How are you supposed to DECIDE to believe in something?

Question

I'm an athiest and my family is constantly telling me that believing in God is the only way to save myself. But belief is not something you DECIDE on, it's something you either have or don't. So are there any Christians out there that can explain to me why I would want to worship a god (if one exists) that bases everything on faith but then doesn't give me the faith that he requires? Does it occurr to any of you that this is incredibly screwed up? And don't tell me I know it's true down deep, because I really genuinely don't believe in it. I'm not saying it for attention or any of that crap, it just seems completely ridiculous to me.

I know this question has been asked several times before. I've read the answers and none of them were satisfying. I'm looking for just one Christian to give me a satisfying answer that doesn't require already having faith that God exists. I don't have that. Just one person give me a REAL answer to this question. I don't believe it's possible.

Gladiator. That really isn't true. Scientists haven't said any such thing.

Pegacita, I only wish that would work. My family is not so much Christian as they are religious fanatics that follow their creepy preachers every word. That wouldn't help matters.

Plus, I would be lying. I've done my searching. I know in my heart that there isn't what so many people claim to know in their that there is.

Tommy, cute stories don't explain anything. And I've heard plenty of them during the time I was looking into various religions to see if any of them suited me (obviously, none did). It's just an easy way to put what you believe in a pretty little box. A cute little story can lead to any conclusion you want it to.

Answer 1

decide? I believe in something if i find the logic in it.

Answer 2

You do have faith, but not in a higher being. Every time that you see a chair somewhere, you believe, have blind faith that it will hold you. You don't know that, you just have faith which is the jump between belief and proof. You will prove the chair holds you only when you sit in it. People who believe in God, have at one time first decided that there is something. They have heard that that something is God and something about what happens. They have taken it by blind faith alone that this is true and therefore proclaim that it is just like you seeing a chair. Their proof will come only after they are gone, death that is your sitting down. The problem lies in that none of them are coming back to say that they have been there and done that. It is only a faith in what they believe that makes it real to them. You cannot expect them to prove it in any way, they can't.

Answer 3

XMalice. I choose to answer your question because I believe that you are serious in looking for an answer. It could be you are only serious about the whole thing being ridiculous!

What I want to point out is that I DECIDED to answer your question knowing little or nothing about who you are or what you are about..

The way you decide to believe something is just believe it. What I believe about you does not alter your reality or the facts of life. However, If I did not believe something I would not be answering your question. You believe many things and exercise belief daily.

I am refuting your statement that "...belief is not something you DECIDE on, it's something you either have or don't." That is not true at all. It would be correct to say that belief is something you do decide upon and you either do it or you don't.

Are you still with me?

Let's consider belief in the physical world. (True story)
Nearly 40 years ago a young mother dressed her little boy for Sunday School. It had been raining the day before and the boy loved to play in the dirt. Still, she let him go outside with a stern warning not to get dirty.
When she called him a half hour later his pants, shoes and socks were encased in mud. Incensed , if not enraged, she spanked the kid and got him into some clean clothes. While cleaning his shoes she asked. "What possessed you to get in the mud after I told you not to do it?"
His reply. "I was just trying t walk on water like Jesus did."
She, of course, was crushed for having been so harsh.

I make two critical points with this story.
(1) Belief at its childlike best will not walk on water.
In other words belief will not alter reality. BUT
(2) Belief will put you in position to make the attempt.
In other words belief does slightly alter reality in
respect to your position to it.
Belief points you in a direction, period.

Belief is directional in the physical world and in the spiritual world. Belief and faith are two totally different items. If you think, as most do, that they are the same you must reach the conclusion you have reached. The situation is incredibly screwed up.

God does not ask for faith. All He asks is that you (1) believe or assume His existance and (2) believe or assume that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. So it requires two beliefs (assumptions) on your part and some honest effort to seek Him out or prove Him if you will.

You are in charge of your beliefs. You can take them or leave them as you prove them. Thomas Edison believed he could make a light bulb. He did so after about 7,000 documented failures.

To answer your question: To assume (believe) there is a God does not require faith nor even a pledge to the existance of God. It could put a chink in your armor because, like going after the light bulb, you must "postulate the possbility" that God exists.

If you count assumptions as faith or confuse faith and belief; then you make any answer to your question logically impossible. If you don't "postulate the possiblity" it is not because you can't; it is because you don't want to.

Answer 4

If your parents are like mine, they won't listen to logic. They'll just get really angry and start shouting about how one day you'll wake up and see the light. They haven't investigated the facts, nor do they care to. They like their dillusional world as it is and don't wish to imagine it any other way. It's just easier to believe in God for some people. Life is harder without God. You actually have to think and rely on yourself and other humans.

Christians believe that the news of Jesus is so great that anyone who hears it and doesn't accept it has to be evil at heart. But what is evil? Does a person decide to be evil? No. Their "evil" nature is based on their genes and their experiences. Does a person choose either of these? No. Therefore, God is supposedly buring people in hell for eternity based on something that they had no choice in.

If God is omnicient, doesn't he know everthing that will ever happen in each of our lives? If this is so, do we really have "free will"? No, we do not. And if we don't have free will, God would have had to make us sinners. Therefore, God burns us in a lake of fire for eternity without giving us a choice.

