Why you believe

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I have a question to you.WHY DO YOU BELIEVE.A personal answer from the heart.How would you explain to a person that asked you what you believe.It’s not a test or to be graded,I would like to see what others would say.I think before we spread the gosple,we should be able to explain it to ourselves.If you were to explain why you believe to yourself ,would it be good enough, would it make you ponder.Answer more why you believe then what you believe.That another thread.

Here’s my answer(I will try to make it better as time goes on so I can give a good account of the why of my faith.

I believe in an answer to the why of my existence.This answer is God and his son Jesus of Nazereth.I can’t prove God but there are clues.This universe come from somewhere.That life has originated from a master of life.That all that I perceive to exist doesn’t come from nothing and goes to nothing.Of the things I read of other religions and ideologies only the God of the bible makes sense to me.That God gives us free will and our parents,the first of humanity chose badly,chose self centeredness.And I see this in human affairs all the time,we know how things should be done so all of us would be better off but we fall short till finally we give up.

I believe this Jesus of Nazereth is God made flesh and took matters in his one hands.He accomplished so many things with his earthly life.
He came to be one of his creatures and remain so for eternity,that alone make me trust God forever
He always chose right,the only human that from beginning to the end of his life,lived rightously,the principles of love,justice and truth were a natural to him as breathing is to us.The only human who had the knowledge of right and wrong and always done right.I can never claim this but in some mysterious way,if I choose him,he imparts that rightousness so God sees me thru him.Blameless.

I have this inner impression,that this man spoke the truth and reaches me from back in time to today,giving me an inner assurance that tho existence overwhelms me,he is the master of existence. And how great a master,that he would take insult,torture and death to prove he loves us.
He answers enough of my whys, that I trust that he will answer all of them in due time.
 
The answer is both Simple & Deeply Complex,
It’s Easy because I have this fire within me that Yearns faith ,
One of the Comlexities is to explain that Yearning Faith ,
 
My belief is a gift from God, the manifold grace’s that He has given me to understand. The Wisdom to discern what He wants of me. My character that He as given me to be able to make the choice that He wants me to make and be His adopted Son, to chose the better.

(Joh 3:27 DRB) John answered and said: A man cannot receive any thing, unless it be given him from heaven.

(Jas 1:17 DRB) Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration.

(2Ti 1:9 DRB) Who hath delivered us and called us by his holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the times of the world:
 
I was looking more for an answer along the line you would give an agnostic person at your place of work for example.A person in casual conversation who knows your a catholic and wants to know why you believe.A personel testimony.
 
JC9 said:
I was looking more for an answer along the line you would give an agnostic person at your place of work for example.A person in casual conversation who knows your a catholic and wants to know why you believe.A personel testimony.
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Yes, I did understand the Question,the Answer I gave is about the best I can give,
It’s why I said its both simple and deeply Complex,
If I could perhaps give you an example,in basic terms,
When I was about 10-11 in school, we had lessons on Ancient Greece & the Roman Empire, I was vaguely interested, and we learnt about the Collossium in Rome,
well last year I was fortunate enough to travel to Europe,and I went and saw the colosseum
Well, to actually see how huge that place was,to actually see it,touch it,smell it,
It was an amazing experience,all those school day lessons came flooding back,
Well in a round about way faith is like that,
People hear about these things, and have perhaps a vague interest ,
People must make a Journey within themselves to discover faith as I discovered the Colosseum ,
When your with work Colleagues , and they question you about your faith,
Just say it’s just something they need to discover for themselves,it’s not something you can buy like a Piece of furniture, it’s not something you can learn from reading books,
It could complement your discovery of faith but it might not give you faith,
It’s something much more complex than that,
I hope in some way this has helped, I hope perhaps you get more contributors to your thread,someone else may give a better interpretation
 
Thank you Phil.
Yes,eventually they have to go explore if the want more.But I find catholics don’t know how to express their faith because of lack of practise and commitment.You say you have a heart that burns for Christ,explain it in your own word.A talk as it were.We still believing and attending catholics have a duty and opportunities to spread the good news in our own personel way to lapsed catholics,agnostics,atheists,other religious denomination without being confrontational.
In these threads and this whole site is more about preaching the church then the Messiah.

I am trying to get my parish to have one night a week,a few hrs, to teach parishioners how to spread the good news and have some apologetic skills.Of course with the veting of all exercises and topics to the pastor.I think a simple program then more indept programs as the need arise.

One exercise.Explain why you believe to the meeting parishioners assembled here.Every one gets a go at it. Maybe we see that we can certainly broaden and brush up on our message of hope.
Another is having experiences sharing sessions on the successful and failures of trying to give the good news to lapsed family members, the objective much like some of the threads on this forum is get some know how but more importantly establish a support group for evangelizing and apologetic at the parish level
To often,when ask about spreading the good news,parishioners just say I go to church,(you could see in their faces,the thought,”that’s not my job”).The clerics have held so tightly in the past the preaching of the good news as their function,that it is one of the reasons we have such a falling away. Not all the blame but certainly some.

