I wish I could believe in God

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@SugarMagnolia

We all experience at some point in life some to extreme levels of disbelief, when faced with problems and sufferings of all kinds.But Jesus loves you just as your are with out any conditions ,but you need to make the first step.Isaiah 43:4 Because you are precious in my sight,and honored, and I love you,I give people in return for you,nations in exchange for your life.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta has never experience God for 50 long years, a dark night of the soul ,but through the eyes of faith she went forward,blindly trusting and believing . I would suggest to make a good honest confession .Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;repent, and believe in the good news.”

Isaiah 59:1 See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save,nor his ear too dull to hear.2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God,and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;for the Lord has spoken:I reared children and brought them up,but they have rebelled against me.3 The ox knows its owner,and the donkey its master’s crib;but Israel does not know,my people do not understand.18 Come now, let us argue it out,says the Lord:though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be like snow;though they are red like crimson,they shall become like wool.19 If you are willing and obedient,you shall eat the good of the land

Isaiah 54:7 For a brief moment I abandoned you,but with great compassion I will gather you.

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-wor...entals/penance/examinations-of-conscience.cfm
 
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I totally agree about suffering. Suffering in union with Christ is beneficial to the Church, the Body of Christ. And, to our spiritual growth as well!

I also like to remember that St. Padre Pio said if we realized the power of suffering in union with Christ we would ask for it. (But we don’t have to ask for it…it will come in various ways.) The grace of God that we seek will uphold us.
 
Prayer can also take many forms, if there is any style of Christian music you enjoy: whether classical orchestral, arias, choral, choir or Gregorian chant, Taize chant or modern gospel, contemporary praise or rock ANY form of music created to give glory to God can minister to you. Ask for recommendations on here if necessary but just choosing to listen to the Holy Spirit moving others to glorify and worship God is another form of prayer.

The suggestion to serve others in need is also excellent. We can all be tempted to navel gaze and stay focused on ourselves, especially when we struggle. Taking the time out to volunteer to help others or even to be aware of people around you every day and follow the Golden Rule of treating others as you would wish to be treated is walking in God’s way. This is confirming your will to God’s and making yourself available to be used to bless others and be open to how God will use others to reach you and speak to you. Therefore be open to love and be loved. All love originates in God who made us and continues to remake us at every moment from His desire to manifest His love for us.
 
Some basic principles
God created you for relationship with Him
He loves you
He is seeking you now
He will offer you grace ( power to know Him)
You can block that grace
Sin is often the cause of a log jam in relationships

Suggestions
Go to Jesus in adoration
Sit there and ask Him to reveal Himself to you
“ Jesus I’m not sure you are here, from my heart, I want to know you I beg of you
Show yourself to me”. Very simple prayer.

Ask him to show the stumbling block that is blocking His grace.
Go to confession and kill this block, ask for strength
To do all of this
Don’t analyze whether it is right or wrong or feels foolish etc etc.
just do it
Spend an hr with Jesus in the Eucharist every week
I’m pretty sure you won’t make a year before your relationship is on fire

“ when I am lifted up I will draw all men to myself “
 
I KNOW God exists. This is not a question of “if”. To me, it seems like common sense. The universe exists, and had a definite beginning, it seems to me to be logical that it didn’t create itself.
 
Do you think there’s a bit of Depression potential at play?
For me personally,I have some Depression and sometimes I feel the same way as you.
 
TheLittleLady said:
Belief is a choice.
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I tried to stave off comments like that by mentioning how wrong such thinking is. You simply do not and cannot understand. It’s like telling an amputee that they can choose to have legs. It’s also a form of victim-blaming because you tell a person without belief that it’s their own fault for not “choosing” to believe.
 
It’s not depression. I have not believed in God since childhood.
 
I was raised in Orthodox Judaism. At 16, having always believed very strongly in God, I started to feel as though God was leaving me…or I was leaving Him. It scared the heck out of me. I cried, I prayed, I begged and still God just…left. I discussed my crisis with Rabbi, with family and friends, nothing helped. I had no trauma in my life, no deaths in my family or friends, nothing I could put a blame on.

I started thinking, wrong God? I explored Christianity. I tried so HARD to believe…the old fake it till you make it. Nothing.
I started researching books about faith from those that lost it and found it again. They didn’t help. Then I discovered the historical critical method (I’m about 19 here). That was the final straw. Once you understand the Bible from a secular perspective, you can’t undo that.

I didn’t even know there were others like me. I thought something was wrong with my brain, with me! This is pre internet times so no way to reach out to others. When the internet came about (actually buliten boards before that) was when I learned there were others that had no faith or lost theirs, too! Most were glad to be rid of their beliefs. That wasn’t me. I WANTED to believe but I couldn’t. It just wasn’t there.

