Do you Believe in God

[imatoolhed]

okay its something you know, feel deep in your soul (bcuz you have one right? if you believe in God) and trust has always been there.

is it something you can kinda believe in or is it all or nothing?

and what if you were raised to believe in God and evolution? can you?



so heres the deal. my wife was raised in a big christian family (her brother is the current interim pastor/ her grandma plays the piano/etc.) shes not pushy about or nothing. i mean she or any of them are zealots of it or nothing... just normal folk in a small town.
anyways my wife would like me to have a strong faith and just believe... which i do and always have (just never went to church, parents were hippies, have questions with the whole evo part...etc.)
anyways again... i have a lot of good things going on in my life in the last few years. which i do feel blessed about (kinda weird feeling blessed, but thats how i feel...blessed)
annd then... it snowed quite a bit yesterday and all i have is a crappy shovel and a long drive way(which really is a snow blower type of driveway). so i go to buy a new big shovel and all the good ones are sold out, yes i went to three places.
i don't get one, go back home shovel my deck and patio area with my crappy ass shovel. *shakes head at driveway* not doing that with this POS.
later that nite me and the wife and kid are eating dinner and hear the neighbor snow blowing his driveway and before you know hes in my driveway and asks if i could us this? hell yes i say and thanks. he says put it in your garage when your done i'll get it tomorrow, cool. cool i say.
so he comes over today and how it worked for me. awesome and thanks again. no problem he says. go ahead and keep in your garage bcuz i'm sure we'll both need it next time it snows... and it will and i know where it is, if it don't take up any space for you? hell no i say, no problem and thanks again.

soooooooooooo, i was just out there smoking and looked at my nice clean driveway and thought... God will provide. and believed it.


whew! that was long winded

[professorpinasheep]

Typical to West Michigan, I was raised in an overwhelmingly religious upbringing. Went to a Christian/private school until high school and belonged to a Baptist (most around here are RCA or CRC, but still..) church most of my life. It shapes my views and attitudes, but I'm not nearly as fundamental about it as a lot of people. I do believe in God.. I just have questions about the dogmatic ideas involved with everything. When I began going to a public school and being exposed to a more secular society, I began having a lot more questions.. some that my parents couldn't even give a satisfactory answer to. So I do have faith in God, I just don't agree with everything the church does or all of their stances.

As for evolution, it's completely possible to believe in evolution if you believe in God and/or intelligent design. Not the whole "Man descends from apes" theory, but the evolution of animals and yes, even humans as time passes. Hell, we've found skulls and bones differently shaped than ours, but human.. Kinda hard to ignore that. Darwin's observations of the finches on Galapagos are concrete proof that animals do adapt to their environment, changing physical features from their predecessors. Kinda hard to ignore that, too.

The "all or nothing" idea just depends on how much faith you have, and how closely you choose to follow biblical principles and commands. To each his own, I guess. I could expound on all this, I guess, but it's late and I'm lazy. So that's my long-winded reply.

[Mad Dog]

okay its something you know, feel deep in your soul (bcuz you have one right? if you believe in God) and trust has always been there.

is it something you can kinda believe in or is it all or nothing?

and what if you were raised to believe in God and evolution? can you?



so heres the deal. my wife was raised in a big christian family (her brother is the current interim pastor/ her grandma plays the piano/etc.) shes not pushy about or nothing. i mean she or any of them are zealots of it or nothing... just normal folk in a small town.
anyways my wife would like me to have a strong faith and just believe... which i do and always have (just never went to church, parents were hippies, have questions with the whole evo part...etc.)
anyways again... i have a lot of good things going on in my life in the last few years. which i do feel blessed about (kinda weird feeling blessed, but thats how i feel...blessed)
annd then... it snowed quite a bit yesterday and all i have is a crappy shovel and a long drive way(which really is a snow blower type of driveway). so i go to buy a new big shovel and all the good ones are sold out, yes i went to three places.
i don't get one, go back home shovel my deck and patio area with my crappy ass shovel. *shakes head at driveway* not doing that with this POS.
later that nite me and the wife and kid are eating dinner and hear the neighbor snow blowing his driveway and before you know hes in my driveway and asks if i could us this? hell yes i say and thanks. he says put it in your garage when your done i'll get it tomorrow, cool. cool i say.
so he comes over today and how it worked for me. awesome and thanks again. no problem he says. go ahead and keep in your garage bcuz i'm sure we'll both need it next time it snows... and it will and i know where it is, if it don't take up any space for you? hell no i say, no problem and thanks again.

soooooooooooo, i was just out there smoking and looked at my nice clean driveway and thought... God will provide. and believed it.


whew! that was long winded

Don't let your wife bully your beliefs, either you feel it or you don't. If you really don't believe in God, and you beat it into you brain that you do, you can wind up having a Real identity crisis.