So I would be grateful to hear from members of how they would enounciate their faith.Without getting to technical,but deep enough and caring enough that it would make another person who lost the faith or never had it ponder.

Also different variations of expounding our faith to different circumstances.Exponding my faith to an atheist would be different texture then to a lasped catholic.
 
I admit I find it difficult to talk about my conversion to Catholicism. Almost all the people I associate with never talk about God so it is difficult to bring up the topic, and I don’t know how to initiate a conversation - or how to continue it for that matter without sounding antisocial.

My conversion was intensely personal. It was due to my family situation, the birth of my daughter, and a concurrent search for meaning. I found the essential meaning in my life through and in Christ and his love and sacrifice. The love I felt for my child was a reflection of His love for us, who are His children. I realised that the pain and loneliness I had experienced so far in my life, I had not experienced on my own, He had been there with me. Life is full of suffering but it is not only suffering, it is also full of love.
 
It’s an unfortunate failing of Catholicism of not being open to talk about their faith among themselves.Go to mass,politely say goodbyes,but shut up about your faith.Now this is at the parish level.Some Catholic events like renewals,charismatic are more open but still guarded somewhat.The medecin for that is a Ministry of Evangelisation(why I believe) and one of Apologetics (what I believe) in each parish and by parishioners with the help of their pastor.Meet once a week instead of vegetating in front of the Stupid Tube(TV).So they can start learning how to express their faith,practise makes perfect.

To further answer: why I believe.
I can state that : I Am. That means that I perceive my own existence.I am a conscious sentient being.I know that I had a beginning,my birth.I meditate and pounder my existence. I come to the conclusion that I had a beginning and in my inner most being that tho I exist, I am powerless to sustain my existence.Then I wonder why I exist.I look for an answer.
So I look at what is out there for explanations on existence.
-Look at reincarnation,no,in my inner most being it doesn’t resonate.
-That existence it is just a happens stance in the universe ,a quirk,no there is something else
-Aliens,no,if they existed,they would be just as immortal as I am.
This judeo/christian bible,yes,I find an answer that satisfies
God says I am that I am (actually I will be that I will be) There is no God before me and no God after me.So this being is saying ,he always existed and will always exist.It tells me that he is well( at peace) with his existence.
This answers my existensial question.The most basic answer to why I exist and God makes it clear.God says: I exist and I am the cause of your existence.
So I can now say with confidence. I am of I am that I am.It satisfies me to my inner core.
And if this being can be sure and comfortable with his life for eternity,then that is who I want to spend eternity with.Because also in this bible,it promises this very opportunity.

This life will pass but the resurrected body promises no more pain. I mean no more trying to figure life out, no more death, temptations, hurting one another, we get to know how to get along with each other as easily as we now breath. Welcome Ssmats
 
Look. I believe because I don’t know what else to do. The people I’ve known to do their best in life have believed. And I mean when I didn’t believe as much I found myself in a dark tunnel. In a dark place ever getting darker.

But when I dropped everything reasonable. Everything logical. Everything about the world. And just was me. Humiliated. Depressed. Alone. Dead inside. Desperate. Without a shred of evidence. Well that guy felt a pull. That guy felt a strong hand there. And a peace. So that guy leaned into that peace. And just let go. And for the first time he stopped hiding from his problems. For the first time ever he faced his fears. And started conquering them. One by one. And he slowly became a man again. Someone who could be used again. To do something useful. To help through his pain to understand it in others.

Instead of the wasted cowering thing he’d been until then. Drunk and drugged out of his capacity to care.

So yeah. That guy and me. You could say we’re pretty close on this faith thing now. I mean I finally agree with myself on something. Something positive. Something right.

Will it convince the atheist? The cynic? The agnostic? Not until they’ve been there. Not until they’ve worked out the real problem that’s brought them to where they’re at. But then that’s a story for a different thread.

Peace.

-Trident
 
Thanks,Triden for being forthcoming in such a brave way.Seems lot of us need to hit a bottom before an inner scream for something.And I have felt his gentle touch when discouraged.And the peace it provides,makes my world alright.But it doesn’t last,I guess it’s a little taste of heaven.If I could reproduce it I would but just can’t.I’ve tried drugs before in my youth but it’s not the same.So I have to believe it is him and I carry forward.

The exercise of asking ourselves why we believe is much harder then what we believe.When we convay our weaknesses and say that something beyond us gives us an inner assurance.This type of dialogue with another is more personal,more believable.People can question our what we believe but it’s harder to question why.

It re-affirms my faith when I periodicaly ask myself why I believe.

Know what I believe is just as important but different.

Personal stories of how we sometimes sense his presence,life experiences of when he protected us.God monents when we decided something out of the blue and it ended up being the right things.

As far as in a secular crowd,most people will shy away from spreading the good news.So one or a few at a time.A new year’s resolution.I will try to bring the message to one wavering or non-believing person this year.When it’s the right moment God will make sure that person hears.
 
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