Finally, I accepted it. I still don’t understand why I lost my beliefs. I do think something must be different about my brain. I still try prayer from time to time. But, mostly, I just learned to accept it. I call myself agnostic as I can not definitively say there is no God. I just don’t know him, feel him, mentally see him or experience him. I am the most jealous of those that have had a personal encounter with God. I never have and I can’t relate to someone else’s experience that I’ve never had.

I learned to live with it. I’m still fascinated about how and why so many believe when I can’t. Thus, I enquirer, I continue to learn and occasionally, I pray. I’m 66 now and still agnostic. I envy those their faith.
 
I agree. There is also an unexpected variety of species on planet earth which is mind boggling. A planet ecosystem could be in balance with a hundred different species, yet we have millions. I see the hand of God.
 
We all choose to believe things.

We choose to believe that a certain person is someone we would like to date, marry.

When we are sick, we choose to believe this physician knows best.

We choose to believe in a certain political party, we choose to believe that there is a possibility of life on other planets.

Scripture even models a pray for us “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief”.

Faith is a gift, belief is an action.

Try believing. Simply deciding in your mind that you will believe.
 
I didn’t really lose God because I never really had him. I lost my belief as I grew up.
 
You’re wrong. We don’t choose to believe anything. We either believe or we do not. You’re using the word choose incorrectly.

When we are sick, we decide to follow the physician’s advice. That’s choosing an action, not choosing a belief.

We decide to follow a certain political party. That’s choosing an action, not choosing a belief.

Now this one about love really proves my point.

We believe that a certain person is someone we would like to date, marry. We don’t choose what to feel. We do choose whether or not to act on our feelings.
 
And THAT’S the problem! You never had G-d, so how sure are you He doesn’t exist unless you don’t experience Him?
 
I’m not sure he doesn’t exist, but to start believing in something, ordinarily we have some evidence.

Personally, I believe that if he doesn’t exist, life and everything in the universe is meaningless, but there’s no reason that there has to be meaning. It could all be meaningless matter-in-motion and if that’s the case, being a rational self-aware being is a monstrous fate.
 
Have you found a Catholic Church to go to adoration?
Do you know what adoration is?
You spend time with God, in His presence.
You may Feel nothing, sense nothing and think you’v
Wasted your time. Forget your evidence. It’s not his business to prove himself to his creatures. He will meet you on HIS terms not yours.
God is alway faithful. He will break into your
Life.
You will likely have to humble yourself more or rid yourself of some sin before you “sense “ he is operating.
He is alway operating.
 
SugarMagnolia said:
I wish I could believe in God, but I don’t
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With 58 posts ahead of this one, I may be repeating something already covered. In the context of your statement, I think it appropriate to ask how you, personally, perceive the idea of “God”. The great Anglican theologian, pastor, and Oxford professor, N.T. Wright, was once approached by a student who told him he would not be attending the Theology class much, though he needed the course credit, because he didn’t believe in god. Wright asked him to define what he meant by “god”. After a brief dissertation covering the common ideas of supreme being, benevolent old man, white haired deity in the sky, Wright said, “Don’t worry about a thing, son, I don’t believe in that God either”.

When our finite human minds attempt to discern a force more powerful than ourselves we will always fall short. Our conceptions of what God is are always going to create something or someone rather familiar. Bishop Robert Barron addresses this directly, dismissing the notion that God is some sort of Supreme Being, an individual among other individuals. Rather, he says, God is all of being, though that can be difficult to comprehend. I liken it this way. The massive energy that powers the universe, the seen and the unseen, the force that inhabits all of matter, that is present within the tiniest particles of the rapidly moving atoms, is conscious, aware, and involved. This is what we call “god”, but that is not his name. It’s simply an expedient word we use to convey the unknown Source of All That Is.
 
I scanned the thread, so forgive me if I repeat anything.

It seems to me you are looking for a feeling rather than a rational choice. Feelings you cannot control, belief you can. I don’t need to FEEL like gravity exists: it exists whether I believe (feel) it or not. Even for the people floating in weightlessness, gravity is real even if they don’t feel it. Facts don’t care if we accept them or not. 🙂 So belief is a choice. I CHOOSE to believe in God.

When it comes to the “feelings” though, they are a terrible, terrible way to determine reality. There are times I feel things that are contrary to reality. Take, for example, when I was in labor and on painkillers…I felt like I was floating. Definitely NOT true! 😉

Feelings come and go, but belief doesn’t. Belief is the actual choice. When you make that choice to believe and life as though you do because your head tells you what is right, the emotions can often catch up.

I, personally, have a very “feelings” based faith. I live and die by my emotions, and God is working with me on that.
 
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