I think you have missed the point. “Being” is its own entity.No its not.How is something existing considered supernatural?
Thats like saying the existence of rocks, or water or humans or animals are supernatural.
You can think they came from something supernatural, but science can prove you wrong. Well, at least mostly. True we don’t know everything, but we’re learning.
I at one time was an atheist. I thought of myself as a freethinking person, thought all things were possible, and was open to any argument. As I would dive into Philosophy, Cosmology, Linguistics and a host of other things I found interesting. I found that I was open to anything, but the supernatural. I presupposed it did not exist. A friend pointed out to me, that it is not very liberal minded to do such a thing. He pointed out that all of my presuppositional beliefs were limiting me to my already preconceived notion of existence. I had to examine myself, and I determined that he was right. From logic, reason, Mathematics, morality everything I believed was a presupposition that there was no God. From that notion I was defining all things. So I thought, what if I had the presupposition of God does exist vs God does not exist? What** IF.** What would that look like through a different lens. I found that IF there was a God, in light of all the information that I have, the best explanation of existence, posited the transcendent. That still left me far from being Christian, and thought that it was very presumptuous of people to claim, their God was the One True God. Certain religions explain the human condition, existence, the universe, and natural world better than others, but I thought it would be impossible to know God. I went from deist to theist to Christian all on the notion of love. I feel that the Christian religion is the only religion that can lay claim to defining love. God IS Love. The trinitarian claim is expressed in that one simple phrase. God IS love, in His very being, there is a Lover, a Beloved, and through the Love expressed between the Lover and Beloved proceeds forth Love. You have Father, Son and Holy Spirit expressed so simply and beautifully in that one expression God IS love. To be honest I felt loved, overwhelmingly, and knew that Love was not just an action or a feeling but God Himself. I experienced the Numinous through Love and that Love was God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. So I didn’t just understand concepts anymore about Deism or Theism, but I knew that Love was the ground of all existence and God IS love. Pope Benedict XVI said something along the lines of When you recognize something, you are in fact RE-COGNIZING, you are thinking again, that which was already thought into existence. I spent a lot of time trying to define love, turns out that Love has been defining me all along!
I know how you feel, I was an agnostic at one point, I still am at times.
What changed?
b) Church history. Reading the lives of several Christian saints, their deeds, miracles and deep faith in God have become testimonies that I have found very convincing. If one would read an ounce of Joan of Arc, Bernadette Soubirous or the late Pope John Paul II (some examples), you’d find a lot of things that lead to God. You look at the Church’s history of miracles - Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe, etc and you’ll find enough information to leave pondering for a long long time…
- Why do I believe in God?
a) I don’t think we are an accident. Our existence, together with the universe we reside in is just way too complex to be the result of mere chance.
Atheists view our saints as crazy individuals who suffer from hallucinations or attention seeking lowlives…and our miracles as the result of mere chance or frauds put together by the church. If thats the case, then Catholics must be a religion of scheming idiots right?..I mean no other religious group can match up to such a grand resume as our Church.
Also, I don’t see how a church that has survived so many persecutions can be considered man-made. I studied church history, I know our beliefs and I’ve seen enough in this world to convince me that God exists. - High school student
- Really confident. 95% ish.
An excellent post which promises well for your future! I feel that every human being knows that someone or something greater than them exists. Its not so clear what or who it is. But we all know.
Samuel:
Welcome to the forum, Olivia! It would be good to see your impressive post on the thread **“How often do miracles occur?”I was not 100% sure God existed but a few years ago my cousin was born 3 months premature. He had to have a tracheotomy put in. He became very unwell for a long time but i prayed and now he has had his tracheotomy removed and has started school. and as well last year my ant had breast cancer and all i did was pray night and day in my schools chapel and now she has had 3 operations and is cancer free. See this has shown me that God is there for me. He has been watching over me and my family long before i knew him. Our family has defeated so many odds and i know it is him that has done this. And for this I am forever grateful.
I have examined the evidence and found it appealing. Christianity answer some of life’s most pertinent questions a whole lot better than the various naturalistic world views
Welcome to the forum! A superb post.I feel that every human being knows that someone or something greater than them exists. Its not so clear what or who it is. But we all know.
Then we can look to see if there is any reasonable way to find out who or what this is. It is in this search that I heard about a person called Jesus. Apparently this person died and rose from the dead. Seemed to me like, if he did indeed die and rise from the dead, this is the person that would be reasonable to listen to. He seemed to have proven his authority.
So I looked for evidence that he did indeed rise from the dead and all this was no fabrication. Some historical texts after, the thing that made me realize this person must indeed have risen from the dead was the existence of his Apostolic successors today. It meant that there were people after his death, who were willing to give their lives for the belief that this person rose from the dead. If it was up to me to find out if these men who called themselves Apostles were lying, I would have tortured them myself and put a couple to death to figure out if others would still be willing to testify for a lie. But someone else did it, and it seems that they did give witness to the truth fearlessly.
Then I think about whether all these men could have been insane. But it seems highly improbable that every Apostle chosen by a man at a time where Psychology was not developed was mentally insane. That would be a miracle in it-self if he managed to pick that well.
Then I think about whether this whole Jesus was a cult leader. But then it hits me from my knowledge in psychology that any cult, after the death of a cult leader just fades away. Followers are only willing to give their lives when the Cult leader is alive and giving orders. But then this means that the carrying out of orders to preach by the Apostles after the death of Jesus would suggest that this person was truly alive again.
After some more arguments of this sort, it became clear to me that Jesus was the one to listen to. I receive what he taught from his Apostles today in the Catholic Church. I believe in God, the Bible, the Dogmas not because they seem true but because that is what the Apostles teach. I believe in the Apostles because they were given authority by Apostles Jesus himself chose to teach. I believe in Jesus because he proved his authority through the resurrection.
Now of course, after believing in God for so long, a logical argument from someone like St. Thomas Aquinas is also good at reconfirming what I believe to be reasonable. But my faith hinges on the death and resurrection of Jesus! After years of praying and building a relationship with Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Mother and the communion of saints, they are more real to me than most people I know!