Does not being able to understand God bother you?!?

Question

I ask questions after questions about God. The answers are mostly "God isn't logical" or "We don't have the capacity to understand God" or "You must have faith" or "Only God knows" aka "I don't know".

How can people believe so passionately about something that they really don't understand or know much about? I'd rather not have faith than have faith and have all these unanswerable questions. x_x

Answer 1

I don't presume that human language is primarily intended for 'comprehending' God. Poetry is not considered the best language for comprehending science, and the same goes for God. If God created us to speak about Him, what form of language best corresponds to the manner in which we ought to speak about Him? The scriptures tell us that we ought to praise Him, and this corresponds to poetry quite well, but I don't know if it corresponds to any cold analytical method. God may have given us language so that we could pray, sing, glorify. Our attempt to understand God according to a 'cold, rational' method may not be entirely natural; that is, it might be a mistake. If I ask you to sing me a song, I don't want to hear you describe some mathematical equation. It doesn't fit. If poetry is the only suitable language for discussing God, then it is easy to understand why people can't understand Him via purely rational methods. There is a saying among the Gaudiyas: The devotees of God do not discuss Him with any hope of coming to the end of His glories (they aren't attempting to comprehend him); rather, they enjoy the descriptions of God so much that they appear to be swimming in an ocean of bliss. To Glorify something, you only need to be able to understand something about it, not the whole thing. For instance, I might like my shoes because they are comfortable, even though they are not new. So, I can talk about how comfortable they are, even if they need to be repaired. It is not so hard to understand why people praise God: He gives them comfort, even if they don't totally understand Him. And who ever asserted that we ought to be able to totally comprehend Him? Isn't that irrational? After all, He's is supposed to be infinite, eternal, powerful in every possible way, etc., etc. How easy is it for the mind to encompass these concepts? Still, they can thrill the mind.
I hope the following response has been helpful.

Answer 2

Well Derek, you could ask questions forever and still not understand it all. I personally struggle a lot with all of it myself. I can only say that there has to be a reason for God to be "mysterious" ! A lot of people who are so passionate use faith and acceptance that there are things that we just don't need all the answers for. Just look at the world and what the quest for knowledge has cost us. We are constantly seeking something better-or find out more about things we know little about.
No matter what religion someone practices in, there will be questions that remain unanswered, but, you need to search within yourself for what you feel is right. Any given person can read a passage in the Bible and have a totally different idea of what it meant or for that matter-attend a different church and hear something that they have never heard before. Any religion that tells you that THEY have The ONLY WAY-is WRONG.
I was raised in the church and was passionate in my beliefs until just a few years ago. I started wanting to know the whys and hows of it all. That has done nothing to me but cause greater chaos and more confusion.
I have read about different religions and am still confused. All I can say is that I have my own beliefs and I am going to stay with them. I believe that as long as I do what I feel is right in my heart and in my mind, then things will be fine. When others are critical of that-I just brush it off.

Answer 3

This is an inherent trait of human mind. Until Columbus discovered America people passionately believed that there no more worlds to discover; that were they to sail westwards they will fall off into the Void. This was purely a question of understanding geography and the standard for understanding it were different but they just shut their minds to them.This was just a mundane matter having nothing to do with god and yet people were so passionate about it.It is persons like Columbus who rise above this and discover new worlds. I do not know whether you have tried to go through to any Indian philosophical systems. They start with refutation of atheist thought and only ten propound their world theory. They do not burn Brunos at a stake but honour him as a thinker and try to meet his arguments at philosophical level.
No question of being passionate either way.

Answer 4

You have a very good question. Personaly I agree. How can somebody be so passionate about something they have never tried. For example. I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. We go from door to door trying to help everybody come to an accurate knowledge of the bible. God is not mysterious or something we can't imagine. He has left us the bible as the way to get to know him. Sometimes we meet people who want to argue with us that the bible was written by man or that its not true then I will ask them if they have ever read it and they will say no. How can you say its not true when you haven't studied it. Its like saying the world is flat because you have never seen a picture of the globe and refuse to look at one. It may sound weird to you but I encourage you to study the bible with one of Jehovah's witnesses. I'm not just saying that cause i am one but we want to help others get to know the bible regardless of background or belief and we do not force anybody to convert. We all have to make a personal decision to serve any religion. We can't be forced into something we don't believe. If you want to have faith in god look for ways to get to know him. There are 2 ways the bible and studying the creation around us. If we look at the way things are made we can see there is a God who's name is Jehovah and he created all things for our enjoyment.

