You believe in God because...

...you've been told to. Discuss.

 

It is true that being raised in the church all my life I was told what God was. But its not why I believe in him. In fact it was when I started pulling away from the church that I began to have a more personal relationship with God. That said, I truly began to believe in him and the morals he represents.

 

I don't believe in God but I do believe in quite a bit of the morals put forth in the bible. Not because they are divine, but because they make sense to me and appeal to me. It's not unlike the choice every single person makes, just minus the force of persuasion from an omnipotent power.

The problem I see though, is that humanity hasn't found a consistent way to teach right and wrong without the need of a creator hypothesis. I don't think that makes God real, I just think it makes him necessary for some people.

 

I saw what was happening to me when I strayed away from God, which is what scared me back. So no, it wasn't because I was told. I wanted to save my marriage. If I hadn't gone back to God, I'd probably be divorced now because that's the way things were heading.

 

God has morals?

 

But we learn our culture primarily from our families during the first few years of life, don't we? So if you hadn't been raised in the church, it is less likely that you'd believe in God--if at all. So, my comment stands: You believe in God because you've been told to.

 

Fear and sex are the two greatest human motivators.

 

How did you learn about God? Somebody must have told you about him/her/it?

 

Yeah, that's what I thought.

 

personal experiences and experiences of family members when i had been healed from terminal brain cancer and stroke

 

First off, I am very happy to hear about your recovery from some very serious maladies. That said, are you willing to consider that your renewed health is the result of quality medical care?

 

Originally I was told to yes. And I agree with you in the annoying fact many people believe in God because they were told to. Too often people tend to believe what the sheep around them believe, I agree with you on that. But I was trying to say that for me personally, I believe in god because I have stepped away from that and found myself actually truly believing in him more than I ever had while I was with the frequent church goers. I feel that I truly found God on my own. Not by the words of another.

 

Of course everyone is told about this god related matter.
No one can claim he isn't told about god.

the moment one enters school, he is told about god, even by his parents.

 

I was told about god that is why I did believe in god.
Then I decided to be on my own, now, I do not believe in God.

 

magic?


Morons believe in magic

 

simply put:

a child is born pure and is taught how to lie!

 

if your wife was gonna divorce ya if you did not believe, then that is a pretty good explanation of why you currently believe

 

I believe in GOD because I don't want to travel through life having a nasty/negative/gloomy disposition like so many if not all of the non-believing agnostics, atheists, socialists, marxists, commies, progessives, non productive statists and leftists I see out there. So picture looking at my GOD fearing and GOD honoring face as being similar to that happy sunny face you see in one of those icons, or of my avatar of Reagan who represented happiness, success and contentment.

 

So is your God now somewhat different than what you were told?

 

You don't want a nasty, negative disposition... but you continually post nasty, negative things, like that diatribe right there, and even your name on this forum is about hatred.

Right...

 

I understand where you are coming from but no, I'm not told what to believe or who to follow. I follow by what i think is right or wrong. I believe that if this world had no sight of a figure that could be perfect, nobody would strive to be the same. now that's not to say all Atheists are Bad. It just means. some people need to look to somthing greater than themselves to make it farther in life. I believe in what i believe in. And i believe what god we've been told about has been changed and conformed since the early church. I think that when going back to the crusades. What was happening was people figured out how to control people. A little fear and a little hope can be a good thing. Its when people get to much hope that political figures panic. people believe in their god because they can. i just choose to follow the way i believe is right. What i believe is right, is, If i'm not hurting you, if i dont intrude on your beliefs. If i'm living the best i can to help who i can and preserve life. Ive done what i can, the rest is not up to me. I struggle with the belief in a god. But don't we all have struggles in life?

 

Yes that is why however there were instances and experiences that I consider divine.

For instance a day or 2 after I had a stroke we were unsure if I had a tumor or stroke. I prayed a great deal for a sign and guidance. Around 1am as I had my eyes closed saying the our father over and over again I had a vision like a dream of myself rising up in the hospital bed immediately I sat up and was able to move around as if nothing was wrong. I went back to sleep and The next day I was back to being paralyzed on my left side. No doctor could explain why that happened but a priest told me it was a sign from God that every thing will be ok and showing me the end results of the journey. From that day on i have walked with faith and I have made the fastest recover they have ever
seen and am almost back to normal and the incident was confired a stroke and not a tumor.

When I had terminal Cancer I went to a healing mass and the mass was over as the priest was walking out he stopped abruptly at my pew and walked over and not knowing me or my situation prior to the mass, prayed over me.

 

Would you be open to the possibility that you had these experiences due to things that happened completely unrelated to your faith?

- If so, how does that support an empirical belief in god or your faith?
- If not, why not? I could think of several practical scenarios which could have caused your experiences to take place. But I won't intrude any further than I have at this point.

 

well it supports my belief and faith in God because i feel God has intervened in my life. Its not meant to be an argument or empirical evidence to change your mind but it is an event that has caused me to strongly believe in god

you don't have a stroke then all the sudden one night your completely better then not better the next morning then go on progress for a fast recovery and all good news from there on. How you explain that?

 

I'm glad that you recovered. However, what will you say when the time comes when you won't recover?