I have experiences leading me to believe there is a God

[BULLDOG]

I am romantic, I want there to be a god. But, fist hand experience leads me to believe it's all just random stuff that just happens. Little babies get cancer, children's hospital in Denver has a hall lined with plagues with little kid's hand prints and childish writing. It takes your breath away. Suffer the little children...really? Were is GOD and his mercy?

He's out helping TV preachers make a fortune from poor old widow women.

 

[Care4all]

I had a girlfriend, dying of a rare cancer that they did not detect in her until she was stage 4, terminal....when I lived in Florida, she was my sales rep for Easy Spirit shoes...she took the hubby and I and brought her hubby too, out to dinner a handful of times and we ended up becoming friends outside of our working relationship...

she left that company and went to another shoe company and I ended up only seeing her when I went to Market and ran in to her in NYC at a shoe show or in Las Vegas at the WSA shoe show...

but then I jumped ship from retail to wholesale/manufacturing and moved up to Massachusetts and low and behold, she was working for a shoe company in massachusetts as well so we became really close friends and our hubbies became best friends as well!

Anyway, out of the blue she was told she had this very rare cancer, only 4 recorded cases of women in the USA that had previously had it and all 4 of them died, did not survive the treatment... I went with her to chemo treatments when I could and when that was done, they were going to give her radiation treatments but decided to give her a special kidn of radiation pellets, a one time insertion of these pellets, where she was put in to this lead lined room and no one could enter the room after they inserted them but for a few seconds at a time, and she had to stay in there for three days.... we felt lucky the strong chemo had not killed her, but it didn't kill the cancer either.... Her Doctors told us that she may not survive this strong radiation treatment but it was her only smidgen of a chance...

this radiation treatment was the last straw.....sigh....

So, while she was in this room for 3 days I PRAYED, and prayed and prayed and prayed and got down on my knees, with tears flowing down my face, shaking like a leaf just begging God to please please please save her, please let her live! Please guide her Doctors to place the pellets right where they were needed! It was the deepest prayer of my life...every inch of me...heart and soul... I sensed, He heard me...



And she survived the radiation treatment, the battle was won...

and a month later, she found out the cancer was gone, she won the war!!!

 

[Chuz Life]

I am romantic, I want there to be a god. But, fist hand experience leads me to believe it's all just random stuff that just happens. Little babies get cancer, children's hospital in Denver has a hall lined with plagues with little kid's hand prints and childish writing. It takes your breath away. Suffer the little children...really? Were is GOD and his mercy?

Yeah. . . . we all know how much you love children and hate to see any of them harmed.

 

[WheelieAddict]

Here's one.

For years, I had been suffering deep, dark, depression, a total sense of hopelessness that made me want to die. I wouldn't kill myself, but I desperately wanted to die.

One day, after I had lost a job, I got down on my knees and desperately prayed to God to release me of my depression. It wasn't like a casual prayer, it was a total prayer, from deep in my soul, a prayer of total desperation because I had reached the end of my rope.

At the next moment, the depression was lifted, and I felt my soul liberated in a way I had never felt before.

Since that day, I have had problems, but I have never suffered the kind of deep depression and hopelessness that I had felt before.

You had a spiritual experience. I have as well and believe in God or a higher power/grand designer of the universe. I don't follow any religion though as they are imperfect constructs of man that are very often misused for earthly ends that I don't think God would endorse. I commune with God in nature almost daily.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Here's one.

For years, I had been suffering deep, dark, depression, a total sense of hopelessness that made me want to die. I wouldn't kill myself, but I desperately wanted to die.

One day, after I had lost a job, I got down on my knees and desperately prayed to God to release me of my depression. It wasn't like a casual prayer, it was a total prayer, from deep in my soul, a prayer of total desperation because I had reached the end of my rope.

At the next moment, the depression was lifted, and I felt my soul liberated in a way I had never felt before.

Since that day, I have had problems, but I have never suffered the kind of deep depression and hopelessness that I had felt before.

Well, if religion works for you, gets you through this life, then great.

There are different ways of dealing with pain, depression etc, most of it is escapism. Alcohol is a big one, religion, sex, even politics. Religion isn't such a bad one as long as it doesn't end up controlling you in a negative way.

 

[Care4all]

I must have that God gene that science has pointed out where some people are susceptible in believing ...because none of it makes sense, it's even crazy in a way, and definitely illogical, but nothing can change my mind...I just know God exists no matter how crazy it is!!!

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

There really is no way I can convince you of God on an internet forum.

You have to do what I did, which is to prostrate yourself on the floor and beg God to show you the way.

You simply convinced yourself to not be depressed anymore. There was no magic involved, just basic psychology

 

[MaryL]

I still pray to god. I am sorry, like little kid. Beside my bed at night. I even cross myself like some Catholic girl. My Yiddish grandmother insisted on chicken soup. It may not help, but it can't hurt, so they say. Prayer is like that.

