How did you start having faith in God?

[Jordon]

I am going to hell… I don’t have the utmost faith in God, I pray every night and respect others and have good morals and almost never swear. But I don’t have true faith. I have doubts, and stop beleiving and try to do everything by myself. I don’t try to do bad things, I don’t try to kill insects like i used to, I try to preserve life and I try to fufill almost all the rules God has given me. But i question myself, Why do I do this, I dont even know if God exist? I would like some help with problems with my faith, how did you start following God, why even though everything around you goes against it?

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

I’m not sure if you understand what faith is. It’s not the warm fuzzies.

And while God most certainly doesn’t want you to go around smashing butterflies and anthills, He’s not going to begrudge a victory dance after slaying a mosquito or two.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It comes to some people easily. Other people struggle, as you’re doing.

I myself was brought up to have faith in God. Even as a little toddler I was taught to love and trust God and pray to him. I am lucky in that I have never had any doubt or problem believing in God (or the Blessed Mother, etc.) for my entire life as a child, teen and adult. I frequently have questioned or doubted some teaching of the Church dealing with human conduct, but never the existence of or power of God or the Trinity. Like I said, this is a gift and I realize it could be taken away at some point so I don’t wish to be smug or prideful. I have seen many friends have doubts and struggles.

Pray to God that He helps you, and pray to God the Holy Spirit for the gift of faith. You’re doing all the right things. I can see where it may be frustrating to still not be able to fully believe. If you have particular questions that are standing in the way, try talking to a priest; if it’s just a general lack of faith, keep praying and receiving the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, and hopefully you will have a breakthrough. I will pray for you too. God bless you.

 

[Melodeonist]

My most recent “faith boost” occurred after I fell into the sins of impure images, impure video game mods, impure videos, and self abuse last week and a period of intense list for a couple of weeks prior. I hadn’t committed these sins, with the exception of lust, since 2014. After committing total self abuse (please, I don’t want to go into details), God tugged at my heart and sent me great motivation to change my path.

After this incident, I pretty much quit YouTube, with the exception of music videos, and video games cold turkey and reading the Bible instead. I’ve never been a big prayer, but the Bible was easy for me. Through the Bible God has increased my faith. I probably read the Bible at least 30 minutes a day now, coming from rarely reading it at all. I also have been able to kick some sins away with ease, such as sloth.

I am NOT recommending you commit self abuse and view impure content. Doing such actions WILL SEVERELY DAMAGE YOUR MIND AND FAITH AND PLANT DIRTY IMAGES IN YOUR HEAD. I do recommend you try reading the Bible a lot though. I personally find that just opening the Bible and reading random chapters and pages is the best method.

Before I was addicted to YouTube, now I’m “addicted” to the Bible and that’s a good thing.

 

[drac16]

Trying to do good things will not get you to Heaven. You need Christ. Once you put your faith in him, you will have His perfect righteousness imputed to you and you will be presentable before the Father. It’s Christ alone that saves-- not Christ plus good works.

I came to faith in Christ seven months ago. It’s impossible for me to look at nature and think that it all happened by chance. I fell in love with the Christian message. Christ on the cross is the greatest act of love in history. He took the punishment that we all deserve. Ever since I surrendered to Christ, God has rescued me from pornography. I no longer view it; I used to be addicted to it.

 

[JoeVig]

I’m blessed I guess, I’ve been a Catholic, with Catholic education, in a Catholic neighborhood since birth. That is not to say that thise facts gets you faith; oh on the contrary, many cradles have lapsed for many different reasons.
But faith is a virtue given by our Holy Spirit at Baptism, (i think). As stated above, some get alot, some a little, some like a rock!
Be steadfast in your walk, your prayer life. Pray earnestly for greater faith. Pray for enlightenment before you read your Bible. The Lord wants us to ask, He wants us to be persistant.
Dont expect miracles overnight. Listen to your heart when the Holy Spirit speaks to you. Find a Saint with the same problem as you and ask them to intercede for you. Go to the Blessed Mother and plead, and I do mean PLEAD fir Her intercesion. Stay the course.

