How Do You Know Its Your God?

[Swan]

I’ve read the “prove God exists” stuff and wanted to tackle a different question. I have no problem believing that there is a “God”, by which I mean a Supreme Being, Creator of the Universe type power. So that is something we can agree on. But how do we know that this Great Spirit is the Judeo Christian God? This is something I was raised with and never thought I’d question, but, alas, I now do. Please feel free to disucss, whatever your belief. I’d like to read what folks have to say.

 

[Miles_Militis]

Now this is a good post. After someone comes up with a good response to me in another thread about proving God exists, I was going to ask this very question of them.

Its easy to provide arguments about God existing, but how do you know we haven’t got it wrong and its really the Muslims or Buddhists that have it right?

 

[BlaineTog]

Because God as Catholicism sees him feels right. He glows. That’s really it.

 

[fhansen]

It’s a great question. I think our faith might be reducible to something like:

1. God is
2. God is love
3. God grants eternal life to those who come to love as He does

What greater God and future could we want than this? Our faith may not always be presented with the same pureness of love God has for us but this radical emphasis on love is the core of our faith and something which distinguishes it from most other religions. And yet our hope in this future doesn’t, by itself, prove the truthfulness of the promise. How do we know that the Christian God is the real one?

For me the gospel message resonates with the voice of truth-like a sheep recognizing the shepherds call. Other teachings of the faith, such as the doctrine of original sin and the existence of evil, ring truer and truer as I observe myself and the world we live in. On top of that, this God I’ve believed in and prayed to has rewarded me at times with experiences which support Catholic concepts of Him, especially the concept of His being love. And I’ve come, begrudgingly at times, to accept that LOVE, rather than myself , is the highest good in the universe after all.

Christian faith is a living thing-a gift of grace that assures us of Gods’ existence, His love, and His promise of eternal life.

 

[fellowChristian]

II. The Stages of Revelation
In the beginning God makes himself known

**54 **
“God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation, **he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning.”**6 He invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and justice.

**55 **
This revelation was not broken off by our first parents’ sin. "After the fall, God] buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing."7

Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death. . . . Again and again you offered a covenant to man.8

The Covenant with Noah

**56 **
After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin God at once sought to save humanity part by part. The covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the principle of the divine economy toward the “nations,” in other words, toward men grouped "in their lands, each with [its] own LANGUAGE, by their families, in their nations."9

57
This state of division into many nations is at once cosmic, social, and religious. It is intended to limit the pride of fallen humanity,10 united only in its perverse ambition to forge its own unity as at Babel.11 But, because of sin, both polytheism and the idolatry of the nation and of its rulers constantly threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism.12

**58 **
The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel.13 The Bible venerates several great figures among the Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest Melchizedek—a figure of Christ—and the upright "Noah, Daniel, and Job."14 Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."15

God chooses Abraham

**59 **
In order to gather together scattered humanity **God calls Abram **from his country, his kindred, and his father’s house,16 and makes him Abraham, that is, “the father of a multitude of nations.” "In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed."17

60 **
The people descended from Abraham would be the trustees of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare for that day when God would gather all his children into the unity of the Church.**18 They would be the root onto which the Gentiles would be grafted, once they came to believe.19

**61 **
The patriarchs, prophets, and certain other Old Testament figures have been and always will be honored as saints in all the Church’s liturgical traditions.
God forms his people Israel

**62 **
After the patriarchs, **God formed Israel as his people by freeing them from slavery in Egypt. **He established with them the covenant of Mount Sinai and, through Moses, gave them his law so that they would recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God, the provident Father and just judge, and so that they would look for the promised Savior.20

63
Israel is the priestly people of God, “called by the name of the LORD,” and "the first to hear the word of God,"21 the people of “elder brethren” in the faith of Abraham.

**64 **
Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts.22 The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations.23 Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith, and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel’s salvation. The purest figure among them is Mary.24

III.
Christ Jesus—"Mediator and Fullness of All Revelation"25

God has said everything in his Word

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church
usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1chpt2.htm#art1

 

[SpiritMeadow]

I’ve read the “prove God exists” stuff and wanted to tackle a different question. I have no problem believing that there is a “God”, by which I mean a Supreme Being, Creator of the Universe type power. So that is something we can agree on. But how do we know that this Great Spirit is the Judeo Christian God? This is something I was raised with and never thought I’d question, but, alas, I now do. Please feel free to disucss, whatever your belief. I’d like to read what folks have to say.