 

[BULLDOG]

I must have that God gene that science has pointed out where some people are susceptible in believing ...because none of it makes sense, it's even crazy in a way, and definitely illogical, but nothing can change my mind...I just know God exists no matter how crazy it is!!!

I'm very happy that you had such a wonderful experience. I can sense from reading your post how much it means to you. I have had an experience similar to yours in a lot of ways, with the same intensity of pleading for mercy, but the outcome wasn't good. Forgive me if your experience doesn't convince me. As long as you can bask in the warmth of your experience you should, as long as your experience doesn't give you the idea that you can make judgments or rules for other.

 

[MaryL]

I am romantic, I want there to be a god. But, fist hand experience leads me to believe it's all just random stuff that just happens. Little babies get cancer, children's hospital in Denver has a hall lined with plagues with little kid's hand prints and childish writing. It takes your breath away. Suffer the little children...really? Were is GOD and his mercy?

Yeah. . . . we all know how much you love children and hate to see any of them harmed.

We all see how god loves children and innocents in cancer wards and random violence. But I still pray. It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness, as they say.

 

[Lumpy 1]

I must have that God gene that science has pointed out where some people are susceptible in believing ...because none of it makes sense, it's even crazy in a way, and definitely illogical, but nothing can change my mind...I just know God exists no matter how crazy it is!!!

Sometimes it's unavoidable feeling that you're part of something greater than self, sometimes it's in a mass of humanity, sometimes it's in a place of perfection and beauty, sometimes it's just for no reason at all. Eh, it makes you wonder..

I figure humanity needs some entity to blame and/or believe in.

 

[Chuz Life]

We all see how god loves children and innocents in cancer wards and random violence. But I still pray. It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness, as they say.

"I am romantic, I want there to be a god. But, fist hand experience leads me to believe it's all just random stuff that just happens. "

 

[Boss]

I am romantic, I want there to be a god. But, fist hand experience leads me to believe it's all just random stuff that just happens. Little babies get cancer, children's hospital in Denver has a hall lined with plagues with little kid's hand prints and childish writing. It takes your breath away. Suffer the little children...really? Were is GOD and his mercy?

I've heard this argument presented often and it always intrigues me. Why do we presume that continuing to live in a physical existence on this earth is superior to any other possibility? What do you suppose became of the souls or spirits of those children when they died?

Now... consider this for a moment... perhaps their deaths had a profound effect on certain individuals who had emotional investment in them? Maybe it caused someone to wake up and straighten their life out? Maybe it caused someone to have empathy and remorse for being cruel to someone else? Maybe it changed a hardened heart? Maybe the event brought two people together in a way that would have otherwise not been possible? You see, we really don't know all the assorted things that transpired as a result of a baby dying.

We tend to see a baby dying and feel sorry that the baby never got to experience life... but what kind of life? A life on a physical planet with all it's inherent flaws? Watching helplessly as men kill each other and display ugly hate and anger? Perhaps their death saved them from a life of sexual abuse? We can't know a future that never was.

It's almost like a vain arrogance that we assume dead cancer babies are evidence of a non-merciful God. Or really any other circumstance where the innocent die. Death frees their souls from imprisonment in a physical and imperfect world.

 

[Boss]

That's a great reason for you but not convincing for us. If all you have is that and a 2000 year old story that's weak. I don't care how many Mormons there are that doesn't give the story any credibility

Who is "us"? Who are you speaking for other than yourself? And who said anything about trying to convince you? You have free will, you can make your own choices. Your choices are not automatically conveyed to others and their choices are not conveyed to you. It appears you want to try and be part of a group... a resistance, for lack of a better word. You feel empowered as part of this group who rejects God.

This is common among people who have chosen to reject their spirituality. Psychologically, you're telling everyone that you can't do this alone. You need to be supported by your group of like-minded people. That is revealed in phrases like "not convincing us".

If "all there were" amounted to a single testimonial and a 2000 year-old text, that would indeed be weak... but that's not all there is. The OP expresses a very common testimony, one that has been repeated billions of times through history, even long before the 2000 year-old text known as the Bible. Christianity is a relatively modern incarnation of human spirituality.

 

[Care4all]

I must have that God gene that science has pointed out where some people are susceptible in believing ...because none of it makes sense, it's even crazy in a way, and definitely illogical, but nothing can change my mind...I just know God exists no matter how crazy it is!!!

I'm very happy that you had such a wonderful experience. I can sense from reading your post how much it means to you. I have had an experience similar to yours in a lot of ways, with the same intensity of pleading for mercy, but the outcome wasn't good. Forgive me if your experience doesn't convince me. As long as you can bask in the warmth of your experience you should, as long as your experience doesn't give you the idea that you can make judgments or rules for other.

