Exactly Why Don't You Believe In the God of the Bible?

Roseborne,

I know of no other way to do it. To me there is no presumption. To me there is a God. I can only tell you my thoughts, feelings, beliefs, etc., from my standpoint. Whether you accept those things is entirely up to you. It doesn't change the way I think about them or think about anyone else.

I suspect some of these guys might have got to "know" their local priests "in the biblical sense" when they were little boys.

Good thing you reminded me sozobe. I completely forgot about that question!

Have I ever needed God? Every day. I used to have what I called a God-shaped hole in my heart.

No matter what I tried to fill that hole with, nothing worked. Not men, not friends, not drugs, not alcohol, nothing. I finally got to the point of just giving in and giving up. When I finally got to the very end of my rope, I literally hit my knees and begged God to help me because I just couldn't take it anymore. I immediately felt the weight of the world lift off of me. To some, this might be endorphins or something. Hey, that's ok. I know what it was for me. For me, it was God answering my prayer.

I knew the things I was doing in my life were wrong. I cared about no one or anything but me and what I could get out of every situation I was in. Did I need God? Oh boy, did I ever! When I finally realized that I needed God and wanted God in my life my whole world changed. I still have trials and tribulations (who doesn't) but usually they are ones I create myself.

I have very strong faith, yes. I can't think of anything that could shake it. It wouldn't do me much good if it could be shaken. There is still so much I need to learn about other people and how they feel and think.

Unfortunately, you can't give someone faith. You can't make them feel what you feel about God. You can't explain to them how you know it is God that is working in your life. If these things could be done there'd be no problem with miscommuncation.

I can give you no scientific proof of God. I can only give you my experiences. No, I don't need proof. Why? I just don't. I believe. I have faith. If I had to tell you exactly at the second I believed just why I believed, I can't tell you. It's like you either understand something or you don't understand it. Through communication you hopefully gain understanding. I believe and I will always believe.

MA,
Are you able to separate your faith in God and how it has affected your life from a faith in the Bible being the inspired word of God?

It's a matter of not believing things are true if there's no reason to believe that they're true.

So, my question is Exactly Why Don't You Believe In the God of the Bible?[/b][/color]

Brandon,

I can give you no scientific proof of God. I can only give you my experiences. No, I don't need proof. Why? I just don't. I believe. I have faith. If I had to tell you exactly at the second I believed just why I believed, I can't tell you. It's like you either understand something or you don't understand it. Through communication you hopefully gain understanding. I believe and I will always believe.

Why Don't I Believe In the God of the Bible? What a weird question. Why would I believe in the God of the Bible? I don't see any reason why I would or should. Never have.

Perhaps like
Brandon9000 wrote:

It's a matter of not believing things are true if there's no reason to believe that they're true.

And thats not a question, for me, of "evidence" or needing a miracle; it's just, why would I even look for one, look for evidence of some notion that seems so irrational and outlandish? Might as well start looking for evidence that mice created the Earth as a scientific experiment.

I think your lovely Momma Angel.

I dont want to live my life by any religion.I have a hard time believing the Bible but iof it works for you I hope you have a lovely life.

Because I find the evidence for his existence no more convincing than the evidence for unicorns, or for the pagan gods of ancient Greece. The reason is the same in all cases: Generally speaking, I know from experience that a story is probably false when it cannot be fact-checked, but sounds good enough to survive on its merits as a story. The Bible is full of those stories, and its stories about god all fit into that category.

Let me turn this question around: I am pretty sure that you, Momma Angel, would agree with my argument if I only applied it to unicorns and Greek gods. You don't believe in those either. Since you do believe in the god of (selected parts of) the Bible, what reason do you have for it that you don't have for believing in unicorns and Greek gods?

You say "I could better communicate to you why I believe, why I have faith, my experiences with God, etc. then there wouldn't be the miscommunication." On the one hand, sure, if you communicate more clearly, there wouldn't be the miscommunication-based antipathy. On the other hand, this sentence seems to imply the assumption that if you could merely communicate your faith well enough, everyone else would share it. Is that true? If not, what IS your goal in explaining your faith?

This begs the question of why you started this topic in the first place. If you cannot provide any proof for your belief and ask us not to expect any proof, then why must you hold us to the same standard for the opposing belief (of there being no God)?

I'm not really sure what you mean, Wolf. I started this thread because I was obviously not understanding those that don't believe in God. I was missing something in the communication with them and I felt it was causing problems. I thought maybe if I understood more of how someone feels that does not believe then maybe I could better communicate with them.

You cannot provide proof, fair enough. Your belief in God is based on some kind of feeling, fair enough. It's not explicable, fair enough.

To me, this brings up a few questions:

1. How do you expect us to understand your position, if you cannot explain it to us?

I really am trying to explain it the best I can, Wolf. The biggest problem I seem to have is getting past the faith vs. reason part. I'm not sure how to reconcile this and put it into words that others know what I mean. But, I am working on it.

2. What is the underlying motive for wanting to know the opposite side better?

My underlying motive is so I can understand and be more effective in communicating. I seem to misunderstand a lot of things because I don't know the stories behind the feelings. This thread is really helping me. It is showing me facets of posters I didn't see before.

3. Is your faith inexplicable because you do not wish to further explore your belief in God, for fear that you will lose your faith?

No, not at all. I study the Bible, I read other books and I do research. I am not nearly educated as so many on these threads and I know that. I do know where my beliefs lie and I am open to other views. So far, the issues we have discussed I have found no reason to change my stand. If someone does provide me with something that makes sense to me, I understand, etc., whatever it is that makes me believe something, I will certainly accept it.

Weird question? Wow. You are the first one that has said that.