How I know God exists.

Originally posted by Telesto
reply to post by glassspider

 

Well said, I personally think that organised religion in any form unfortunately leads to extremists.

Living in a Christian country where our laws and morals are originally based on Christian teachings is something I am happy about and I wonder if I would feel the same if I was brought up in a country whose laws and beliefs are based on another religion?

So, I'm not bashing the Bible or it's teachings, or at least the current modern interpretation of those teachings, but really - a higher being? A prophet who rose from the dead? It all seems like story telling or "teachings" interpreted as truth and instilled into fearful people for so long that it's perceived as truth by some. Obviously the 'Churches' aren't going to say otherwise are they?
I'm not saying that some of the things in the bible didn't happen, I'm pretty sure there probably was some guy called Jesus who went around preaching etc, but I think the truth was bent shall we say here and there! Noah's ark springs to mind here - I mean really?? Lessons learned from the Bible are one thing, but don't take it so seriously is my opinion.

I understand your scepticism. Why would anyone in their right mind believe such stories?
I cannot relate to you though because I grew up in the christian frame. As a child these stories were taught to me. I have always believed in Jesus as far back as I can remember. However, the time came when I had to search and make sure that I knew why I believed. I only have one life here on earth. If there is a creator and if he has a plan for this rock and the people he created on it, then I want to know more about this God and more about his plan. I want to find the truth while I live here this one time.
I found out that my belief on Jesus hung on the fact as to whether he rose from the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead then I don't need Christianity. He's not gonna be able to save anyone or change this world or anything.
The "truth" as Pilate aptly asked it of Jesus is the historical fact that he did rise from the dead.
After I settled that fact I went on to search in the scriptures old and new.
Once you know there is a God. Common sense tells you that the bible is his story and guide to finding God and salvation. The "truth" is stranger than fiction.

reply to post by cantyousee


How do you know, as a fact, that he rose from the dead?

reply to post by Evanzsayz


Christianity is not Jesus. He did not preach the philosophy.

Ask yourself why it is people today continue to rely on another's teaching and rules to imply what Jesus own words convey!!??

They are in the Bible in red. When one reads them he will realize Jesus and Religion are opposites.

Christians are confused as they are lead by the flesh of man and not the spirit of God. Its simple.

He says the temple is not made with mens hands but the kingdom is within.

He says to feed the poor not build the church.

He says to provide for your enemy so that you too will be provided for.

There are many friends of mine who are trash talking other religion(s) and they are not living with the word but against it.

Jesus words and story when understood saves one from himself. He no longer needs a thing or wants for anything because he knows "its finished".

If you are one who does not understand this while reading... it is not up to me to make you understand. If you read the red letters with an intent of knowing and understanding it will be given to you. Don't believe me... don't take my word for it. Do it and see. One cannot deny what is already within him. The truth is within us all. I am nothing special that you are not. We are ALL EQUAL!

reply to post by AfterInfinity


There is only one God.
All Indigenous peoples and ancient civilizations worship the same Father, the same Energy, the same Spirit.
Jesus was no different.
This doesn't mean that everyone who 'follows' these religions actually 'knows' what that Spirit is.
Yes, religions argue over their interpretation...which is sad, trivial and counterproductive.

Look at Don Alejandro from the Mayan peoples...he's bringing together all leaders from all religions to recognize that they all worship the same God....which is a very loving, compassionate energy force that permeates all life.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by cantyousee

 

How do you know, as a fact, that he rose from the dead?

edit on 15-12-2012 by AfterInfinity because: (no reason given)