Answer 5

You need to have the Holy Spirit
If you have the Holy Spirit he will reveal who God is-

God is beyond human understanding and that is why you need to feel him in spirit. God is everywhere however when you lack faith and the holy spirit you will never expirience God

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (John 14:26)
"When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." (John 16:13)


If you ask God and wait he will answer all your questions. however patients. I have never had unanswered questions. God always provides me an answer to the most complex questions I have.

OH and I am talking about The God of Abraham,Jacob, Issac and The Father of Jesus Christ
NOT ALLAH!!! DONT EVEN BOTHER WITH ISLAM

Answer 6

The real God is not so hard to figure out Derek. It’s the silly little judgmental god that people have created in their own image that does not make any sense.

The real God just loves you. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s not so hard to figure out is it? She thinks your great just the way you are, wouldn’t change a thing about you unless you didn’t love your self. She might want to help you work on that.

Several years ago I had an unusual experience concerning an uncle, a distant relative who lived over a thousand miles away.

While driving my car I suddenly felt the unmistakable presence of this relative that I hardly even knew. He was more like someone I had heard about than someone I knew. It was very strange; it felt as though I was momentarily lifted right out of my physical body. I seemed to be suspended somehow beyond space and time, bathed in a love so intense It felt like I could have just disappear into it at any moment if It would have let me. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed to last forever at the same time. I realize how crazy this must sound. The experience was so strong that at first I was afraid I was loosing my grip on reality. I finally managed to chalk it up to an over active imagination.

Three days later I got a call from my aunt telling me that this uncle we are talking about had gone into a coma and died the day I had the experience. It felt like ice water had been poured down my back when she told me this. I had lost any real ideas of God or faith and had become somewhat of an atheist. Needless to say this experience caused me to rethink some of the conclusions I had come to.

I feel blessed to now understand that even in our darkest confusion something loves us so much that it went out of its way to assist me and bring me back to a state of absolute certainty about Gods love for us.
During the experience it seemed like there was a vast amount of information that I was somehow allowed access to. One thing that I came away from this experience understanding beyond any shadow of a doubt was that any Idea that God is unhappy with us or would judge or allow us to be punished for any reason is simply impossible.

I can’t explain the love I felt with words. They simply don’t make words big enough or complete enough to do this. The only way I can begin to convey this love to you is to say that there was simply nothing else there. Nothing but love. No hint of judgment, no displeasure of any sort. It is as though God sees us as being as perfect as we were the day we were created. It is only in our confused idea of ourselves that we seem to think that we have changed.

I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck. Love and blessings.

Your brother don

Answer 7

I've studies a fair share of theology, which is pretty rewarding if one is curious and open to ideas and thinking. But when I get to a certain point where I can't understand, I put it sorta in the same category as me not being able to understand another language or microbiology. Just because *I* cannot understand it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist or isn't valid.

Answer 8

Picture this:
God knows all the wisdom in the universe.
Mankind COMBINED knows maybe 1% of that wisdom. If we know that much, how much would we need to know about Him.
His thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways. We don't understand God because we try to understand Him on our terms. We need to learn on His terms.
God is far above us but not unreachable.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: [24] But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

Answer 9

I feel I understand God somewhat. What don't you understand? Death? It's a gift. Free will and God's sovereignty? If everything already happened then that allows for fate, but while it's happening in real time to us, we have free will. Bad things? Remember free will? Well, God has delegated us humans and those in Hell the power of free will....they, we do bad things....not him....and the reason why he allows for sht to happen is because in order to know good and truely have free will we need to see or unfortunately sometimes we need to experience bad things....

Answer 10

You ask excellent and sincere questions. i believe that we can understand God in a limited but definately adequate way. We see the revelation of God's interactions with humanity in the Scriptures. We understand that he is highly relational, and enters into covenant with humanity. He reveals himself as a father, mother, friend, and even spouse to those who seek him. He says such things as, "Even if a mother could forget the child nursing at her breast, I will not forget you." He promises to protect the widow, the fatherless, and the alienated. Though humanity has acted violently toward him, he loves, forgives, and seeks to restore them to relationship with himself and one another, for their best interest and not his own. This is only the beginning of his revelation toward us.