[pgun3]

Yes, but I used to be more of a skeptic.

My younger sister and I didn't have a great relationship. I never told her I loved her or hugged her like I did my older sister.

Well one day on my way home from work I had this overwhelming uncontrollable urge to call her and tell her that I loved her. a voice in my head just kept telling me to call her and tell her how much I loved even thou I never told her or showed her before.

Well that May she ended up dead.

I believe God told me to call her. There was no other reason for that urge or voice in my head. I have never had that urge to let my sister know before how I felt. The urge to call her was uncontrollable, I just had to do it.

So in my opinion yes there is a God.

Sickbitch

[sunshyne]

I believe in God, I don't believe in going to church.

[beckyp]

i want to believe but a all powerful being that lets innocent people die everyday i can't bring myself to believe in.

[airhornahole]

I am an evolutionist but think there may be a higher power that started it all. However, I think religion is a old world money scam.

[-Jiggy-]

i want to believe but a all powerful being that lets innocent people die everyday i can't bring myself to believe in.

I believe when it comes to this matter is when people tend to look too much at the worldly view. No one knows where they are going when they die, they could be in a much better place. Besides if the world didn't have pain and suffering you wouldn't have the good things like compassion and tolerance. If there was no suffering we wouldn't see the good in human nature nearly as well. We would be emotionless robots. People also tend to say, "How could God allow a child to get cancer, etc?" You never know what chain of events something like this has started to impact someones life years down the road. I believe that you gotta look at the Earth as a sort of testing ground. Are we going to be strong enough to go through all the junk that can be thrown at us and still continue to have faith?

[beckyp]

justifying death and disease with words and a noble lesson doesn't cut it for me.

[-Jiggy-]

I'm not trying to justify it. I'm not God. I'm trying to make sense of it.

[plungerhand]

I think Syler said it best on Heroes last night....

[Biff]

Do dyslexic insomniac atheists stay awake wondering if there really is a dog?

[beckyp]

I'm not trying to justify it. I'm not God. I'm trying to make sense of it.

oh no, not you. sorry for the misunderstanding. i meant how in the bible God always had a righteous cause behind his actions.

[cuppie]

i want to believe but a all powerful being that lets innocent people die everyday i can't bring myself to believe in.

Death and disease were never in God's original plans for humanity. When God created the Earth and everything in it he created it to be a paradise of sorts. However, humans messed all of that up when they decided to not follow the one rule given to them. That's when death and diseases came to be. I understand it's hard to believe that kids get sick and that people die when they are viewed as good. My mom just got diagnosed with cancer a few months ago. It sucks. But when I see how she reacts to it because of her faith in God it's inspiring. And to go along with jiggy, good has come of it. My brother and his wife have quit smoking. So while it sucks that my mom has cancer, some good has come of it.

[Rock Monster]

Death and disease were never in God's original plans for humanity. When God created the Earth and everything in it he created it to be a paradise of sorts. However, humans messed all of that up when they decided to not follow the one rule given to them. That's when death and diseases came to be...

It was never in his original plan? He hadn't thought of the consequences if Adam and Eve were to eat the apple? He just thought of it on the spot when they screwed up?

[plungerhand]

Death and disease were never in God's original plans for humanity. When God created the Earth and everything in it he created it to be a paradise of sorts. However, humans messed all of that up when they decided to not follow the one rule given to them. That's when death and diseases came to be...

It was never in his original plan? He hadn't thought of the consequences if Adam and Eve were to eat the apple? He just thought of it on the spot when they screwed up?

it was an audible....

[imatoolhed]

Do dyslexic insomniac atheists stay awake wondering if there really is a dog?

lol

thanks for lightening the mood

[beckyp]

i want to believe but a all powerful being that lets innocent people die everyday i can't bring myself to believe in.

Death and disease were never in God's original plans for humanity.

Gods plan:

1. make people in my likeness, giving them free will and temptation.

2. hope for the best.

[Mad Dog]

I believe that Genesis, and the bible in general, is a human attempt to explain the unknowable and the unexplainable. I Do Not believe that they are out and out lies, but and honest attempt to explain the world and human behavior, from the point of view of ancient peoples, especially ancient Jewish people. This does not in and of it self prove there is a God, but just believing there is no God doesn't prove there isn't. As I've already stated I'm Agnostic.

[lt]

I believe that Genesis, and the bible in general, is a human attempt to explain the unknowable and the unexplainable.

I feel this way about religion as a whole. The human mind seems to be unable to tolerate the unknown, so that unknown must be explained, no matter how crazy it sounds. I make no claims to know how the universe was created, how evolution ultimately led to the human race. I understand we will never have the answers to these questions, and that does not bother me.