I’m not sure there is an answer. Each and every believer regardless of their particular faith tradition believes that his/her religious books, teachers etc provide ample proof that this is the true faith. I’m not so sure it matters a great deal. We are but mortal humans with very limited understandings of such things. We are probably best off simply aligning ourselves with the faith tradition that we most resonate with. Surely if God guides us all through his Spirit, then we are not led astray. It certainly is not wihout the realm of possibility that God reveals Himself in ways that peoples can relate, and that is in part conditioned by our social history. No one can really answer the question. I don’t know but I suspect that no other than Christian, or Muslim insist that only by their religion can anyone be saved. I believe others are more open to people finding what resonates as true for them. Some people are more motivated by intellect, others by emotion, others perhaps by ethnicity or social mileiu. I think it most dangerous to speak as if one has the answer for anyone other than themselves.

When you look seriously at other faiths, you find that the same basic principles are taught. Love, tolerance, brotherhood, forgiveness etc seem found in all faiths. Sadly we do not build on these agreements.

I recognize your issue, but I find no answer. Perhaps the mere stating of it leads to the humbleness not to talk badly or hauntily about how “our’s is the only one” and leads some to view with more tolerance the views of others.

In the end, I think we all do best to try to define good behavior in all things as the goal to strive for. To give no harm, to forgive others, to recognize the oneness of all humanity, and to strive for justice and fair treatment for all. If you think God is going to reject you because you have picked the wrong particular faith, then perhaps you have made God quite small.

Let the firestorm begin! LOL. Bottom line, nobody really knows do they? And if that is the case, then all opinions that look to the good are equally valid IMO.

 

[Neil_Anthony]

I’ve read the “prove God exists” stuff and wanted to tackle a different question. I have no problem believing that there is a “God”, by which I mean a Supreme Being, Creator of the Universe type power. So that is something we can agree on. But how do we know that this Great Spirit is the Judeo Christian God? This is something I was raised with and never thought I’d question, but, alas, I now do. Please feel free to disucss, whatever your belief. I’d like to read what folks have to say.

Well, assuming there is only one God, and that this God is the creator, you don’t have to worry about your prayers being directed to the wrong God. There’s only one being it could arrive at and who could respond in that name.

Does that answer your question?

 

[eigerhar]

The true God is proven by miracles that only he can do and by martyrs that propagate that miracles.

Beside this:

If you know that God exists.
You will encounter some problems.
You will recognize that the world is evil but that God is perfect.
(Perfect in the case of God means also moraly good).

On the solution of such problems you can see if your god fits.

The christian solution is the original sin.
1 - How can God be good and the world he has created bad?

Solutions:
→ False religions: God is origin of good and bad
→ Christianism: God has created free will of angels and human. The evil in the world is a consequence of the bad use of free will of creatures. God is completely good

2 - There are so many catastrophies in the world. Even children are killed before their use of reason

Solutions
–>False religions: God is unjust, god acts as a tyrann
–>Christianism: The original sin is spread over the children even before their use of ration

3 - A world that contains mistakes can’t purify itself

Solution
–>Historical intervention of God in the world, specially intelligence: Revelation

…

Metaphysics helps to find such problems to test if your god fits.

 

[Benadam]

No other revelation of God is so interwoven within human lives and history. No other revelation is so Incarnate and comprehensive.

The concept of eternity entering time and history is unimagineable. The mystery of such a reality is manifest only through the Judeo Christian revelation. The Judeo Christian revelation is able to demonstrate the qualities that distinguish mere human revelation from Divine. A couple of other’s claim these qualities in words but their relationship to the Judeo Christian revelation forces a contradiction of those qualities and consequently an eternal inability to demonstrate their claim.

My signature expresses the reason I believe the Judeo Christian revelation of God.

