So... what is it that convinced you that God exists (or not?). Experience, philosophy, tradition, miracles... ?
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So... what is it that convinced you that God exists (or not?). Experience, philosophy, tradition, miracles... ?
how long can i write it lol
As much as you want! I am just pondering...
The miracle of egg and sperm meeting and the formation of life. How perfect is the baby? Absolutely perfect human being. It is truly a miracle. I am always at an awe as to the way life is formed inside the human body.
i have more.
I'll be back **said in an Arnie Schwarznegger accent** ;)
For me I grew up as a christian and was taught to have faith but as a young person it is a bit difficult to have faith in something you cannot see. Now as an adult my "proof" in God is knowing that he is with me during difficult or traumatic times and he was the one who carried me through. For example with the death of my parents and especially the death of my son. I know that if it wasn't for God I wouldn't have come out with the strength that I have now. There are many more examples I could list, may pop back in later.
Regards,
Dianne
What Dianne said! God and I have such a tight relationship there isn't a single doubt in my mind that He is real. He has been my Dad when I didn't have one, my Friend when I didn't have any, my Comforter and Provider during hard times. I can see Him so clearly interweaved in my life when I look back that there is no way I could deny that He is real.
I also look at the world and how miraculously it all works and how beautiful it is and I just know it had to have been made by a Master designer ;)
Ok.
One morning during Ramadan (our holy month of fasting), the local Turkish radio station has a live show during the whole month during the morning, say from about 3am til 5am and they will end the show with the athan (call of God, for people to come to prayer) and that is also the time when you stop eating and begin fasting for the day.
I told DH that i would turn the radio and listen to the athan and he said, you know what time eating stops, so why bother? I didn't listen to him, so i turned it on and was listening to the athan. he told me to turn it off several times because i had it too loud and he could not hear the commentary from his soccer match that he was watching :rolleyes: I though okay, you win i'll switch it off. I went to switch it off and it would not turn off, pressed the off button, wouldn't turn off. DH is still in the other room telling me to turn it off and i told that it would not switch off and for him to turn it off. He came in and saw me trying to turn it off and still would not. He played with it, trying to turn it off and the same thing happened it would not turn off. we were absolutely gobsmacked. I then told him that the radio would turn off when the athan finished. He still tried, no luck. We waited. The ethan finished and i said to DH that now i would press the off button again and guess what??? The radio switched off. We were just left there staring at each other. I told him that God wanted him (DH) to listen to all of it as well.
That was soooo spooky. There definitely is a God.
:yeahthat::
as soon as i saw my baby it was the best thing ever it topped my wedding day by like 1000% and made me believe even more
besides that i just have this feeling that some one is watching over me all the time making sure nothing bad happens to me i felt it even more when i was preg coz there was so many times where i could have hurt myself or even my unborn baby and i didnt i had a lot of close calls coz im really clumsy and still havent hurt myself badly
eg when i was 10 i fell off my bike and should have smashed my wrist and all i got was a sprain
he has saved me so many times
i was in a car acciden when i was ten, my cousin died when the side of my car was hit the car crumpled to nothing and i walked away with a concussion and 10 stiches.
second- i was meant to be staying in kuta 500m from where the bali bombing hit and had a hens night that was going to happen at the bar but i lost my passport only to later find it in my handbag which i emptied 6 times,
god exists and has saved me countless times
that is all the proof i need.
I agree with the miracle of life! I find it so hard to believe that evolution happened by chance only with absolutely no guidance...
Oh i agree PX
how did we just happen to be such perfectly created creatures?
it doesnt add up to me
the miracle of life is gods creation.
subhanAllah TD - that story is amazing :D Thanks for sharing.
I think all the miracles of nature are proof - most of all life itself.
The Quran talks about the proofs in nature.
I guess that for those of faith proof is all around us.:
It is He Who sends down water from the sky. From it you drink and from it come the shrubs among which you graze your herds. And by it He makes crops grow for you and olives and dates and grapes and fruit of every kind. . There is certainly a sign in that for people who reflect. He has made the night and the day subservient to you, and the sun, the moon and the stars, all subject to His command. There are certainly signs in that for people who use their intellect. And also the things of varying colours He has created for you in the earth. There is certainly a sign in that for people who pay heed. It is He Who made the sea subservient to you so that you can eat fresh flesh from it and bring out from it ornaments to wear. And you see the ships cleaving through it so that you can seek His bounty, and so that perhaps you may show thanks. He cast firmly embedded mountains on the earth so it would not move under you, and rivers and pathways so that perhaps you might be guided, and landmarks. And they are guided by the stars. Is He Who creates like him who does not create? So will you not pay heed? (Surat an-Nahl: 10-17)
The Quran itself is also miraculous. Since its revelation not one dot or word has changed and if every copy of the Quran on Earth was to be destroyed then by the next night we could write it down again because so may people have committed the entire book to memory. In The Quran Allah says that he will protect it and indeed he has protected it.