I have no religion/faith/belief in some higher power.

[lokizilla]

I've posted about my lung before. The Jewish doctor said what happened to me was a miracle. Mom said but you don't believe in miracles, he said maybe a medical miracle. Every religion prayed over me before I was suppose to have surgery. An hour before surgery the peanut came up out of my lung. There was no way it could have happened. Yes, I believe in God, and He does work miracles.

[Biff]

Gods plan:

1. make people in my likeness, giving them free will and temptation.

2. hope for the best.

As a Christian, although I'm not the best example of one, I can tell you that this is really not that far off.

[Queenie]

Yes, I believe in God, and He does work miracles.

I have experienced a miracle first-hand. They happen for a reason. Some may dispute this, but I'll never stop trying to convince them otherwise, which is the reason they happen.

[Howie Feltersnatch]

I'm agnostic, I beleive in the Big Bang and a high being. I beleive in a God but I don't know what s/he is like or is. I think that s/he is up somewhere playing 'pool' with our 'world' the way I do in a hall...


'I'm just gonna throw the cue ball down there and see what happens'

There is some devine intervention but there is also chaos. Something has to set the chaos into motion.

[khef]

I believe in a God, My god. Not the one people tell me I have to know.

[Biff]

I believe in a God, My god. Not the one people tell me I have to know.

I believe that is the exact way it should be. Kudos to you!

[lokizilla]

Yes, I believe in God, and He does work miracles.

I have experienced a miracle first-hand. They happen for a reason. Some may dispute this, but I'll never stop trying to convince them otherwise, which is the reason they happen.

You are correct. I believe that when I finish the mission He has for me I can go home. So the miracle wasn't the first of what I am suppose to do....

[Queenie]

I have experienced a miracle first-hand. They happen for a reason. Some may dispute this, but I'll never stop trying to convince them otherwise, which is the reason they happen.

You are correct. I believe that when I finish the mission He has for me I can go home. So the miracle wasn't the first of what I am suppose to do....

God performs miracles because He has to find a way to convince people that He is real. Because you cannot see Him, people refuse to believe in Him. People only want to believe in things they can see, smell, hear, taste. I do not throw "feel" in that group because I have felt the touch of God. I remember being in Church and it came that time at the end of the sermon for those who wanted to accept Christ in their hearts and be baptized. I held on so tight to that pew in front of me so many times, and I didn't want to let go. One day, He touched me and I felt His presence. He unclinched my hands, walked me to the front, and that was just the beginning. I have been in service and listening to my Pastor and reading along in the Bible. Sometimes I wouldn't inititally understand what the Pastor was trying to get across, and then God would speak to be and it would be so plain and simple. I saw him "touch" my daughter and heal her from a disease that should have taken (according to the doctors) 1-2 years to completely heal. As I stated before, God performs miracles for those who believe and accept them. My daughter was touched twice, but it wasn't until the second time that she accepted His gift and received it. I guarantee that everyone that witnessed this miracle went and told most everyone they knew, and depending upon their relationship with these people, may have convinced them their is a God. Nonetheless, He will never stop trying either.

[boizalynne]

Agnostic... I believe in something, just not the distorted views of christianity...

[-Jiggy-]

My history professor in college came in class one day late almost in tears. He told us he had just got off the phone with one of his really good friends. I guess earlier that morning his friends 6 year old daughter was playing out in the front yard. He looked away just for a second but when he did she ran out in the road. She ran out behind a parked car on the side of the road so the car that was coming didn't even have time to brake. She was hit so hard she was thrown about 10 feet into the ditch. She was still alive though. When the paramedics got there and took her to the hospital they found nothing wrong wiith her except a few scrapes. The only "bruises" she had were two marks on either side of her hips. The doctor said it looked like someone had picked her up suddenly and threw her in the ditch. I remember after he told us this story he asked if it was alright with everyone if he took a moment to pray to God and thank him. No one cared. It was a very moving experience. If I ever have doubts about my faith I always think about this story.

[Queenie]

My history professor in college came in class one day late almost in tears. He told us he had just got off the phone with one of his really good friends. I guess earlier that morning his friends 6 year old daughter was playing out in the front yard. He looked away just for a second but when he did she ran out in the road. She ran out behind a parked car on the side of the road so the car that was coming didn't even have time to brake. She was hit so hard she was thrown about 10 feet into the ditch. She was still alive though. When the paramedics got there and took her to the hospital they found nothing wrong wiith her except a few scrapes. The only "bruises" she had were two marks on either side of her hips. The doctor said it looked like someone had picked her up suddenly and threw her in the ditch. I remember after he told us this story he asked if it was alright with everyone if he took a moment to pray to God and thank him. No one cared. It was a very moving experience. If I ever have doubts about my faith I always think about this story.

Exactly!!