There is enough secular writings to establish the fact that a person called Jesus of nazareth existed. Hardly anyone denies this fact. Now I have this book called bible that tells about him in great detail. A whole religeon is born from this book. I find that many were persecuted for believing in this man as messiah.
It all comes down to the voracity of the writers. The disciples. They were either telling a big lie or they were honestly reporting what they heard and saw.
Lets analyse this a bit. According to the writings Jesus had prophecied that he was going to rise from the dead after his crucifixion. The pharisees, the San Hedrian knew this. They went to pilate to set guards at the tomb so that the dsciples wouldn't take the body and claim his ressurection. There never has been a body found. Who took the body? Either the disciples took the body or the romans took the body. If the romans took the body all they have to do is produce it and game over. Same with the Pharisees. It all comes down to the disciples. Did they take the body?
There is historical writingsextant that provide information as to where these disciples went and when they were killed and how they were killed. You can search this info and discover the sources.
Group pressure sometimes will cause the members of the group to hold to a certain story even under pressure. as long as they are together. But these men were scattered to the four winds. Hundreds of miles apart. NO telephone or computor. Everyone of them died various greiveous deaths because theywould not recant their message about Jesus of nazareth.
Liars do not do this in the face of death. A liar would recant. There is not one recorded incident where any of the disciples recanted at any time. These men were reporting honestly what they heard and saw with their own eyes and ears. It all comes down to the truthfulness of the disciples. Plus there was cataclysmic change for good
in the behavior of these disciples after the ressurection.

reply to post by iSHRED


Thanks, much appreciated iSHRED

LOVE LIGHT ETERNIA
NAMASTE*******

reply to post by cantyousee

It all comes down to the voracity of the writers. The disciples. They were either telling a big lie or they were honestly reporting what they heard and saw.

Which is all fine and good...if it were proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were the actual authors. Political dishonesty was more than rampant in those times, and what better tool than a bargain for the souls of men?

Don't let anybody tell you who God is. Find out for yourself.

Originally posted by Quyll
Don't let anybody tell you who God is. Find out for yourself.

edit on 15-12-2012 by Quyll because: (no reason given)

accepted

Originally posted by randyvs
No you can't.

Does this mean that every god prayed to and believed in throughout the history of mankind is real?

Originally posted by glassspider

Originally posted by iSHRED
reply to post by silo13

 

Good point about getting bashed.

What I believe and what others believe doesnt change the truth. The truth is the truth no matter what and no one can change it.

Whilst you have such a close relationship with god could you have a little word with him about the horrendous suffering he allows to not only continue but escalate every day, could you have a word with him about the catholics raping children in his name and covering it up at the highest level, get him to clarify his feelings on women, gays, war, slavery, mutilating childrens genitals, what days you can eat fish on,how long your beard should be and for what reasons you can hit your wife. i feel he has left way too much open for interpretation by the "righteous" people that know that everything they do is okay even if the good book says it isnt obviously a mistranslation but when it gives them an excuse to hate every word is the absolute truth almost written by gods own hand.
be well

This sums up your whole argument.

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13

Originally posted by Quyll
Don't let anybody tell you who God is. Find out for yourself.

edit on 15-12-2012 by Quyll because: (no reason given)

accepted

Thank you

I think the Gods people claim to believe in aren't the one's they really worship. There's new Gods available for today's modern worshipper and i'll try and list a few.

Nicotartus - God of Tobbaco

Netititi - Godess of internet pornography

Boozachuus - God of alcohol and other mind bending substances.

Boombangbang-God of firearms

Argghhlag - God of internet gaming

Mmmunchicus - God of fat and sugar laden food.

Memememe - God of self and entitlement

There's loads but i think you get the idea. You're not what you say you believe, you are what you spend your energy on.

Originally posted by iSHRED
The bible speaks about giving up your life for Christ, and when you do this you will be transformed. I heard this my whole life and called myself a Christian but I didn't commit my life to the principles and way of living taught by Jesus. One day about 7 months ago it all clicked for me. I desired the truth more than anything and when my heart was fully committed to the truth is when i found it. God entered me via the Holy Spirit as referenced in the bible. My life and the way i lived it changed from that day on.

For you to fully desire the truth yet rule out God or anything else, is an oxy moron. You dont fully desire the truth if you rule anything out. Now i know the truth and what is not true. If God is all powerful could He not give me the knowledge of the truth??? Of course He could (all powerful).

And it's not about just believing what someone tells you and blindly following anything, it's about fully committing your heart to the essence of truth and the desire to know it and live it, even if it means going against what you currently believe.

I would call Christianity a conspiracy however in that it is a world religion. The world is Satan's dominion and the things in it are false. It is clear that there is evil in the world as well as in each of our fleshly desires.