Answer 5

I know what your saying. At first I didn' know if there was a God, then I found out that there is a God. Things happened that proved to ME that a God existed. I won't go into them because my experiences are mine, my undinieable proof that can not be dis-proved by ANYTHING. I will give you this though, each time God proved He was real it was something that involved near deaths as in me almost dieing or someone else. Then I knew there was a God, but which God was a problem. Then God confermed He was the God of Israel(for me), but everyone TOLD me that I had to believe in Jesus to be saved. To me that was idol worship because of what I learned about the God of Israel, and spent years logiclly dismantling the new testament. Then once again God proved to me that Jesus is His son. now I am a Christian. Noone convinced me of any of this but God. By asking Him to prove Him self. So I leave you with this. Every person has an amont of faith, where you put it is on you. You have to ask God if he is there because no man can prove to you His existance. Before you decide if God is real you have to decide if you want to TRUELY know if He is real. God gives you faith, grows your faith and keeps your faith, not any book or person. The Bible IS for the faithful, when I was in the world the Bible was a old book, flawed by man, but now that I have faith in God it is more then a book writing by bad authers, it is a living guild to complexed for a signal description. Sorry for the misspellings, spell check is not working.

Answer 6

Okay, this will probably not satisfy you, but here goes:

You cannot decide to believe in God. This is one thing that you do not have free will in. However, you can decide to reject God.

It seems to me that you have decided to reject God, maybe because of your family telling you that you will only be able to "save yourself" this way. Unfortunately, they have made the mistake of believing that we can save ourselves. The only thing that can save us is the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God. It is by God's grace that we are saved. There is nothing that we as human beings can do to save ourselves. Not works, deeds, NOTHING! It has already been decided for us. If the Holy Spirit works in our lives, we are saved. It is by God's grace, through faith, that we are saved.

So, you don't have to believe that God exists. But, there is really no other way to answer this question.

BTW, do you have faith in anything? Do you have faith that God doesn't exist? Do you have faith that your family loves you? We as a culture, I mean human beings, usually have faith in something. So, you probably have faith. The only problem is that the faith you have is misdirected.

There is much more to my answer, but I don't want to lose you because you don't want to read any further. If you would like to hear the rest, feel free to IM or email me.

Answer 7

Your family should understand that God calls you. You don't decide. God decides. So you are right either you have it, or you don't

It is OK to not believe, that is why God gives you free will. He wants you to search for him and when you are ready he will call you. You might not know when you are ready but he will. Sorry I guess that is going back to faith.

It is hard to believe is something you can not physically see, smell, prove etc...but Christians believe in th supernatural. And you kind of have to be able to believe in the unbelievable before we can explain more.

If you already have decided that there is no supernatural in the world then we cant prove anything to you.

I hope that made some sense, I am very tired

Answer 8

I think you are exactly right. You cannot will yourself into belief or "decide" as if choosing between Coke or Pepsi. I am a Christian and I could not "choose" atheism because the my knowledge of God is innate. If you are interested in belief, even out of curiosity, it might start with reading different authors and doing research. Let the process be intuitive. But don't go against your conscience.

Answer 9

You choose to believe people. You choose to love. You choose to forgive someone. You choose to be an atheist.
You choose whether you're going to believe your spouse will be faithful. You choose to believe what you read in the paper. You choose to believe people everyday. Not everyone tells you the truth.
The thing is, you may not feel you have a need for Jesus. He wants people with humble hearts. If you think you are self sufficient in life and don't need anything from others, then you will feel that you don't need Jesus.
I wish I would have come to Jesus earlier in life, but that's not how God planned it. Had I not gone through what I did, I wouldn't be able to help people. Politely tell your family:
"Thank you for telling me about Jesus. It's up to me, now. No one can make me believe. If God wants me to come to know Him, I will. Please just pray for me and don't tell me any more unless I ask."
IF they bring it up again. Tell them the same thing over again and maybe even give a sign, like maybe praying hands or something to let them know to stop talking.

I think your family might back off.....they may still pray for you though....

Answer 10

If you are truly sincere about getting an answer, then
go in your heart and ask God.
Turn out the lights, TV, radio, clear your mind, take some slow deep breaths, and ask Him. Ask Him why you are not thirsty.
You're being discontent is the first step.
Seek and ye shall find, knock, and it shall open, ask, and ye shall be given.
Blind faith is stupid.
The Sufis say, you must know for yourself.
The Quran says, "If any of My children ask about Me, tell them I am nearer to them than your jugular vein. And if they call Me sincerely, I will answer."
So be sincere, and then be patient, and look for His signs.
He speaks to you in signs. Ask Him for one and then watch for it, and don't be too quick to say its a coincidence. To the seeker, there are signs everywhere. And once you get one then your faith begins to grow.
And if you are an atheist considering faith, don't be too quick about latching onto Christianity, its not about blind faith, its about knowledge, you have to know, that is our heritage.
The Christians have good hearts, but they don't have all the facts.

Answer 11

Not believing in God means you believe we are all here by mistake. You believe that your ancestors were monkeys and that monkeys still mature into humans today. If evolution is real then it is still happening.

How many scientist today have created life from non-living material? If it happened once - they should be able to re-create it.

Even now doctors are looking at DNA and saying that this could not happen by mistake - there is a creator.