Time to start a miracle thread . . .

[dingdongyo]

My history professor in college came in class one day late almost in tears. He told us he had just got off the phone with one of his really good friends. I guess earlier that morning his friends 6 year old daughter was playing out in the front yard. He looked away just for a second but when he did she ran out in the road. She ran out behind a parked car on the side of the road so the car that was coming didn't even have time to brake. She was hit so hard she was thrown about 10 feet into the ditch. She was still alive though. When the paramedics got there and took her to the hospital they found nothing wrong wiith her except a few scrapes. The only "bruises" she had were two marks on either side of her hips. The doctor said it looked like someone had picked her up suddenly and threw her in the ditch. I remember after he told us this story he asked if it was alright with everyone if he took a moment to pray to God and thank him. No one cared. It was a very moving experience. If I ever have doubts about my faith I always think about this story.

did you ever get to hear what the 6 year old daughter said happened?

[Rock Monster]

My history professor in college came in class one day late almost in tears. He told us he had just got off the phone with one of his really good friends. I guess earlier that morning his friends 6 year old daughter was playing out in the front yard. He looked away just for a second but when he did she ran out in the road. She ran out behind a parked car on the side of the road so the car that was coming didn't even have time to brake. She was hit so hard she was thrown about 10 feet into the ditch. She was still alive though. When the paramedics got there and took her to the hospital they found nothing wrong wiith her except a few scrapes. The only "bruises" she had were two marks on either side of her hips. The doctor said it looked like someone had picked her up suddenly and threw her in the ditch. I remember after he told us this story he asked if it was alright with everyone if he took a moment to pray to God and thank him. No one cared. It was a very moving experience. If I ever have doubts about my faith I always think about this story.

did you ever get to hear what the 6 year old daughter said happened?

Huh? She was hit by a car.

[dingdongyo]

did you ever get to hear what the 6 year old daughter said happened?

Huh? She was hit by a car.

the story says there was nothing wrong with her but bruises.
my reason for asking is, if god had a hand in saving her, why chuck the poor kid into the ditch? why not lift her out of the way and gently set her back down?

[hotzester]

I do believe in God, though I'm hardly a saint myself.

The way I see it, I'll be much better off if I believe and later find myself a fool than if I'd doubted and find myself wrong.

[-Jiggy-]

Huh? She was hit by a car.

the story says there was nothing wrong with her but bruises.
my reason for asking is, if god had a hand in saving her, why chuck the poor kid into the ditch? why not lift her out of the way and gently set her back down?

You can't be satisfied with getting hit by a car and only having bruises. Would you have been more impressed if I said a chorus of angels descended from heaven following Jesus on a chariot of fire who gently swooped the girl in the air. Then after they laughed about it over hot cocoa and cookies Jesus gave her the cure for cancer and aids. It would have been a better story but in my experience God remains a mystery.

[Queenie]

I do believe in God, though I'm hardly a saint myself.

The way I see it, I'll be much better off if I believe and later find myself a fool than if I'd doubted and find myself wrong.

Well said! +1

[providencecrow]

I do believe in God, though I'm hardly a saint myself.

The way I see it, I'll be much better off if I believe and later find myself a fool than if I'd doubted and find myself wrong.

Ah, perfect church teachings: Well you might as well just in case you are wrong.

Better start praying to allah, the buddah, vishnu, ganesha, thor the god of thunder, and the rest (to the tune of gilligans island) just in case

[speedbump]

My history professor in college came in class one day late almost in tears. He told us he had just got off the phone with one of his really good friends. I guess earlier that morning his friends 6 year old daughter was playing out in the front yard. He looked away just for a second but when he did she ran out in the road. She ran out behind a parked car on the side of the road so the car that was coming didn't even have time to brake. She was hit so hard she was thrown about 10 feet into the ditch. She was still alive though. When the paramedics got there and took her to the hospital they found nothing wrong wiith her except a few scrapes. The only "bruises" she had were two marks on either side of her hips. The doctor said it looked like someone had picked her up suddenly and threw her in the ditch. I remember after he told us this story he asked if it was alright with everyone if he took a moment to pray to God and thank him. No one cared. It was a very moving experience. If I ever have doubts about my faith I always think about this story.

That's a fine story, but what about the thousands of kids who get hit by a car in that situation and do die? Do you think of them too? One freak occurrence is peanuts compared to accidents that happen like we expect them too.

[Queenie]

That's a fine story, but what about the thousands of kids who get hit by a car in that situation and do die? Do you think of them too? One freak occurrence is peanuts compared to accidents that happen like we expect them too.

Have you also thought of "you reap what you sow." Oh and hold off on the innocent children. Those innocent children may have had something worse in store for them and God spared them. IMO no matter how you look at it, you are much better spared from this world.