How do we know our God is the Truth?

[duffyk4]

(DISCLAIMER: I am in no way trying to instigate trouble. I believe in God and the Church, but am merely searching for answers.)

Question is pretty simple. How do we know our God, and therefore, our Church is the truth? Of all the thousands of religions out there, how can we have peace of mind that this is the truth? Try to look at this from as an objective (from someone outside the Church) perspective.

Thank you in advance!

 

[The_Reginator]

How about this for starters:
No other religion knows that God himself walked on this earth.
When I first pondered your question as a youth it was the fact of the Incarnation that was the reason for not doubting.

These are facts that I cannot ignore or deny:

1. Jesus is an historical figure.
2. Either he was a mad-man or he was divine.
3. After our Lord’s death and resurrection his followers died for him and for the Church he established. For me that is proof that this was not some hoax or wishful thinking.
4. And the rest is history.

That is in no way a complete answer but it’s a start.

 

[Serafina17]

(DISCLAIMER: I am in no way trying to instigate trouble. I believe in God and the Church, but am merely searching for answers.)

Question is pretty simple. How do we know our God, and therefore, our Church is the truth? Of all the thousands of religions out there, how can we have peace of mind that this is the truth? Try to look at this from as an objective (from someone outside the Church) perspective.

Thank you in advance!

Duffy, you seem to have the exact questions I have! I have a hard time clearing up my mind enough to get a clear question, but yours is basically it.

Doesn’t it all boil down to our own (very fallible) reasoning and common sense? Sure, we can say that the Pope is infallible, but we still have to rely on our own thinking and reasoning to believe that.
Relying on my own common sense is rather scary, come to think about it…

 

[kepha1]

There are lots of proofs that our God is the True God and the Church that Jesus founded is the Catholic Church. Here’s my :twocents:

There is not one institution that has survived constant persecution and resistance from the world, evil attacks from within and from without, and still be 1 billion+ strong. How did that happen? Smart leadership? Pure human effort? But this is what outsiders must believe and it takes a lot more faith to believe this nonsense that the Church has no divine qualities. Yet we are the oldest western institution on the planet.

 

[rossum]

Question is pretty simple. How do we know our God, and therefore, our Church is the truth? Of all the thousands of religions out there, how can we have peace of mind that this is the truth? Try to look at this from as an objective (from someone outside the Church) perspective.

I am Buddhist, so it is easy for me to look at this from an ‘outside the Church’ perspective.

The Buddha was asked exactly this question by a people called the Kalamas. They were confused because lots of preachers were passing through and each preacher said “I am right and all the other preachers are wrong.” The Kalamas wanted to know how to tell which preachers were actually right rather than falsely claiming to be right:The Kalamas who were inhabitants of Kesaputta sitting on one side said to the Blessed One: “There are some monks and brahmans, venerable sir, who visit Kesaputta. They expound and explain only their own doctrines; the doctrines of others they despise, revile, and pull to pieces. Some other monks and brahmans too, venerable sir, come to Kesaputta. They also expound and explain only their own doctrines; the doctrines of others they despise, revile, and pull to pieces. Venerable sir, there is doubt, there is uncertainty in us concerning them. Which of these reverend monks and brahmans spoke the truth and which falsehood?”
Obviously the Buddha could not answer “I am right and all the others are wrong,” because then he would not really answer their question but would just increase their confusion. Instead he gave a different answer:[The Buddha said] “It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful.”
First he reassures tham that their question is a good one. It is difficult to decide objectively between the claims of different religions. He then proceeds to answer their question:[The Buddha said:] “Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, ‘The monk is our teacher.’ Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are bad; these things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill,’ abandon them.’ … Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,’ enter on and abide in them.”

• Kalama sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 3.65
  You cannot rely on scripture because all religions have scripture. You cannot rely on teachers because all religions have teachers. You cannot rely on logical arguments because all religions have logical arguments. That includes relying on Buddhist scripture, relying on Buddhist teachers and relying on Buddhist logic. The Buddha recommends that you rely on your own experience mixed with a little received wisdom: “when you yourselves know” for the experience and “censured/praised by the wise” for the received wisdom. You need to look at results of actions: “lead to harm and ill” or “lead to benefit and happiness”.

This will help you to reach some obvious conclusions: “Love your neighbour as yourself” for example. It will probably not help you over small points of detail like the inclusion or not of the “filioque” in the Creed.

rossum

 

[Call_Me_V]

Well, as a non-believer, I think that I can offer you an “outside of the Church” perspective.

I don’t think that you can know such truth. Every piece of evidence offered for Christianity could be just as easily applied to another religion. When people quote the eyewitness testimony for the miracles of Jesus, for example, they are ignoring the fact that dozens of other religions, including Mormonism, Islam, the cult of Sathya Sai Baba, and many others, all have eyewitness testimony for their miracles as well (in many cases, far more evidence than exists for the miracles of Jesus).

When you take into account that much of the Christian scriptures, particularly the Old Testament, are considered unhistorical by almost all historians (not just the Genesis creation accounts, but major events such as the Exodus, or Joshua’s conquest of Canaan), it become rather hard for me to believe that such scriptures were really authored by God.

1. After our Lord’s death and resurrection his followers died for him and for the Church he established. For me that is proof that this was not some hoax or wishful thinking.

I don’t think that this is true. I started talking about it here, but there’s a lot more I want to write on the subject when I have the time. The only one of the twelve for whos death we have credible evidence is James, who was beheaded by Herod (and I don’t think that the reason is even given, though it was probably due to him being Christian). Anyways, if you want to defend the idea that Jesus’ followers went to their grave rather than give up Christianity, feel free to do so on the thread I linked to.

You said you wanted an outsider’s opinion, and I hope that that I helped with that.
V

 

[FRANKYG]

Tim Staples does a great job at this question in Why be catholic.

Well of my head. God is infinte, buddism belief that their gods have a begining. islam rejects jesus died on a cross, etc

 

[Langdell]

(DISCLAIMER: I am in no way trying to instigate trouble. I believe in God and the Church, but am merely searching for answers.)

Question is pretty simple. How do we know our God, and therefore, our Church is the truth? Of all the thousands of religions out there, how can we have peace of mind that this is the truth? Try to look at this from as an objective (from someone outside the Church) perspective.

Thank you in advance!

Duffy – I will give you a very practical answer, the one that I ultimately came to myself when dealing with this issue.

As you point out, there are thousands of religions out there. Assuming one is spiritually inclined, how can s/he know which one is right? Even if we’re drawn to one religion, how can we know that there isn’t some other religion that we haven’t fully explored that has better claims to our faith?

The truth of the matter is that there is simply no possible way in which anyone, in a single lifetime, could fairly examine every religion. If you tried, you’d spend your entire life learning about religion, without ever getting to the point where you could practice a religion. Your concern about making sure you found the right religion would have caused you to end up with no religion at all.

We have to choose. Religion does us good only if we throw ourselves into it. Maybe we choose wrong – clearly, somebody’s religious beliefs are wrong – but loving God in a defective way is better than not loving God at all.

.