For people who believe they have a personal relationship with god: how does he appear to you? Does he come in and chill on the couch with you? Is it a voice you hear? Just a feeling?
I used to struggle with faith a bit. Worried about how somethings appeared contradictory, how could i know bad people didn't tamper with teachings etc... how could i expect to understand? Then one day i just realized God is omniscient and omnipotent, and i was just a man. Even without apparent contradictions and possible deceit, how could i be expected to understand Him completely? It's like my dog trying to understand me completely. So that is when i decided to just have faith, and it has made all the difference.
You never questioned whether it was simply made up? I question everything and I have found no good answers about religion. It's nothing but sloganeering because there is no substance to it at all. You don't have to have faith about something that does in fact exist.
You might want to contemplate the Shroud of Turin. Forgery disproved, but a mystery nonetheless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QttVlxa0IRI (Don't mind the clickbait marquee poster. The actual video is serious enough.)
Sure i did, that was part of my struggle. I know some people would do anything to gain power and wealth. But I know someone created everything i can observe and it wasn't man. And some people can say man was made by aliens, but then who made the aliens?
As for your last point, there are plenty of stuff people take on faith even when they are real. I've never been to hawaii, antarctica, or australia but i think they are real. Same for the planets that i can’t see with the naked eye, subatomic particles, etc...
You have seen pictures of those places though. You know millions of people have seen the planets through telescopes. That's different than faith in a god that is apart from physical reality. Lots of people say they have seen him but no one ever got physical evidence. You can't get evidence by its nature. Particle physics I think most people just think well if people that smart say it's true then who am I to question it? That's getting closer to the "religious experience" of the vast majority of Christians I bet.
What in the world makes you think anything was created? Matter cannot be created or destroyed therefore it must have always existed. The Big Bang is the scientific version of the creation tale and that has been all but tossed into the dustbin of history by data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
The temple, the heart and the gut. Don't let the devil deceive you. We are created to server our Creator and it is inside of you. I have definitively "felt it in my heart", "gut reacted", and spiritually heard in my temple...the area behind my eyballs a little up and centered.
Seek the truth. Study the apostles and the gospels.
I have felt, heard, and experienced God directly in my life. I pray that anyone desiring that experience will get the same treatment :)
It's not "my" interpretation. Test...test...test...test...test..test...if it works for you and it's not satanic, guess which side you're on? All the world religions point to the same moral/natural law. In the end, nobody can make you accept the truth, you have to discover it.
Less than 40 hours of effort and you are likely to reject Satan.
I might have initially said 'yours' but I edited it to say 'this.' This interpretation of reality out of the endless different ones, many of which belong to someone at least as certain as yourself they have the truth.
I don't believe "Satan" exists any more than I believe in "Yahweh." I think it should be obvious they were made to manipulate ancient populations. I have always found it bizarre and untrue.
You can believe what you want but God isn’t a vending machine. He doesn’t answer prayers the way you would think and frankly you have to believe and give control of your life to him before he answers in any way. Putting him to a test doesn’t work. When he does answer It’s different for every one. It may be a simple quiet feeling all the way to a vocal answer.
My best friend had a fire in her house when her husband was away. She and two kids were awakened by a literal, out loud voice, telling them to wake up. She believes it was God. Especially since they lost the house and her great grandmothers Bible remained untouched on her beside table.
When my son was young he wanted a fun buggy that was for sale in a neighbors yard. I had been laid off and money was too tight to buy such an extravagance and explained that to him. Every time we drove past he pressed his nose against the window and we felt bad. He never whine or pestered about it. Just looked with hungry eyes. Several months later I was returning to work. We had just gotten the bills back under control and had some breathing room with our budget. One day there was a knock on the door and our neighbor stood on our porch. He made us an offer to buy the dune buggy because he knew our son had dreamed of it. My son was on top of the moon. Later that night as I was tucking him in a saying prayers over him. He said he had been praying to God all summer and that He had finally answered. My child understood that he couldn’t expect God to answer him in his time but Gods. No voice, no nudge in a certain direction. Just a precious child praying.
You’ll never get me to believe God has to answer in a prescribed way. Sometimes you just have to have faith and listen.
For people who believe they have a personal relationship with god: how does he appear to you? Does he come in and chill on the couch with you? Is it a voice you hear? Just a feeling?
