What's your reason for believing in God?

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Poseidon

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I was raised Catholic, but now at age 20 I am in the process of abandoning my faith because I took a critical eye to it and found that it just doesn’t hold up. So I am wondering what keeps you believing in God? How do you “know” he is there? Especially any older people on here (old is relative, I know, but old compared to me 👍)
 
Like most people, I was told from an early age to believe in God. I had no choice–sent to a Catholic school and dragged along to mass every Sunday by a mother who has long since lost her own faith. I think the majority of Catholics were raised as Catholics, and it’s the same for all religions and denominations. You believe it because you’re taught to believe it. Relatively few people find religion independently of their upbringing or environment.
I often look at the priest during mass, and think: “Why is he a priest?” No doubt he’s genuinely committed to his faith, but I’m willing to bet that he was raised as a Catholic from day one, never questioned it for a minute, and then decided to pursue it full-time.
 
Poseidon said:
I was raised Catholic, but now at age 20 I am in the process of abandoning my faith because I took a critical eye to it and found that it just doesn’t hold up. So I am wondering what keeps you believing in God? How do you “know” he is there? Especially any older people on here (old is relative, I know, but old compared to me 👍)
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I am the opposite of you Poseidan. I took a critical eye to it and found that it more than holds up it makes much more sense.
 
I was raised Catholic, and I’m also 20. I went to Catholic primary and high schools. For a long time I didn’t do more than Mass every Sunday and prayer before meals and I almost never thought about God outside of these times.

When I started university (a Catholic one, but of my own choosing), I had to take a compulsory theology course. It really opened my eyes as to why we have certain beliefs and practices. It helped me make sense of things that I’d previously never even contemplated or understood. I began to feel a greater interest in learning about God and the Church, and have made Theology one of my major units now.

Things really picked up for me at the start of this year, I went through a sort of “spiritual (re)awakening”. I just found so much love and emotion in my heart for God. I’ve never NOT believed in God, but I’ve also never felt very passionate about my faith until now. I really do feel like a new, different person. I understand how close God really is, I can see that He’s worked miracles in my life and that He’s watching over me. To not believe in God seems kind of unimaginable for me now.

I’m sorry to hear you’re abandoning your faith. It must be a hard thing. For me, studying the Church and pushing myself to learn and find God really strengthened me in a time when I probably needed it. I will pray for you.
 
I think you need to be more specific about what doesn’t hold up.

I suggest you do some positive research. Look for signs of God. Many, many miracles have been recorded even in the Eucharist alone. And of course the appearances of Our Lady. Very recently, a priest went to see a man who had recently died. Well, when he touched the scapular the man was wearing, he came back to life! Everyone was shocked, and even the priest had to sit down for a while to take in what had just happened! (Apparently it had something to do with the promises of Our Lady of Mount Carmel… something about not dying in a state of mortal sin if you were wearing one, and that man happened to have something he wanted to confess.)

Also, read about Jesus and the Bible. And yes, Jesus did exist; he was mentioned in secular sources not just the Bible. And the Bible has been preserved with more than 99% accuracy which is very amazing for something so old and from a time when oral tradition was considered more reliable that written work, many people couldn’t read or write or afford books, etc.

Please try to avoid atheistic websites that attack God and tell half-truths about things religious people believe. Those sites are for people who are interested in affirming their atheism, high-fiving each other for not believing, making fun of religious people, etc… not for people seeking truth.

Questions are normal, but faith has to grow. I’m sure your questions have all been answered time and again. The Church is 2,000 years old; there really aren’t any new questions. Technology may advance, but the human experience is the same for everyone. Everyone has good times and bad and has to face the world around them where there is a wide range of quality of life (very rich people down to very poor people) and sees good and evil and joy and suffering (whether it be from human action, natural disaster or illness) in the world. Everyone faces temptation and times of spiritual dryness where they don’t feel like God is there… even people like Mother Teresa, who said she had 40 years of it!

I think a huge problem is that catechesis has been poor in many places for the last 40 years. Lots of people don’t know their faith. Their faith hasn’t grown past what they were taught as children, and obviously the faith needs to grow past that point. As teenagers, kids start asking questions and the instructors need to be mature in their faith (adult-level faith) and prepared to respond to the kids’ (adolescent-level faith) objections or the kids will leave the faith in high school or college. They will fall into atheism, agnosticism, another religion, etc.

I think the stage you’re in right now is a normal part of spiritual growth. Just stay strong and don’t be discouraged. And if you have any questions about something you do read, feel free to post it here and someone will be able to respond. 👍

And I seriously doubt that a priest has never questioned his faith! He had to study the faith as well as objections in order to become a priest. He is a Catholic by birth but a priest by choice!

And let’s not forget that thousands of people convert to Catholicism every year. Not everyone was born Catholic. Many were born into another denomination of Christianity, but many others grew up with no faith at all (very common today when a lot of people don’t attend church and didn’t attend church growing up), and were seeking truth and were led to the Catholic Church. Some are former Muslims, Jews, or from Eastern religions. And if you wonder why people believe Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, is the true faith instead of the others, that is a topic for another thread. :cool:
 
I believe in God because I feel the presence of God in my heart and in my life. I also have a great sense of wonder and awe at God’s creation.
 
hansard said:
Like most people, I was told from an early age to believe in God. I had no choice–sent to a Catholic school and dragged along to mass every Sunday by a mother who has long since lost her own faith. I think the majority of Catholics were raised as Catholics, and it’s the same for all religions and denominations. You believe it because you’re taught to believe it. Relatively few people find religion independently of their upbringing or environment.
I often look at the priest during mass, and think: “Why is he a priest?” No doubt he’s genuinely committed to his faith, but I’m willing to bet that he was raised as a Catholic from day one, never questioned it for a minute, and then decided to pursue it full-time.
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I think it’s impossible for an intelligent person never to question any aspect of their faith… 😉
 
