Christians: why do you believe?

Hey everyone,
I'm new here, but i got caught up reading lots of posts last night, and couldn't help but post.

This thread is mainly targetted at Christians (and i know there are quite a few on these forums)... but i'd be interested in hearing from anyone.

So the question: WHY? Why do you believe what you believe? To answer that question, obviously it'd be helpful to say what u believe first... but i'm interested in the why question... particularly if you're the sort of Christian that did all that hard core research, overanalysing, etc.

I'm interested, well, cos i am a christian and this fascinates me, and i can't get enough of it... but also, i've got a friend who's really smart, thinks a lot, analyses the ways Christians think... etc. He's interested, willing to read the bible, come to church, etc... but he doesn't believe. I need ideas, maybe even... if there are willing ppl out there... someone who can have a chat with him online.

Cheers ppl

Originally posted by raingirl
So the question: WHY? Why do you believe what you believe? To answer that question, obviously it'd be helpful to say what u believe first... but i'm interested in the why question... particularly if you're the sort of Christian that did all that hard core research, overanalysing, etc.

Welcome to the forum. Why dont you tell us a little about your beliefs?

Why? Because God has chosen me

Why? Because God has chosen me

Isn't that a bit like saying, "i believe because i believe"?

Isis: my beliefs?
Well, no doubt you've got an idea of them from other threads... however, i will answer my own questions:

I believe in Jesus, and i woudl classify myself as a Christian.

Why i believe: experience, evidence, data... i also don't think i have an answer to all the counterarguments to Christianity, but i have at least a taste of them, and i have an idea of where to find answers if i feel in need of them. Beyond that... i can expand, but only if this thread is of interest to anyone

Some say people become Christians simply because their immediate environment is conducive to becoming Christian. If your parents are Christian, and your friends are Christian, and your teachers/role models are Christians, you're certainly not going to turn to Buddha for the answers to life. No... you will certainly turn to Jesus. After all, you've (most likely) been told all your life the tale of Jesus, and the virgin birth, and his many miracles... that kind of guy MUST have all the answers, right?
Like any other religion in existence today, Christianity also gives a bit of comfort/hope/direction. It is my belief that to be a 'Christian' you are required admit that you are a 'sinner' and only through Him (Jesus) can you recieve 'salvation'. Salvation, of course, meaning you will almost certainly go to Heaven. Subconciously, I think the ID thinks, 'Wow! I've sold my soul! What a commitment, this must be right!'. Sorry about the tangent...
So, I believe the comfort comes from believing, truly believing, that Jesus is watching your every move. You feel accountable. And every time you 'sin' you are doing wrong in Jesus eyes. This strikes me as quite strange. Most Christians would say, 'Sinning is bad because Jesus dissapproves.' Should it not more properly be, 'Sinning is bad because God dissapproves.'? This is just from my experience, I'm certainly not saying it's the norm.
In the book Prometheus Rising, the author states, 'What the thinker thinks, the prover proves.' Maybe that's got somthing to do with it...

That's exactly why Christians believe. And it sounds nice, too. They also believe because all the beliefs of our ancient neighbors have been dismissed as ridiculous, and yet I believe these are some of the most overlooked parts of our history... What compells an entire civilization to believe in Gods as ridiculous as the ones they chose? As humans, we tend to take every bit of information given to us with a grain of salt.

The truth is that that is how the universe is ran; in feudalism. Right before the South American gods left their people and fled, they said a white man would return to rule over them, Quetzacoatl. Then all the bad stuff happened.

Read page 2 of Plato's Timaeus. It kind of helps you understand what the world goes through from time to time and how we usually get our asses kicked back to the stone age to keep us dumb. Then take a look at how the Gods of the religions ruled over their population, what their orders were, that sort of thing. Then take a look at history, and how it's been twisted and distorted so that we don't really know what was going on when, say, the armies of Rome were burning so many libraries or when Germany just up and decided to take on Russia, too. Then take a look at our present day situation, what sort of information is being covered up and what other sort of information is being crammed down our throats. Then tie it all together.

A few things I like to throw in there are how the Bible describes the tower of Babel as something that the King was building so that he could shoot an arrow at God. How ridiculous is that? A much better use for it would be to survive a Great Deluge, something the Egyptians told Plato happened quite often.

Quetzacoatl, once again. The Piri Reis map, and how it shows that Island right there between South America and Africa; that's not there anymore. Also it shows the coast of Antartica. You got to remember how Greek Mythology says it used to always be summer, year-round. That same coastline is under a mile of ice right now, what the hell caused that? It probably also tilted our planet off its axis and squished our Earth so it's fatter around the equator.

Why are you a Christian..., didn't I ask you this question a week or so ago?

Originally posted by raingirl
Why i believe: experience, evidence, data...

Fair enough. Why do you consider experience to be compelling in this regard, and what evidence/data are you referring to?

Hey there, raingirl, welcome to the party!

First off, any time your friend would want to chat, my AOL Instant Messenger link is located right next to the "Send U2U" link under my signature. I forgot the password to junglejake and don't have the email account I originally signed up with, so I had to add a "2"

Why I believe? The path which originally led me to Christianity can be found in my signature's link, "JJ's Story", but that was just what got me to become a Christian. I was not really raised a Christian. My father was, but my mom was more agnostic/humanistic and wanted my sister and I to be exposed to as many religions as possible so we could find either the truth, or our path, unhindered by our parents "forcing" their beliefs on us. Looking back, kinda a bummer, but it also equipped me for the ministry God has for me today.

As a result of the upbringing, I was largely a child of the culture. I was always a nerdy science buff, so my "culture" wasn't popular culture, but the scientific culture of arm chair scientists. As a result, I knew the Bible was loaded with contradictions, and I knew it was scientifically inaccurate. Amazingly, for someone who prided himself on knowing all sides of the issues before making a decision on my own opinion, I had never read the Bible.

After coming to realize that God did exist, I still had a huge problem with the divinity of Christ. My 4 years of research mentioned in the "JJ's Story" thread was spent researching those inconsistencies I knew were there, and seeing if the book was scientifically inaccurate. What I discovered shook my world and really exposed to me just how inaccurate my belief that I knew all sides of the story was. By the time I came to ATS, every inconsistency I had looked into wasn't one, and all the scientific mentionings in the Bible (it is not a science book, but makes some lofty claims for its day in age) were legitimate. I came here unafraid of rattling my faith with the tough questions that many here on ATS pose because never had the Bible proven inaccurate in anything I had looked into up to then. As a result, I had faith it never would. I've been here for a while, and have tangled with some of the best people trying to debunk Christianity, and that record still holds true. As long as you take the book as a whole, and not verse by verse, there are no inconsistencies, and there is no scientific inaccuracy.

Every day here at ATS, my faith gets a little stronger as I delve deeper into the Word to discover the answers to questions posed by skeptics. Unfortunately, I was a doubting Thomas who had to stick my hands into the holes before coming to believe, but now I answer those questions with the faith that the answer is in the Book if I look. And every time, some members get more and more challenging with their questions to the point where I'm now starting to learn Greek to address the "in the original language" questions. Doubt turned to unshakable faith.

Faith is a sloppy way to run things. I'm sure back in the day we had all sorts of awesome dudes flying around, keeping the faith going. But alas, if the Bible had any answers to the real questions, faith wouldn't be dwindling like it is. Nothing like a good ol' apocalypse-like event to bring the faith back, like the one that's coming. Too bad it was all planned. No rapture, though.