I've never felt or thought that my relationship with God had some set of rules I was suppose to push on to others.... It is a personal thing with me...I simply know God exists...even if it makes no sense.

 

[Boss]

Here's one.

For years, I had been suffering deep, dark, depression, a total sense of hopelessness that made me want to die. I wouldn't kill myself, but I desperately wanted to die.

One day, after I had lost a job, I got down on my knees and desperately prayed to God to release me of my depression. It wasn't like a casual prayer, it was a total prayer, from deep in my soul, a prayer of total desperation because I had reached the end of my rope.

At the next moment, the depression was lifted, and I felt my soul liberated in a way I had never felt before.

Since that day, I have had problems, but I have never suffered the kind of deep depression and hopelessness that I had felt before.

I've had three incidents in my life where, by all accounts, I shouldn't have survived. There is no explanation for why I am still here other than a miracle... or three, in my case. It wasn't luck, it had nothing to do with being fortunate. It was some kind of cosmic intervention that I cannot explain. I attribute it to not being my time to go yet.

 

[sealybobo]

That's a great reason for you but not convincing for us. If all you have is that and a 2000 year old story that's weak. I don't care how many Mormons there are that doesn't give the story any credibility

Who is "us"? Who are you speaking for other than yourself? And who said anything about trying to convince you? You have free will, you can make your own choices. Your choices are not automatically conveyed to others and their choices are not conveyed to you. It appears you want to try and be part of a group... a resistance, for lack of a better word. You feel empowered as part of this group who rejects God.

This is common among people who have chosen to reject their spirituality. Psychologically, you're telling everyone that you can't do this alone. You need to be supported by your group of like-minded people. That is revealed in phrases like "not convincing us".

If "all there were" amounted to a single testimonial and a 2000 year-old text, that would indeed be weak... but that's not all there is. The OP expresses a very common testimony, one that has been repeated billions of times through history, even long before the 2000 year-old text known as the Bible. Christianity is a relatively modern incarnation of human spirituality.

Us atheists.

How many theists use the argument that too many believe for it to not be true? You even did it yourself. Because lots of people say they met god it must be true. What if only you had the experience? So like you I don't care if everyone else believes

This thread is about why the guy believes. I'm just telling him those aren't good enough for us. You know who is is. You argue with us everyday.

I hate it when idiots say we reject god. No we don't. He would have to exist and I would have to then reject him. I simply reject your stories. No God to reject.

 

[Boss]

How many theists use the argument that too many believe for it to not be true? You even did it yourself. Because lots of people say they met god it must be true.

That's not what I've said. My argument has been that human spirituality has been an attribute in mankind since humans became a civilized creature. Such an attribute (regardless of whether any incarnation of Gods are real) is a fundamental and important attribute beneficial to the species.... that's according to Darwin himself.

So we have this thing where we believe in something spiritual that is greater than ourselves... and it provides important fundamental benefits to our species. My summation is, if there were nothing behind it, we couldn't have fooled ourselves for so long and we certainly wouldn't have retained a meaningless attribute.

 

[sealybobo]

How many theists use the argument that too many believe for it to not be true? You even did it yourself. Because lots of people say they met god it must be true.

That's not what I've said. My argument has been that human spirituality has been an attribute in mankind since humans became a civilized creature. Such an attribute (regardless of whether any incarnation of Gods are real) is a fundamental and important attribute beneficial to the species.... that's according to Darwin himself.

So we have this thing where we believe in something spiritual that is greater than ourselves... and it provides important fundamental benefits to our species. My summation is, if there were nothing behind it, we couldn't have fooled ourselves for so long and we certainly wouldn't have retained a meaningless attribute.

Maybe there were benefits but those aren't necessary anymore. And we all know the benefits to religion. Maybe those benefits outweigh the fact god doesn't really exist.

And we are still very primitive. Give it time. We haven't been around that long. More and more people are waking up.

But if you brainwash your kid from a very young age he will pray 7 times a day. More and more people are not brainwashing their kids so belief isn't a given anymore.

 

[Boss]

This thread is about why the guy believes. I'm just telling him those aren't good enough for us. You know who is is. You argue with us everyday.

I hate it when idiots say we reject god. No we don't. He would have to exist and I would have to then reject him. I simply reject your stories. No God to reject.

Again... psychologically, you are associating yourself with "US" ...a group of like-minded God deniers. This is very telling from a strictly psychoanalytical standpoint. You don't speak for anyone other than yourself... you're not speaking as the head of some organization or something, are you?

Why can't you say "I'm just telling him those aren't good enough for me."? Then you go on to talk about "WE" instead of yourself personally. This tells me that you would have a very difficult time accepting your own stated beliefs if you didn't feel you were part of a larger group. It is the comfort of the group which emboldens you.