P
PonderingJak
Guest
What made you all believe in God? I have believed in the past because my parents were Catholic and were raised Catholic, but what made you all believe without a doubt that God exists?
- Status
T
tawny
Guest
When I look around & see all of God’s creation; from the simple blade of grass to the unborn child stirring in their Mother’s womb. How can I not believe in the all omnipotant God.
S
seagal
Guest
I grew up believing in God. I was raised Catholic and even went to Catholic school from grades 1-6. There did come a time in my life where I questioned my faith and wondered if God really was there, or more pointedly, whether he was there for me. I have never had an emotional experience of God, that feeling of knowing in my heart that he is there. Maybe because I tend to be more intellectual than emotional. For the past 10 years I’ve listened to lots of lectures and debates about the existence of God and I find them to be a lot more compelling than the atheistic viewpoint. I’ve come to know (virtually anyway) people like Robert Barron, Peter Kreeft, William Craig, John Lennox, Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, Jimmy Akin – I could go on and on. They are all highly intelligent people in my estimation and they all have a firm belief in God. When I find myself wondering if my faith is wasted on an imaginary being I remind myself of those people I admire who have such strong faith. My bottom line though is my firm belief that nothing comes from nothing. The universe didn’t just pop into being, something caused and that cause is God. Everything else flows from that.
M
Mystical_Seeker
Guest
Long story, been here and there a bit. Short version, 56 year old cradle Catholic, active except for a few years’ hiatus starting during college.
Not “without a doubt” though. I have so much to say that I don’t know where to start.
For short, though, “doubt” has become a component of my faith. I cannot have one without the other, any more than I know “happy” without knowing “unhappy”. I don’t even know how I can honestly claim to ever be a “believer” in something that is so far above my understanding that I can’t really even grasp what I claim to be believing!
Plus, if I deny my doubts, or sweep them under a rug, then I will forever remain lukewarm, as the kind God “spits out of His mouth” and just go on living as a piece of flesh with an ego, pretending I have zero doubts about something I actually do have doubts about, or at least some serious questions or concerns. Basically a walking phony, bringing power to the forces of falsehood.
So I not only embrace my doubts, I investigate them. A few weeks ago I told him I doubted that we really need to actually believe anything in the creed, in order to gain “the kingdom” mentality as Jesus teaches us to – he still hasn’t come up with a solid answer on that.
If I don’t have doubts, then I “know” and don’t need faith. There is a difference between “knowing” something, and “having faith.” If I “know” something, as if by sight or experiment or training, then I don’t need “faith”. So “faith” is what we use as an excuse, if you will, for believing something we can neither see nor prove. If we can see or prove it, then it is a matter of observable fact and not a matter of faith…
But then again, even ‘observable facts’ require faith in the observations and the process. I heard one tv preacher compare faith v belief as opposite sides of a coin – the coin being invalid without both sides. If a starving man comes up the aisle and we place food before him, he can believe all he wants that if he eats it, he will not starve. He can declare up and down that he believes he will be saved if he eats it. But if he never actually takes some and eats, he will starve – he has to act on his belief using faith.
Heb 11:1, NABRE:
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:1, Douay-Rheims
Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.
Not “without a doubt” though. I have so much to say that I don’t know where to start.
For short, though, “doubt” has become a component of my faith. I cannot have one without the other, any more than I know “happy” without knowing “unhappy”. I don’t even know how I can honestly claim to ever be a “believer” in something that is so far above my understanding that I can’t really even grasp what I claim to be believing!
Plus, if I deny my doubts, or sweep them under a rug, then I will forever remain lukewarm, as the kind God “spits out of His mouth” and just go on living as a piece of flesh with an ego, pretending I have zero doubts about something I actually do have doubts about, or at least some serious questions or concerns. Basically a walking phony, bringing power to the forces of falsehood.