 

[cpayne]

Well, assuming there is only one God, and that this God is the creator, you don’t have to worry about your prayers being directed to the wrong God. There’s only one being it could arrive at and who could respond in that name.

Does that answer your question?

Right.

Only one being could be the Supreme Being, by nature of being “Supreme.” People who are worshipping God are worshipping this Being.

 

[fhansen]

Right.

Only one being could be the Supreme Being, by nature of being “Supreme.” People who are worshipping God are worshipping this Being.

Yes, but I think the question about the character of God would still remain. How do we know that the “Supreme God” is necessarily the same as the God of Christianity-the God who’s a personal being with characteristics that go beyond omniscience and omnipotence since He’s also the One who has unconditional love for His creation-who is love- along with merciful, forgiving, patient, fatherly etc, and who revealed Himself to us and worked out His plan of salvation for us? It can be said that as Christians we worship a God we claim to know.

 

[cpayne]

Well, I’m pretty much with you on this one, I think. A lot of God’s attributes are just tied up in the nature of “Supreme” (infinite perfection, infinite goodness, etc.—keeping in mind that evil implies a privation and a perfect being wouldn’t have a privation of any kind). Now the other things you mentioned, i.e., God revealing Himself in Christ and working out our salvation through Christ—those are specifically Christian and not part of the description of “Supreme Being.” But I’d still say people worshipping the Supreme Being are worshipping God, even if they do not have a full understanding of all He has done.

 

[Sarpedon]

Because I find that Catholicism has the most plausable and reasonable explanation of life and reality.

God is love, and created the world out of this love (primarily an act of the will, not an emotion). He did not need to, but chose to out of His selfless love. He endowed His creatures with free will, thus making them capable of selflessly loving like Himself. To guide us in this end, He gave us the Natural Law written in our hearts. Of course, by making His creatures capable of love, He also had to make them capable of choosing to not love. He did not desire evil, but had to allow the possibility of it for otherwise love would be impossible. He could not make us capable of love without the possibility of not loving any more than He could make a square circle.

He did not stop there, however. He also established a visible, infallible Church to guide us to truth and salvation. He gave this church the ability to infallibly govern in His stead. He knew that great confusion would exist when He no longer physically lived with us as our guide, so He established a church to rule in His stead and infallibly communicate His teachings to the world.

To me, this whole scenario makes sense and is consistent. If I were God, I think I would do it this way.

Other religions have certain features that strike me as inconsistent or unreasonable. I’ll go through them in the next post.

 

[onetimeposter]

To me, this whole scenario makes sense and is consistent. If I were God, I think I would do it this way.

…come on Sarpedon…

We can’t…we can’t know were right. We have faith were right, some have hope were right and some don’t worry about it.

 

[Sarpedon]

(If I get any points of doctrine wrong, correct me)

Protestantism-

 God came down to earth to redeem us and make His will known to man. He chose to reveal His will through the Bible, which is the sole rule of faith. To that end, He left us with many teachings that were written down by many different people over several centuries (I guess people during that time had to rely on oral teaching). Eventually, there were so many different books that nobody really knew what was inspired and what was not (until the Catholic Church defined the canon). After that helpful resolution by the Catholics, the problem of distributing and reading the Bible still remained. Many people couldn't read, and very few could afford Bibles. It was also difficult and time consuming to make them.

After about 1500 years of struggling with this, the printing press finally allowed efficient distribution of the Bible. The literacy problem still remained, but that would slowly decrease in prominence as educational standards improved over the next few centuries.

Now that those in affluent countries can easily find and read a Bible, the Holy Spirit will guide us to the true interpretation of scripture (unless we disagree). If we do disagree, we can always go form our own sect with our own personal interpretation as doctrine.

This all seems absolutely implausable to me. I cannot fathom why God would choose such an inefficient and unworkable system to spread His teachings.

Calvinism teaches that God creates certain people to go to hell, and others to heaven. We have no free will and cannot change our destination, because God has already sent us there. This does not seem characteristic of a loving God.

 

[Sarpedon]

…come on Sarpedon…

We can’t…we can’t know were right. We have faith were right, some have hope were right and some don’t worry about it.