 

[Jomann]

If you’re losing faith try to know the ultimate conclusion of the opposite view. Atheism leads to nihilism. How can something come out from nothing? Why we are the only species to perceive good and evil? If materialism is right then we are in a kind of simulation. Who’s the simulator?

And God doesn’t exist. God doesn’t have existence or participates in existence. God is the very existence. Don’t try to understand the existence of God as being like any other being. The question “does God exist?” has no meaning in Christian theology. Atheists are very bad in philosophy.

 

[ontheway1]

First - doubts are normal. Everyone has doubts. Mother Theresa had doubts. The saints call it the dark night of the soul.
Secondly - God is in you and in your neighbor. We are all children of God, created to love. So, loving, in the form of doing no harm and then doing good is an important first step. Actually helping people is the next step. This is essential because we are all in this together.
Thirdly - God created the universe and everything in it, including you and me. This is not a popular belief, but look at the options. If we believe the scientific explanation of the origin of the universe, ie the Big Bang theory, etc. then everything is random. As one priest put it - In the beginning there was nothing, then nothing banged itself ( the Big Bang theory) and then we got the I-phone. If we follow the scientific explanation, we would open up a computer and claim that is a result of trillions of random accidents in nature. This defies logic.
Finally - we need to see the other as a brother/sister. And we need to learn (or re-learn) to be open to your neighbor. Charity is giving time and attention to someone in need, and we all seem to be in need of that. Amen

 

[Crusaderbear]

If you are praying you have faith…embrace that!

For His Mercy…

++Our Father, Hail Mary x10, Glory Be, Fatima, Amen!++

 

[1Lord1Faith]

I try to preserve life and I try to fufill almost all the rules God has given me. But i question myself, Why do I do this, I dont even know if God exist?

This is normal, especially for a young person. A young person’s brain is wired for skepticism and questioning for a reason. That reason is not so God can test your faith…it’s for learning. They don’t call it a journey for no reason.

 

[De_Maria]

I am going to hell…

Lucky for you, you are not the judge. God will determine whether you are going to heaven or hell.

I don’t have the utmost faith in God,

That’s why God provided Purgatory. Because very few of us have the utmost faith in God.

I pray every night and respect others and have good morals and almost never swear. But I don’t have true faith.

It sounds pretty good to me.

I have doubts,

Who doesn’t?

and stop beleiving and try to do everything by myself.

The righteous man falls 7 times a day, but gets back up again.

I don’t try to do bad things, I don’t try to kill insects like i used to,

Sins are intentional. There is no such thing as an unintentional sin.

I try to preserve life and I try to fufill almost all the rules God has given me.

Good for you!

But i question myself, Why do I do this, I dont even know if God exist?

The enemy is always trying to knock us down.

I would like some help with problems with my faith, how did you start following God, why even though everything around you goes against it?

Count your blessings. Look at all the good things that are going on around you and thank God for each one.

 

[Debbie_Kono]

I would start with a very simple prayer: God, I do not want to go to hell. Anytime we address HIm, it is a prayer and this is an easy one to say throughout the day.

Maybe before going to bed at night, ask our Blessed Mother to guide and help you. Pray 3 Hail Mary’s and finish with; Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

 

[Allegra]

When I was young, I was a self-proclaimed atheist. I wasn’t like some atheists who seem to hate God and are angry at those who believe in him. I actually loved the idea of God. I just couldn’t bring myself to believe in it. I specifically remember a turning point in my disbelief when I was on a trip at Shedds Aquarium and I saw this seahorse that had all these growths hanging off it that made it look exactly like the sea plant that it lives among. I remember standing there, staring at this thing that was clearly designed and thinking, “It makes absolutely no sense that this happened at random.” It’s was actually harder to believe that a completely absurd, random universe could generate DNA that specifically created a creature that looked exactly like the specific plant it lived off of. And then I realized that there are thousands of other examples in nature of plants and animals that are clearly planned for the environment they exist in. It just doesn’t make sense that there wasn’t intelligent design behind that. Obviously, that doesn’t answer all the questions about the nature of God, but that pretty much cemented my desire to seek the truth about Him.