I agree! And I think it is amazing that those who don't believe, don't see it. It's like trying to explain the beauty of Beethoven's music to someone who is deaf.:
Is there a Creator/GOD?
?Isn?t it possible that suddenly with out intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of existence of a supreme being??
George Greenstein, 1988
Today I am going to try to convince you that there is a creator. I believe with all honesty that there is a creator because based on scientific evidence that I will show you, there is no possible way the big bang theory could be correct. I will also address a very common argument against my belief that there is a creator and some personal reasons too. Then I will summarize my arguments into a conclusion.
There are five scientific facts the first one is the accumulated dust on the moon. Evolutionists argue that the world is 5 billion years old. However when scientists were preparing for the Apollo missions to go to the moon they calculated that the accumulated dust on the moon over 5 billion years should be half a kilometer thick. The first scouting vehicles to the moon were designed to land on dust that thick. However when they did land on the moon they found that the dust was only a few inches thick and the thickness is exactly the amount that would accumulate over ten thousand years which is the age the Bible seem to span.
The second fact is the mathematical probability. One scientist calculated that the mathematical probability of life on earth coming about by random events was approximately the same as two asteroids colliding in space and then forming a perfect 747 jumbo jet. I.e. 140,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1.
The third scientific fact is the distance of the sun to the earth. Scientists have always know this very important fact, that if the sun was five degrees closer to the earth we would burn up and if the sun was 1 degree further we would freeze.
I don?t believe that it is perfectly placed by chance, especially with this evidence.
The fourth scientific fact is the inclination of orbit. If the inclination of the earth were too great the temperature differences would be to extreme. I think this fact speaks for its self.
One question that people ask is ?Who Created God? In the Old Testament in the book of John, John wrote: God is a Spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:24
In the New Testament in the book of Mathew, Mathew wrote: Jesus replied, ?blessed are You, Simon son of Jonah, for this is not revealed to you by man, but by the father in heaven? Mathew 16:17
In the Old Testament in the book of numbers Moses wrote: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and then not fulfill? Numbers 23:19
It is obvious from these scriptures that God is described as a spiritual being. He exists outside the three dimensional and physical world that we live in. The Bible supports this idea of God in the following scriptures.
In The Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah wrote:?Am I only a God nearby,? declares the Lord, ?and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?? Declares the Lord. ?Do not I fill heaven and earth?? Declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:23-24
In the Old Testament in the book of 2 Chronicles it says: But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain Him? 2Chronicals 2:60
In the book of Acts John wrote: For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ?we are his offspring.?Acts 17:28
God has now been described as being outside space but also outside time. Consider the following scriptures.
In the New Testament in the book of Peter, Peter wrote: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the lord a day is like a thousand years. 2 Peter 3:18
In the Old Testament in the book of Psalms it says: For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Psalm 90:40
In the Old Testament in the book of Psalms it says: But you remain the same, and your years will never end. Psalm 102:27
In the book of Acts John Wrote: He said to them ?It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by his own authority.? Acts 1:7
If God is a being that is not controlled by time and if he had access to time as if it were now, the whole question of who created god is an invalid question. E.g. like trying to
To draw a four sided triangle. The terminology is contradictory. When we ask ?Who or what created God?? we are assuming that God was created. If God exists outside of time and space, and if He is the Creator of time and space, He obviously was not created! God began the beginning! This is why He says, ?I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.? God created time. In Genesis it states, ? in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth? in this scripture it shows the making of time.
God is outside of time. God has always been. He not only started time; He will also end it. When time ends, all matter and all mankind will enter eternity?a timeless place free of the negative things that time brings upon us now.
In the New Testament in the book of Peter, Peter wrote
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly 2 Peter 3:10-11
In the last book of the New testament John wrote in Revelation
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4
(This text has been altered, originally written by John N. Clayton)
I have always believed in God and believe God is and was the initial creator. I never needed facts to ensure my belief but having them only confirms that my decision to believe in the creator was correct. I only need faith to believe. You can?t see faith because faith is an emotion. That does not mean it doesn?t exist, for example you can?t see love but you can see the evidence of love. That example is the same with faith. You can?t see faith but you can see the evidence of it. When I look at the detail on a leaf or a starfish or my wonderful children that God has blessed me with I see God. Those miracles and having faith, have helped change and shape my life, however not only that but you could only imagine 10 years ago what I was like. To see the new me, people are astounded with shock when I tell them what my past held. So many times and so many chances I have taken, realistically I probably shouldn?t be here but I am. That is my testimony of Gods almighty power therefore proving his existence.
