How do you know about God's existence and providence?

[oldgraymare2]

Hi ethereality,

Here is a link to an interesting blog post on suffering, which I think covers many of the questions that you have regarding suffering. I hope that it helps to answer them for you:

A Catholic Reflection on the Meaning of Suffering | Called to Communion

If God is all powerful, and truly seeks our good, then why does He allow bad things to happen to people? Why does God allow all the suffering we experience in this life, if He loves us and is all-powerful and all-knowing? What does the Catholic Church say about the meaning of suffering? Job and

www.calledtocommunion.com

 

[ethereality]

I read that a few months ago shortly after I had been discharged from rehab (bike-car collision fractured my spine). I recall he was able to persuade me that it’s okay to hurt, that God could have a good reason for it, but I was not satisfied with his essay: Ultimately, I think when I am hurting I simply want to stop hurting. If the pain is minor, I am able to respond in those pious ways of offering it up, etc., but the greater the pain, the more I want it to stop, and I have noticed a threshold that sometimes I cross such that I begin to despair and become sad that God hasn’t healed me. Yet, reflecting now, it also seems that these periods come and go, and while my vision remains poor and other health problems remain unchanged, my back does seem to be improving and healing day by day.

So yes, that’s a good essay, but it’s very difficult to accept, and there are some parts I do not understand. (For example, I think near the end, in the latter third of the essay, he refers to the Church as one body with a mission to suffer for each other.)

 

[TheAmazingGrace]

Questions summarizing complaints below:

How do you know God exists?

How do you have confidence in God’s providence to reject the notion of God’s absence?

To answer your first question, it’s more of a nagging feeling I have in the back of my mind than anything else. Each time I’ve seriously considered atheism and/or agnosticism, there’s a little voice (so to speak) that pops up and says, “God’s probably real.” It’s not a Pascal’s wager thing, because I’m not the type to believe without at least some conviction. It’s just something that keeps coming back to me every time I flirt with the idea of abandoning belief altogether.

I don’t understand God’s nature or plans, but I am just an evolved ape, after all. Given the infinite difference between our respective planes of being, it makes sense that I could never fully comprehend Him, similar to how a gnat could never comprehend me or my nature.