Want 100% faith

[doniker]

Hello.

I am a 53 year old married man. I was born into a Catholic family, was baptized and I made my First Communion. Around age 14 or so I stopped going to church and pretty much put religion and God out of my life for almost 40 years.

Throughout those years I occasionally suffered panic attacks over the fear of the possibility that their is no afterlife. I should also mention that I am an alcoholic who drank everyday for over 27 years. Today I am 140 days sober.

Now that I go to Alcoholics Anonymous and am getting more spiritual I still obsess over whether or not their is an afterlife and if God exists. I want to believe and when I question my faith in God I worry that God will be mad at me because I do not have 100% faith that he exists.

I recently just started going to church and I did meet with a priest last week to discuss getting confirmed and renewing my marriage vows in the Catholic church.

My question…how do I work on having 100% faith that God exists and that their is an afterlife? Short of actually seeing God for myself how will I ever fully believe?

Thanks for listening.

 

[dshix]

That’s an impressive story.

I think the simplest answer to your question is “prayer”. Prayer is the way that we can talk to God. When we make relationships here on earth, it is often a gradual process: we greet each other, begin to talk, talk more, and eventually grow to know each other more deeply over time.

It is much the same with God. He will only reveal Himself more deeply to you when you begin to spend more of your time speaking with Him.

So, make sure you go to Mass every Sunday. If you can, make it to Mass an additional time during the week (or two).

Begin to say the rosary every day. The theologians have told us that our obligation to God in justice is 30 minutes of prayer a day, and an easy way to do that is to say a rosary, in addition to a very short morning and evening prayer.

Make relationships with others around you who are growing in your faith. Try to frequently speak with your priest, asking advice for growing in the spiritual life.

God will speak to you once you are ready to listen. It takes a little while to get your mind to be quiet, so don’t be discouraged if it feels like you’re going blind for a time.

God Bless you!

 

[MT1926]

Hello.

I am a 53 year old married man. I was born into a Catholic family, was baptized and I made my First Communion. Around age 14 or so I stopped going to church and pretty much put religion and God out of my life for almost 40 years.

Throughout those years I occasionally suffered panic attacks over the fear of the possibility that their is no afterlife. I should also mention that I am an alcoholic who drank everyday for over 27 years. Today I am 140 days sober.

Now that I go to Alcoholics Anonymous and am getting more spiritual I still obsess over whether or not their is an afterlife and if God exists. I want to believe and when I question my faith in God I worry that God will be mad at me because I do not have 100% faith that he exists.

I recently just started going to church and I did meet with a priest last week to discuss getting confirmed and renewing my marriage vows in the Catholic church.

My question…how do I work on having 100% faith that God exists and that their is an afterlife? Short of actually seeing God for myself how will I ever fully believe?

Thanks for listening.

Congrats on the 140 days sober.

Just off the top of my head I would say you do it the same way you do with AA, one day at a time. You can see the importance in the meetings and how they keep you on the path and going in the right direction. I would say it is the same way with your faith. You need to make it part of your daily routine. I really like Catholic radio shows like Catholic Answers Live and Called to Communion or Open Line Monday.

Since you are working on having 100% faith maybe start at the ground up. Trent Horn does a great job with talking to Atheists. Maybe if you listen to a couple of his shows it will help. Quite often he goes into reasons for the existence of God. Here’s a link to the audio talks from the shows…

catholic.com/audio

In the search bar type in the words

why are you an atheist

and it will bring up a whole list of his past shows.

God Bless

 

[fred_conty]

Be glad that you are still asking the important questions. That right there shows that God is tickling your intellect to want to know. That is the sign of life.

I don’t know if this suggestion will help but some have found it very helpful. You might want to read up on the story of Fatima and also the one about Lourds. These are places where Mary has appeared in the last century or so, and there are miraculous events that took place in both places. This might help you, for that is what Mary is about … to help bring us to her son. So you might google them and read.

Happy to hear your attendance at AA helped you. That is a real start right there.

 

[doniker]

thanks to everyone that replied.

You helped me - thanks for the advice.

 

[USMC_Convert]

You know I heard a great cd a while back and there is a book that goes along with it called “4 signs of a dynamic Catholic” or something like that. From the cd, which is mainly taken from the book, it sounds amazing.