Poseidon said:
I was raised Catholic, but now at age 20 I am in the process of abandoning my faith because I took a critical eye to it and found that it just doesn’t hold up. So I am wondering what keeps you believing in God? How do you “know” he is there? Especially any older people on here (old is relative, I know, but old compared to me 👍)
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I’ve a few, more than four, decades under my belt, for what that’s worth. A also had a Catholic school education through high school, and after an astonishing spiritual experience, I was led to question the form, if not the substance, of the Church. Before the event that changed my life I believed in God and the Church. Now I can’t call what I have belief, as it is experientieally different than mere faith, and I see the Church as having heavily cloaked the actual teaching that was it’s foundation. that cloak is so impenetrable that I had to go outside the Church for some useful explanation of what happened to me.

But after many decades I can see how it is all here, in Catholicism, but wow; in my experience and considerations, how things are presented are way too complicated and disguised. that’s ok up to a point. I mean Jesus taught in parables which we know had three levels at least. But He also taught His disciples in private, telling them things in fullness. Plain talk. And that is good, if you are ready for it. Most, imho, are way not. You can see that by the rectivity on here to certain kinds of ideas.

So it is one thing to have a relationship, if you widh to call it that, with God, and quite another to have thoughts about God that you learned by default from someone else. And of course those who have the defalult position will be heavily critical of any sincere questoning or exploration you wish to do. But God isn’t about anything other than Love! And if someone loves you, you know they appreciate that you wish to know about them directly and not treat them as if they were the same as someone else’s story about them.

So I advocate belief as a wonderful thing until you have the means to gain some insight and be receptive to grace. inquiry ai a far more receptive statge than adamantine faith, as you might very well find out. And those are things that are not dependent of religion as much as sincerity and love of truth. That is why it is called philo-sophy: the love of wisdom.

I wish you all the best! God Bless!
 
Poof said:
What doesn’t hold up? 😛
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Mostly it’s the Problem of Evil, and the Problem of Hell. I also have been thinking about it and researching a lot, and I see very little evidence that points to God’s existence. Obviously there is some, such as miracles, but I’m not sure if it’s enough to be convincing.

However these individual issues aren’t the focus of this question. Basically, right now I’m trying to find peoples’ reasons for believing what they believe. There are a lot of extremely smart people on both sides of the debate, and I want to know where they get there conviction from.
 
svid2 said:
It just never enters my mind that there might not be G-d.
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I think that this is one of the main problems of religion. People delve into it and try to learn more, but they forget the most fundamental question of all - whether their most basic assumption, the existence of God or gods, is true or not.
 
Poseidon said:
I think that this is one of the main problems of religion. People delve into it and try to learn more, but they forget the most fundamental question of all - whether their most basic assumption, the existence of God or gods, is true or not.
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Yes, and is it “God” they are thinking about? (darned near impossible if we accept that God is All,) or are those thoughts about thoughts about “God?”
 
Because I feel God and know that he is there.

Like you I did walk away once and attending Buddhist group in my local town I soon realised I did believe in God.

Recently I felt myself going down a similar way but had enough left in me to contact the priest as I didn’t want to walk right away again. I now know I feel God and because I feel God I know he is there. Thats enough for me. I don’t question because questions just lead to more questions without answers. I just focus on feeling God there. Through having had and have lots of help from the priest 🙂
 
Poseidon said:
I was raised Catholic, but now at age 20 I am in the process of abandoning my faith because I took a critical eye to it and found that it just doesn’t hold up. So I am wondering what keeps you believing in God? How do you “know” he is there? Especially any older people on here (old is relative, I know, but old compared to me 👍)
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Because it is metaphysically impossible for Him not to exist in any possible world, He is the rigid designator.

Being that you’re a young gun, do you think that any conclusion you made on you’re own is concrete? Your intellect does not lie to you, but it lacks necessary variables to make such a claim that learned men would disagree with. The real question here is that are you asking just to waste our time or to gathering information to reevaluate your premature conclusion to abandon faith?
 
Poseidon said:
I was raised Catholic, but now at age 20 I am in the process of abandoning my faith because I took a critical eye to it and found that it just doesn’t hold up. So I am wondering what keeps you believing in God? How do you “know” he is there? Especially any older people on here (old is relative, I know, but old compared to me 👍)
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I read Edward Feser’s The Last Superstition and all my doubts disappeared. You might try reading it, too.
 
Poseidon said:
I think that this is one of the main problems of religion. People delve into it and try to learn more, but they forget the most fundamental question of all - whether their most basic assumption, the existence of God or gods, is true or not.
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But there’s like a million apologetical books out there, not to mention Web sites, blogs, speeches, etc. People have been thinking about this for a long time. Thomas Aquinas was thinking about it 700+ years ago. Aristotle was thinking about it, like, 2500 years.
 
I’m a believer in God with faith the size of a mustard seed. I say that because I have always had difficulty with faith. Other questions like what about ancient civilizations such as the Myans or Incas, American Indians and many other cultures. Some little boy grew up as a Myan, taught only what his tribe knew and lived a life that by our standards would seem empty without the one true God.

Don’t abandon your faith. Some have a stronger faith than others. It doesn’t mean you have to give up. But like me, keep asking questions and try to grow into a fullness of the faith.
 
sw85 said:
I read Edward Feser’s The Last Superstition and all my doubts disappeared. You might try reading it, too.
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Edward Feser’s Aquinas really locked up the issue of the existence of God for me. Though now I want to learn more and detest my poor instruction in philosophy.
 
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