracle, or a physical representation or manifestation of God, occurs within the Catholic Church, it must be put through rigorous examination in order to be proved true. This action, while I do not know of the testing involved, holds for me a certain suspicion. How can it be proved true, and if false, what then caused the anomaly? I digress. Most accepted miracles in the Church usually involve the change of the Host, believed to be the flesh of Jesus Christ through transubstantiation (the act of changing into Jesus' flesh while still appearing as unleavened bread), into actual human tissue, which is usually DNA tested. These tests usually yield the same results: 30s, Middle Eastern descent. Now, considering there is usually no counter-argument ever described, I find it odd modern science has apparently "not responded."

As for the Father, first person in the Trinity (long explanation that basically mean 3 parts in 1 being that all work separately; it's a Mystery of the Church) and Creator of the universe, nothing much can be said. He simply willed the universe into existence and watched over its inhabitants.

Now, the dark horse of Catholic catechism that is usually described by Christians, the Holy Spirit or Ghost. This part of the Trinitarian God is basically the one that controls everything on Earth, from conscience to salvation. Now this part of God does not puppeteer, according to the Church, but merely polices; it watches over humans and influences them to follow "God's Will" (basically just loving EVERYTHING). Granted there is a lot deeper theology involved, but this is the gist.

With all that said, I think that Trinitarian theology is very possible. However, I don't think that the Bible, the Catechism, and the Pope provide infallible information regarding "God." They're all branched from humans, regardless of divine influence. With Trinitarian theology and the base idea of free will, humans can include personal belief. That, my friends, is what I believe.

 

You start with some sceptical thoughts here but you do not finish them. "I think that Trinitarian theology is very possible." Why? "it's safe to say that there is a capital-S "something." " Why is it safe to say this?

 

same :icon_bigg

 

Well... Considering the mere DEPTH of Catholic theology (which is sooo vast), it's pretty difficult to describe every thing about it completely in one post. That being said, I was just trying to shine some light on the theology in order to say it without any misunderstanding (which happened... apologies). To me, the idea of Trinitarianism just makes sense. Of course, with all religion, nothing can be proved obviously. It all depends on what the individual believe.

Also, I'm not saying I AGREE with all facets of this theology and its teachings, but rather its rudiments.

 

Can't say I do. The parentals never enforced any kind of belief on me and I was never convinced by the arguments in R.S.

 

No.

I don't believe in any higher beings, anything 'bigger than us', anything that 'guides' us. Also don't believe that there's an afterlife. I believe that when we die, we die, so make the most out of your life.

 

I believe in god and in christianity in general but i hate the way most people realise and practice their religion. For me is more like philosofy and a good way of thinking and not something to follow word by word without thinking...

 

Yes, I believe in God who created us and loves us just as we are and wants to be involved in our daily lives.

There are so many reasons I believe in God, it would take me hours to explain. Even then, I would only be scratching the surface because God is so beyond us, how can we fathom Him?

I'll give you a few quick reasons:

Creation and its intricacy, the drive in humans across all cultures over all the ages to worship a Higher Being, the moral compass of right and wrong (conscience) which human beings have inborn, all the good in the world, the existence of mystery in our world and universe which scientists can and will never solve, my personal experience of getting to know God over the past 50 years and seeing the powerful and loving way He works in my life and countless other lives.

I think the #1 barrier between humans and God is pride. We don't want to believe we need God or that anyone is smarter than us humans. We want to be our own gods.

I think it was author Paul Little who wrote this which I agree with. To me, it is utterly nonsensical to believe this amazing universe and human beings came about by CHANCE with no original Source. I quote:

"What Are the Odds?

There are approximately 11 million species of life on earth, including humans. Did all of these, including the universe itself, begin by chance?

Scientists have claimed that given the right conditions, some sort of life form would eventually evolve. How ever, the same scientists who propose this theory are quick to point out its weaknesses. The respected astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle asks, "What are the chances that a tornado might blow through a junk yard containing all the parts of a 747, accidentally assemble them into a plane, and leave it ready for takeoff?" Hoyle answers, "The possibilities are so small as to be negligible even if a tornado were to blow through enough junk yards to fill the whole universe!"

In his book The Intelligent Universe, Hoyle says, "As biochemists discover more and more about the awesome complexity of life, it is apparent that its chances of originating by accident are so minute that they can be completely ruled out. Life cannot have arisen by chance."

The Big Bang Theory for the origin of the earth which man has finally arrived at is exactly as described in Genesis 1:1.

 

This is what I believe;

I believe that God doesn't exist, but is a symbol for the good in humanity, and the good in individuals. The reason why bad things happen, is because humanity/individuals are not completely good. I believe that the devil doesn't exist, but is a symbol for the bad in humanity, and the bad in individuals. I believe that everyone has a balance of this 'God' and this 'devil' but it is up to the individuals (or are perhaps influenced by the 'God' and 'devil' of other people) of how this is balanced out inside them, and what they use it for.

But as I've said, it's what I 'believe' - it doesn't have to be true.

 

On one hand I can see why the concept of God came up in human minds, as a comfort blanket, as a security blanket, as a purpose for existence, there is even a genetic link as to how much you tend to believe in God and hence it leads me to believe in the lack of existence of one! But on the other hand there is this feeling inside which makes me feel connected and sometimes disconnected from a supernatural power, leading me to believe there may be a supernatural power! What I do know however is that be it atheists or theists no one can for sure prove their point, the ultimate reality in my view is that no one can know for sure whether god exists or not! But we have a lot of good to take from religion through teachings and also from the shortcomings, through which we realize how wrong the people who authored the scriptures were! So my view on god shifts from pure agnostism to theistic agnostism from time to time! But I am a Hindu in the sense that , in Hinduism there are philosophies and sections of religion who believe that whether god exists or not is impertinent to daily living! So much so that lord Krishna in the bhagavatham says that , it doesn't matter whether you have faith in God but what matters is whether you follow dharma I.e be righteous! So I feel that what is the most important thing is that we should be a good human first , and if a god does exist and we are to face him after death, he wouldn't treat us badly like the believers think he would, whichever religion this thought maybe coming from! So the safest bet so to say is to be a good human being!

 

I'm soooo bored of hearing this question over and over.

Happy days

 

I know! I swear I already answered a very similar thread once this week!

But for the most part, I do not believe in a god. But sometimes I kinda go back and forth between anthiest and agnostic

 

I wonder why there's so many atheists on here. I've never met any atheists in real life.

 

I don't believe in God as an eternal or spiritual Devine being.
I see Mankind as the nearest thing to God.

We can create wonderful things (some not so wonderful), we can change the world to suit ourselves.

As for the holy grail being something that is drunk out of to give eternal life, I see science, technology and genetics as the holy grail in order to achieve immortality.

 

I used to but I'm not sure what I believe in anymore. It's all too confusing but at the same time a relief. I may as well just call myself an atheist.

 

That's funny, I was thinking exactly the opposite.... I can think of only a couple of acquaintances who are religious. I am always a bit shocked when someone I know personally comes out as a believer.

I suspect that people tend to hang out with those similar to themselves.... so my experience is mostly of other atheists, while your experience is mostly of other believers.

 

I do I believe that a Divine (awesome) Dude died for all of our sins. I believe that He is out there looking over us He's like the Avatar, but a lot more powerful

 

Yes and No.

There gotta be somethin, it could be the X boson . Otherwise, God as white old man: No.

 

You do not have a monopoly on humility.

Apart from the potential overconfidence of believing that all the universe has specifically been created for us, it is perversely arrogant to claim that your kind of humility is the only genuine way to be humble.

 

I believe in God when it's convenient.