The reason I choose to place my faith in the Catholic Church is that it is plausable, reasonable and consistent (in my estimation). Could I be wrong? Of course. But considering the evidence and the fact that I have to make my decision, I choose to place by faith in the Church.

 

[Nickkname]

I’ve read the “prove God exists” stuff and wanted to tackle a different question. I have no problem believing that there is a “God”, by which I mean a Supreme Being, Creator of the Universe type power. So that is something we can agree on. But how do we know that this Great Spirit is the Judeo Christian God? This is something I was raised with and never thought I’d question, but, alas, I now do. Please feel free to disucss, whatever your belief. I’d like to read what folks have to say.

We don’t believe in the God of Judeo-Christianity. We believe in God. G-O-D.

 

[fhansen]

Well, I’m pretty much with you on this one, I think. A lot of God’s attributes are just tied up in the nature of “Supreme” (infinite perfection, infinite goodness, etc.—keeping in mind that evil implies a privation and a perfect being wouldn’t have a privation of any kind). Now the other things you mentioned, i.e., God revealing Himself in Christ and working out our salvation through Christ—those are specifically Christian and not part of the description of “Supreme Being.” But I’d still say people worshipping the Supreme Being are worshipping God, even if they do not have a full understanding of all He has done.

I see what you’re saying. I think any sense of the “Other” or something “bigger” than ourselves that many people I know have-sometimes even in spite of their religion-is a bowing of sorts to the God who created us.

 

[Swan]

I’m not sure there is an answer. Each and every believer regardless of their particular faith tradition believes that his/her religious books, teachers etc provide ample proof that this is the true faith. I’m not so sure it matters a great deal. We are but mortal humans with very limited understandings of such things. We are probably best off simply aligning ourselves with the faith tradition that we most resonate with. Surely if God guides us all through his Spirit, then we are not led astray. It certainly is not wihout the realm of possibility that God reveals Himself in ways that peoples can relate, and that is in part conditioned by our social history. No one can really answer the question. I don’t know but I suspect that no other than Christian, or Muslim insist that only by their religion can anyone be saved. I believe others are more open to people finding what resonates as true for them. Some people are more motivated by intellect, others by emotion, others perhaps by ethnicity or social mileiu. I think it most dangerous to speak as if one has the answer for anyone other than themselves.

When you look seriously at other faiths, you find that the same basic principles are taught. Love, tolerance, brotherhood, forgiveness etc seem found in all faiths. Sadly we do not build on these agreements.

I recognize your issue, but I find no answer. Perhaps the mere stating of it leads to the humbleness not to talk badly or hauntily about how “our’s is the only one” and leads some to view with more tolerance the views of others.

In the end, I think we all do best to try to define good behavior in all things as the goal to strive for. To give no harm, to forgive others, to recognize the oneness of all humanity, and to strive for justice and fair treatment for all. If you think God is going to reject you because you have picked the wrong particular faith, then perhaps you have made God quite small.

Let the firestorm begin! LOL. Bottom line, nobody really knows do they? And if that is the case, then all opinions that look to the good are equally valid IMO.

First, let me thank everyone for the excellent responses. I think Spirit Meadow comes cloese to expressing my feelings on this subject. The idea that we got with what feels right to us which was mentioned by a few of you and I think this has real merit. I also agree that the basic teachings on loving your neighbor, etc. do indeed appear in religions and spiritiual traditions the world over - which should tell something (like coexistance is a good idea and we should pursue it). It might also speak towards objective truth - one that doesn’t find it’s home in any one traiditon but that resonates with manking in general. The Golden Rule, for example. It also makes me wonder how such a simple teaching got so complicated.

 

[fhansen]

For me, the authority with which Jesus spoke, which awed the crowds as well as myself, as to specific truths concerning such things as the nature of God and the afterlife and the Fathers’ relationship to us, tends to make Christianity more of a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. Its specificity and unashamed claims about truth make it superior to other religions, IMO, and the resurrection simply blows the rest out of the water. But, having said that, there are many truths and beautiful insights to be found in other faiths that I have benefited from and most strive to come close to the “Supreme Being” in one way or the other, whether by means of mans’ earnest quest for truth or by Gods’ decision to reveal truth to man, as in the case of Christianity.