Based on my research I have no other choice bar to believe that there must be a creator.
If you tried to model the universe you would quickly discover that it is intricate and very delicately designed. There is so much the creator needed to take in to account, for instance, if any thing in the galaxy was a tiny bit out, we wouldn?t be able to sustain life on earth. All these intricate things were finally tuned to sustain life therefore giving proof that the big bang theory is incorrect. An example of this, that science proves, that explosions only cause chaos and mess not beauty or organized order. Therefore concluding and proving there must be a creator as I have clearly showed in my scientific evidence today.
Resources and References
Internet
Evidence For Design In The Universe
from Limits for the Universe by Hugh Ross, Ph.D. in Astronomy
does god exxist dot org
Written by Mr John N. Clayton
Videos
?Questions of Origins?. Creation or Evolution ? 1998 Eternal Productions, All Rights Reserved
Books
The NIV Topical Study Bible (New International Version)
that's just my opinion this is not a debate just my opinion on why i am convinced there is a creator whom is god:) glad to be able to contribute without judgment :)
:)
Ooohh Squidpa :clap:.
I like the fine tuning argument (that the universe is so finely tuned for life, that it cannot be due to random chance, but must be due to a creator). I guess this is one of the highest on my list. Critics of it would suggest that we should observe a finely tuned universe for life, because we observe life. But I'm convinced...
hehe thanks :redface::redface::redface::
Philosophical arguments for the existence of God are fun, but they really only back up what I already know from experience, they are not the sole reason why I believe. That said, the cosmological argument is cool !
:
The basic premise of all of these is that something caused the Universe to exist, and this First Cause must be God. It has been used by various theologians and philosophers over the centuries, from the ancient Greek Plato and Aristotle to the medieval St. Thomas Aquinas and the 20th century Frederick Copleston.
The proof is the miracle of life, the knowing that someones there in hard times, knowing theres someone there to pull you through! the proof is also in my daughters eyes.
also-
When my brother was born at 24weeks gestation, he was in a humiditi crib for over 4 months and in hospital for almost a year. i prayed everyday that he would survive, he is now 8 years old and is a very happy and health boy and you would of never known that had fought so hard for his life. but god does
Ooh answered prayer is another source of proof, yes!
mm this is really interesting.
i don't think i need any "proof" as such of His existence, i just know. im not a religious person but i am spiritual and i do believe there must be something else to this whole life experience.
having wonderful people in my life to learn from is proof enough to me. my grandma is one still one of my favourite people ever, even though she has passed away. she taught me so much that can never be taught from books or internet. just having her sent to be in my life is proof enough.
I am always amazed by things that are written in the bible that there is no way that humans could have known iykwim? For example, the bible says the earth is round but we thought it was flat for ages.
Just speaking personally, I don't really need "proof" of the existence of God. If I had proof then I wouldn't need to develop the ability to have faith. Faith is similar to trust and sometimes we just need to be able to place blind trust in entities and people other than ourselves. If you have faith/trust then you have the ability to relinquish control, for example. I think this is a good thing. It's not right to want to be in control of everything all the time. Children have to have faith/trust in their parents. Mankinds relationship, I think, is similar to that of a parent/child. The parent knows that things are "so" because of situations beyond the child's ability to comprehend. If mankind accepts that he doesn't know everything then he should, I guess, be accepting of a more knowing entity.
I also know that intuition can't always be quantified. My faith in God is intuitive.
I could write an essay about them moment I slid over from being an agnostic to a believer in a God as described by Christians/Jews etc. But in the briefest manner I often describe it as the moment I acknowledged that there was an evil force in the world. I guess it came back to my love of science/physics... Newton's third law seemed to explain it: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If there was evil I surmised then maybe there was a pure form of goodness :dunno: I also seemed to come to the conclusion that there seemed to a universal set of laws dictating what was good and what was evil.... and this set of laws was NOT man-made.... it was divine. These laws were not evolutionary... they often seemed to go directly against the laws of nature as these laws had nothing to do with the laws of the jungle. And these laws had nothing to do with game theory (ie the laws of getting along to benefit you or your community). There is a set of laws that man did not make that govern us all whether we like it or not. When anyone says "that's not FAIR" they are a case in point.