Christianity won't save you, Jesus will save you and set you free from the world. My attitude and thoughts are no longer dictated by the actions of others. My love for someone is not dictated by what they say to me, i forgive because i was forgiven, i love because i was loved. I desire for all of you to find the truth because i care about you, you will know when you find it.

Knock and the door will be opened.

Beautifully said! My path to the lord was filled with doubt on many occasions but even with my own doubt and sin the lord still shined the light of truth on me till my eyes could no longer deny it! The last time I had doubt was the week after watching the zeitgeist movie! I actually broke down and cryed thinking I was deluding myself and that all the guidance and protection that happened, did through by chance! It was on that night in a panic I asked the lord for a specific sign. I asked him "Lord please give me a sign that these things are not true, I asked if when I look up at the starry sky to please show me a shooting star"! on the next instant I looked up at a small piece of sky and right when I did in the center of my view I saw a shooter! My mouth dropped open. Understand that I'm not in the country so shooters are rare here in NYC! I recieved a warm feeling in my stomache and a chill went down my back! I knew in my heart that this was a sign from God! If it ended there It would not be so dramatic but it did'nt! A couple of days later I started to doubt it for some reason which was a big mistake but as this is my nature to be distrustful because of the people I've known and where i grew up most likely! I started to think it was some coincidence!
I started talking out loud mockin" you know god you could have sent me something a bit brighter, that shooter was a bit dim" I said this as i was getting ready to take my dog for a walk and about 10 seconds after walking out the door i saw a bright shooter on the horizon which is a rare site for this city! the warmth and the chills came back but did'nt last as long this time! this was at 11:00 pm or 11:30 pm! When I came back home the doubt did not take days for it to set in, this time it took hours before i started to chalk it up to coincidence! So I was on the internet about 3 or 4 hours later when it came, all of a sudden there was a bright flash and a loud pop right on the side of my house! I was scared half to death to go outside, though today i wish i did to prove to myself what it was! the truth is I know what it was. It was God showing me that he is here listening to those of us willing to speak and speaking to those of us willing to listen! Giving me all the proof I will ever need! I don't go to church because I don't believe in the Hierarchy but I do believe In YAHWEH! Though this happened about a year ago I no longer doubt the Lord! It does not take much faith for God to hint to us here and there that he is with us! I realize that we all wont get the signs i did and You can call me crazy but I have never really had a hallucination!
Except for one time to be honest but I was in the hospital and had not eaten in like 12 days. I had a strep throat, a staff infection and mono and my tonsiles were swollen like cherries! Plus i was on demerol for pain! I was not anyone special and i sinned plenty, though I needed to know that he is real! Since that night I havent seen a shooter since! I prey every day for this world to see the light of truth as it has been revealed to me!

We are all god.

reply to post by rudeboyrave


I'm not

2nd line

One liners are easy, no ?

Words about gods mean nothing, I ask all who claim to be "godly" or religious to say when they last did something for their fellow humans.

You are god pretending you're not. Look at that, you're pretty good at it too!

meow.

Originally posted by rudeboyrave
You are god pretending you're not. Look at that, you're pretty good at it too!

meow.

Typical believer response - ignore the question and just say god a lot. Thanks !

in reply to OP iSHRED,
I too have had the Holy Spirit experience and it was an ego death, upon many more to come, it was electric, ecstatic, mystical, enlightening.......

But your train of thought on "Knowing that God exists" will fall on deaf ears for the most part.

I'm an ex-Atheist and know exactly how "they" think, because I used to have all the sam harris and richard dawkins and all the other pop atheist books and smooth witted attacks and arguments to attack anyone who wasn't an atheist. I made many cry as well, destroying their faith with Logic.

They will tell you it's a subjective experience.

They don't count subjectivity as something that needs to be studied and held in high regard. Yet all people operate in existence through subjectivity, and consciousness itself is in its scientific infancy of study ...something once held taboo.

I know where you are coming from.

It's going to come down to those who experience God and those who don't

reply to post by AfterInfinity


I would never describe the tool as evil, only the persons intentions in the use of the tool. People use the Bible (just as some use an axe or a gun), for both good & evil. Some people misinterpret the Bible on purpose to further an agenda (this would be considered wrong and at times evil.