I used to struggle with faith a bit. Worried about how somethings appeared contradictory, how could i know bad people didn't tamper with teachings etc... how could i expect to understand? Then one day i just realized God is omniscient and omnipotent, and i was just a man. Even without apparent contradictions and possible deceit, how could i be expected to understand Him completely? It's like my dog trying to understand me completely. So that is when i decided to just have faith, and it has made all the difference.
You never questioned whether it was simply made up? I question everything and I have found no good answers about religion. It's nothing but sloganeering because there is no substance to it at all. You don't have to have faith about something that does in fact exist.
You might want to contemplate the Shroud of Turin. Forgery disproved, but a mystery nonetheless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QttVlxa0IRI (Don't mind the clickbait marquee poster. The actual video is serious enough.)
Sure i did, that was part of my struggle. I know some people would do anything to gain power and wealth. But I know someone created everything i can observe and it wasn't man. And some people can say man was made by aliens, but then who made the aliens?
As for your last point, there are plenty of stuff people take on faith even when they are real. I've never been to hawaii, antarctica, or australia but i think they are real. Same for the planets that i can’t see with the naked eye, subatomic particles, etc...
You have seen pictures of those places though. You know millions of people have seen the planets through telescopes. That's different than faith in a god that is apart from physical reality. Lots of people say they have seen him but no one ever got physical evidence. You can't get evidence by its nature. Particle physics I think most people just think well if people that smart say it's true then who am I to question it? That's getting closer to the "religious experience" of the vast majority of Christians I bet.
What in the world makes you think anything was created? Matter cannot be created or destroyed therefore it must have always existed. The Big Bang is the scientific version of the creation tale and that has been all but tossed into the dustbin of history by data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
The temple, the heart and the gut. Don't let the devil deceive you. We are created to server our Creator and it is inside of you. I have definitively "felt it in my heart", "gut reacted", and spiritually heard in my temple...the area behind my eyballs a little up and centered.
Seek the truth. Study the apostles and the gospels.
I have felt, heard, and experienced God directly in my life. I pray that anyone desiring that experience will get the same treatment :)
WWG1WGA!
A lot of people have feelings like that about very different things. Why should I have faith in this particular interpretation?
It's not "my" interpretation. Test...test...test...test...test..test...if it works for you and it's not satanic, guess which side you're on? All the world religions point to the same moral/natural law. In the end, nobody can make you accept the truth, you have to discover it.
Less than 40 hours of effort and you are likely to reject Satan.
I might have initially said 'yours' but I edited it to say 'this.' This interpretation of reality out of the endless different ones, many of which belong to someone at least as certain as yourself they have the truth.
I don't believe "Satan" exists any more than I believe in "Yahweh." I think it should be obvious they were made to manipulate ancient populations. I have always found it bizarre and untrue.
He speaks to me through the holy spirit, through event,s happenstance and the answering of prayer.
When he speaks do you hear the words distinctly? It sounds like from what you said you understand life events as god speaking.
You can believe what you want but God isn’t a vending machine. He doesn’t answer prayers the way you would think and frankly you have to believe and give control of your life to him before he answers in any way. Putting him to a test doesn’t work. When he does answer It’s different for every one. It may be a simple quiet feeling all the way to a vocal answer.
My best friend had a fire in her house when her husband was away. She and two kids were awakened by a literal, out loud voice, telling them to wake up. She believes it was God. Especially since they lost the house and her great grandmothers Bible remained untouched on her beside table.
When my son was young he wanted a fun buggy that was for sale in a neighbors yard. I had been laid off and money was too tight to buy such an extravagance and explained that to him. Every time we drove past he pressed his nose against the window and we felt bad. He never whine or pestered about it. Just looked with hungry eyes. Several months later I was returning to work. We had just gotten the bills back under control and had some breathing room with our budget. One day there was a knock on the door and our neighbor stood on our porch. He made us an offer to buy the dune buggy because he knew our son had dreamed of it. My son was on top of the moon. Later that night as I was tucking him in a saying prayers over him. He said he had been praying to God all summer and that He had finally answered. My child understood that he couldn’t expect God to answer him in his time but Gods. No voice, no nudge in a certain direction. Just a precious child praying.
You’ll never get me to believe God has to answer in a prescribed way. Sometimes you just have to have faith and listen.
I should believe it because of hokey things like that? Millions of human beings in this world believe that Santa leaves them gifts if they are good.
I do hear them clearly. I don't mean that ordinary life events are from God, its when I pray for something it comes true.
Really, everything you pray for gets answered? Hotline to the big guy wow!
all the above.