So I not only embrace my doubts, I investigate them. A few weeks ago I told him I doubted that we really need to actually believe anything in the creed, in order to gain “the kingdom” mentality as Jesus teaches us to – he still hasn’t come up with a solid answer on that.
If I don’t have doubts, then I “know” and don’t need faith. There is a difference between “knowing” something, and “having faith.” If I “know” something, as if by sight or experiment or training, then I don’t need “faith”. So “faith” is what we use as an excuse, if you will, for believing something we can neither see nor prove. If we can see or prove it, then it is a matter of observable fact and not a matter of faith…
But then again, even ‘observable facts’ require faith in the observations and the process. I heard one tv preacher compare faith v belief as opposite sides of a coin – the coin being invalid without both sides. If a starving man comes up the aisle and we place food before him, he can believe all he wants that if he eats it, he will not starve. He can declare up and down that he believes he will be saved if he eats it. But if he never actually takes some and eats, he will starve – he has to act on his belief using faith.
Heb 11:1, NABRE:
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:1, Douay-Rheims
Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.
D
Della
Guest
Apart from the evidence of order in the universe and the need for humans to understand/experience things beyond their need for survival, it’s about having a relationship with a Person, not merely about a philosophical idea. 
I cannot say exactly when I first sensed that God is “there,” but I’ve always known that he exists, that he is a person and that he wants us to be in his love. There is no proof for that–as if everything that is true needs to be reduced to discovery via the scientific method in the first place. Materialism is a narrow prison of the mind–one in which I would rather not be confined for it denies the whole of reality in favor of one small part of it.
God simply is. We are like creatures swimming in the ocean of his existence. Some of us are aware of that and others not. Like water creatures living in their watery environment, some people have no sense that God is the reason for their existence until they are deprived of his presence, they come to a point in their lives when they realize that only God answers all life’s mysteries, and/or they come to the end of their limitations and realize they need more than human help.
I cannot say exactly when I first sensed that God is “there,” but I’ve always known that he exists, that he is a person and that he wants us to be in his love. There is no proof for that–as if everything that is true needs to be reduced to discovery via the scientific method in the first place. Materialism is a narrow prison of the mind–one in which I would rather not be confined for it denies the whole of reality in favor of one small part of it.
God simply is. We are like creatures swimming in the ocean of his existence. Some of us are aware of that and others not. Like water creatures living in their watery environment, some people have no sense that God is the reason for their existence until they are deprived of his presence, they come to a point in their lives when they realize that only God answers all life’s mysteries, and/or they come to the end of their limitations and realize they need more than human help.
I
InNomineDomini
Guest
For me, it was (at the very least) a decade-long struggle.
I’ve come to see that Faith is a grace, and it needs to be cultivated. Outside of having a prayer life, frequenting the sacraments, developing virtue, and engaging in study, Faith cannot be cultivated.
… and just as Faith can be cultivated, so can doubt.
Most people, of course, begin to examine the existence of God from the perspective of study. If you’re interested in this, I would recommend, for a start, that you listen to some of Trent Horn’s shows on atheism: catholic.com/radio/shows/browse/all/all/Trent%20Horn/all
Many of them feature atheists calling in, and discussing the existence of God with Trent. I think you’ll find the back-and-forth rather interesting.
I would also recommend this website: strangenotions.com/
Neither of the above resources are necessarily “one-sided,” and you can expose yourself to at least a few perspectives within a theistic context.
D
dreamer29
Guest
Love how you stated that. How true.
P
PulvisEtCinis
Guest
I also grew up believing in God (though, the environment I grew up in was not Catholic), however, that is not the reason that I still believe in God.
I believe now (and think that we can know with certainty) that God exists, because it is the only rational explanation for the universe; as far as I can see it, you cannot truly explain so many different aspects of this universe without reference to the transcendent Being.
I believe now (and think that we can know with certainty) that God exists, because it is the only rational explanation for the universe; as far as I can see it, you cannot truly explain so many different aspects of this universe without reference to the transcendent Being.
- Status