D
defendermigs
Guest
Are humans required to believe in God?
- Status
M
meltzerboy2
Guest
No, they are not required to believe in G-d by other humans or even by G-d Himself due to free will (in certain religions). Now, there may be other influences based on your religion and culture concerning such things as heaven and hell, the country in which you live, and your biopsychological make-up (the G-d gene, for example), so if you care to enlarge your question, I think that might make for a fuller discussion.
Last edited:
G
Gab123
Guest
Reason demands it
T
TechieGuy
Guest
Required by Whom?
F
fhansen
Guest
Man was made for communion with God. We’re lost without it, and that’s the way we’re born, separated from and without knowledge of God, a state sometimes called Original Sin. We have no idea where we came from, if anywhere, what we’re here for, if for anything, and where we’re going, if anywhere. Jesus came to fully reveal God, a God truly worth knowing so that by knowing we may believe and by believing we may come to hope in and love Him.
With this faith a relationship or communion is established that should increasingly lead to our being aligned with God’s will, even if we’re sometimes swayed away from Him by the worlds attractions and our own desires and the pride (the basic sin of Adam) that tends to oppose Him by its nature. Its a struggle, but a good one, towards the only goal that has any real value in this universe, and that alone can produce the peace and satisfaction and happiness that we all naturally desire.
To the extent that we’re outside of this relationship our tendency to sin is all the more difficult to oppose; our moral integrity is all the more compromised. To the extent that we abide in God and He us, we grow in loving Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves, and our justice or righteousness blossoms and sin is excluded by the nature of this love.
"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3
There’s a whole lot packed into that verse.
With this faith a relationship or communion is established that should increasingly lead to our being aligned with God’s will, even if we’re sometimes swayed away from Him by the worlds attractions and our own desires and the pride (the basic sin of Adam) that tends to oppose Him by its nature. Its a struggle, but a good one, towards the only goal that has any real value in this universe, and that alone can produce the peace and satisfaction and happiness that we all naturally desire.
To the extent that we’re outside of this relationship our tendency to sin is all the more difficult to oppose; our moral integrity is all the more compromised. To the extent that we abide in God and He us, we grow in loving Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves, and our justice or righteousness blossoms and sin is excluded by the nature of this love.
"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3
There’s a whole lot packed into that verse.
Last edited:
G
Genesis315
Guest
Yes, in as much as justice is a requirement. The rational creature honoring his Creator as such is a matter of justice.
From the Catechism:
From the Catechism:
Last edited:
B
Bluebright
Guest
For who and for what ? For salvation ?
That depends on Gods plan for the person. He’ll give them what they need. If they are in a place area or culture etc. where they never come into contact with the Blessed Trinity then they can still go to heaven despite having never believed in God as that was his plan for them but if they knew God but denied him as is far more likely in the modern then believing is a requirement. It’s up to God to know which. It is written in Luke that to those that much is given much is expected. So we can understand the opposite too. God has a plan for everyone.
That depends on Gods plan for the person. He’ll give them what they need. If they are in a place area or culture etc. where they never come into contact with the Blessed Trinity then they can still go to heaven despite having never believed in God as that was his plan for them but if they knew God but denied him as is far more likely in the modern then believing is a requirement. It’s up to God to know which. It is written in Luke that to those that much is given much is expected. So we can understand the opposite too. God has a plan for everyone.
G
Genesis315
Guest
Your first sentence is true, but not the second. The Church teaches (from the Catechism (CCC)):
But also (which is where your first sentence was correct):
Of course, since faith is “a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed” (CCC 150), in order to have faith in God, one must first believe that God exists: “For he who comes to God must believe that God exists and is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).
St. Robert Bellarmine explained how those who are properly disposed are led to faith, against Protestants that denied that the existence of non-Christians proved salvation is not offered to all ( De Gratis et Libero Arbitrio, lib. 2, cap. 8):
Pope Francis taught the same thing in his first encyclical:
Lumen Fidei
Last edited:
I
IWantGod
Guest
I think the concept of God presupposes the existence of an intelligible reality. To reason that God doesn’t exist leads to contradictions and our experiences cease to be intelligible.
Last edited:
H
HeDa
Guest
I think we can use the words of St Augustine (354-430) from his book Confessions here.
“Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.”
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
This is the prayer the deacon prayed the most times when I was in RCIA. It is a great introduction to one of the Church Fathers.
www.thegospelcoalition.org
“Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.”
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
This is the prayer the deacon prayed the most times when I was in RCIA. It is a great introduction to one of the Church Fathers.
An Analysis of One of the Greatest Sentences Ever Written
Peter Kreeft looks at Augustine's most famous line, which happens to be the theme of life itself. "Our homelessness, our alienation, our misery, our confusion, our lover's quarrel with the world---this is our greatest blessing, next to God Himself."
www.thegospelcoalition.org
F
fhansen
Guest
I like this sentence, related as it is to the “greatest” one about our restless hearts. It tells the story of why we would seek God, why we’re here in this “exile” to begin with.
M
michaelcla
Guest
Yes, believing in God is our basic requirement because Love, Faith, Respect and Honesty are the signs of God and these signs are the basic roots of humanity.:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:
C
CarmeliteKnight
Guest
In order to get into heaven? Yes
A
adamhovey1988
Guest
Why wouldn’t we be?
- Status