When You're Honest With Yourself:

[RobNY]

Hi, thank you for posting! I’m glad that you can relate. I am somewhat of a strict materialist / phsyicalist, which does make having faith hard. I understand that faith doesn’t happen overnight, but you seem firm in your beliefs at this point in your life. How is it that you know God? (I do not mean, ‘how is it that you come to know God?’). I mean, quite literally, what makes God real to you, and not imagined or false (as one might say of other religions and philosophies)?

I’d be happy to discuss the philosophy aspect with you first. I suppose we could do it message by message, but sometimes a conversation works best, give me a private message if you’re interested.

As to, ‘what makes God real to me,’ its a variety of things. The truth is, one’s entire worldview changes before one sees God as real. And indeed, at the basis of my disbelief was my inability to see God as real at all.

Several things converged for me. First, the sort of philosophy that was necessary to undergird faith (with respect to the ‘preambles’) started forming. Second, I felt-- experientially-- empty, and recognized that if I lived my life in a secular atheistic worldview that I would necessarily lack fulfillment, happiness and meaning in my life. Lastly, I started to field answers to the objections against common theistic and Catholic beliefs. When this happened, combined with a gentle reform in morals (action), I was able to start practicing the faith, and it all started to really come into view. The whole really started to make sense.

If you’re wondering if I’ve ever had a mystical experience or God, or a knock me off my horse experience of God-- the answer is no.

And like I said, I would of course be happy to talk with you. It’s difficult to have a conversation through message boards.

God bless,
Rob

 

[Michael_Francis]

For the foreseeable future, there shall be no discussion in the Apologetics Forum of evolution or atheism. Anyone who starts such a thread or revives an old thread on those topics will be banned. This ban is planned to be temporary, but there are to be no public or private petitions that the ban be lifted. It will be lifted only when the mod (yours truly) discerns that the atmosphere in this forum has sufficiently cooled.

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