For some reason your post made me think of this one thing that the guy says several times. God understands where you are, and He doesn’t expect you to become St Paul over night. He wants you to take one small step towards Him every week or so. So maybe this week ensure you pray for 5 minutes. If you already are then great, it will be that much easier. Next week add a couple minutes of prayer, or add a merciful act, or read a chapter of the Bible, but whatever it is you do, every week take an additional step towards God.

He also gave the example that once, when trying to get a guy who weighed over 400 lbs to lose weight the trainer started out by just making the guy stand on a treadmill for 10 minutes. No walking, no miles of running but it was that one small step, that first step, and from there everything grew.

You are where you are, God knows that, He loves you, He is the best, greatest, most loving and merciful Father ever, and all He wants is for you to take one small step towards Him, and continue to do so.

Sometimes you may lose your balance and fall backwards, it’s okay, He knows, but get up and take another small step…

 

[MT1926]

You know I heard a great cd a while back and there is a book that goes along with it called “4 signs of a dynamic Catholic” or something like that. From the cd, which is mainly taken from the book, it sounds amazing.

For some reason your post made me think of this one thing that the guy says several times. God understands where you are, and He doesn’t expect you to become St Paul over night. He wants you to take one small step towards Him every week or so. So maybe this week ensure you pray for 5 minutes. If you already are then great, it will be that much easier. Next week add a couple minutes of prayer, or add a merciful act, or read a chapter of the Bible, but whatever it is you do, every week take an additional step towards God.

He also gave the example that once, when trying to get a guy who weighed over 400 lbs to lose weight the trainer started out by just making the guy stand on a treadmill for 10 minutes. No walking, no miles of running but it was that one small step, that first step, and from there everything grew.

You are where you are, God knows that, He loves you, He is the best, greatest, most loving and merciful Father ever, and all He wants is for you to take one small step towards Him, and continue to do so.

Sometimes you may lose your balance and fall backwards, it’s okay, He knows, but get up and take another small step…

Your talking about Matthew Kelly. He’s coming to our area to speak in May. I’m really looking forward to his seminar.

God Bless

 

[Katherine438]

Hello.

I am a 53 year old married man. I was born into a Catholic family, was baptized and I made my First Communion. Around age 14 or so I stopped going to church and pretty much put religion and God out of my life for almost 40 years.

Throughout those years I occasionally suffered panic attacks over the fear of the possibility that their is no afterlife. I should also mention that I am an alcoholic who drank everyday for over 27 years. Today I am 140 days sober.

Now that I go to Alcoholics Anonymous and am getting more spiritual I still obsess over whether or not their is an afterlife and if God exists. I want to believe and when I question my faith in God I worry that God will be mad at me because I do not have 100% faith that he exists.

I recently just started going to church and I did meet with a priest last week to discuss getting confirmed and renewing my marriage vows in the Catholic church.

My question…how do I work on having 100% faith that God exists and that their is an afterlife? Short of actually seeing God for myself how will I ever fully believe?

Thanks for listening.

Congratulations on 140 days sober.

When you think of your belief in God, look at those 140 days … as difficult as that was, do you really think you did it all by yourself? No … you had God helping you every day … and He will continue to help you … just reach out to Him in prayer … that is how you reach out to God … and don’t worry about how you pray … just talk to God like you would talk to anyone … show respect when you first approach God in prayer … and then talk to Him and let Him know what you are hoping for in your life … tell Him that you are looking for 100% Faith in Him … He will answer your prayers … just remember to pray to Him every day about it … even if it is only for a few minutes before you go to sleep.

I will keep you in my prayers … and if you want to, check out the prayer forum … you could explain your situation in a thread in that forum, and people will pray for you to achieve your goal.

God Bless You

 

[Bridgit_Andrews]

Today I am 140 days sober.

Congratulations! :clapping:

As for the rest, pray. Ask god for wisdom, knowledge and faith in Him.

I will add my prayers to yours.

Act of Hope
O my God, relying on your almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace, and life everlasting through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

Act of Faith
O my God,
I firmly believe that you are one God
in three divine Persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I believe that your divine son became man,
died for our sins,
and that he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe these and all the truths
which the holy Catholic Church teaches,
because you who have revealed them,
who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
Amen.

Act of Love
O My God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.
Amen.

Peace,
B