If God created us in his own image, why did He give us the ability to doubt his existence?

Question

...and does that mean He doubts his own existence?

PLEASE, no "This is a blasphemous question" or copying and pasting huge chunks of the bible. Just give me some good answers. Thanks

But WHY "to test faith"???? He gave us the ability to breathe, why not just give us the ability to KNOW S/He exists?

But WHY free will? I don't have the ability to stop breathing at will, at least not for very long. So I have no free will over my breathing.

Answer 1

What is existence without doubt? Without asking questions would we simply be non-sentient unable to perceive and imagine things for lack of a tongue? Is not doubt the spiritual engine of faith, without which there would be no need for communication. i.e. the tongue and consciousness would be redundant.

The fact that we are able express ourselves in a language of nuance suggests to me that relationships of any kind, based on words, require two way discourse. Jesus was a discourse between the certainty of being the Son of man, (perfect image) for which he was hammered and blasted by those who were offended by such confidence and assurance, and the doubt of the sons and daughters of God (imperfect image) who were the ones he taught in the streets and their church. Imperfect i.e.'sin' can be understood in this context as 'not knowing the truth about being a son and daughter of a loving God'. Our actions betray our ignorance. The Pharisees betrayed theirs and that of the Old Testament. (cut cut cut tens of thousands of pertinent words here) Get the book 'The Bible that dethrones Christ...'

Moreover, God is Spirit and as his creation we doubt because we cannot physically apprehend Spirit but he has sent a powerful image of himself to believe in - Jesus Christ whose words and deeds are like a definitive description of the Spirit of God. He said in one place, 'My words are Spirit and they are life'.

Your question is a real down to Earth question and it is perfectly reasonable to ask it. Sadly its not possible to answer more thoroughly within the confines of this forum but I hope these thoughts are useful to you.

Answer 2

I don't believe that anyone can truly ever doubt the existence of God. I think there is always a part of them, their soul, that shines brightly at the core of their being telling them of God no matter how much they try to stifle it. It is the breath of our creation, our divinity, and it is not ours to deny.

How can anyone look at the night sky alive with stars beyond our comprehension and not know that Someone, God, created it? To have even a crude understanding of our solar system inspires awe and the delicate balance that keeps us on a perfect course around the sun so that we are neither cooked nor frozen. Surely there is a God who created such a marvelous thing? We cannot create something from nothing so where did all of this come from...?

No, someone can tell themselves they are alone, but deep down they know different.

Answer 3

We have a free will and a free mind to use them in whatever way we want. This is part of being made in God's image.
The breathing thing is because we have this material body that needs oxygen. It takes a lot of determination for someone to kill himself by stopping to breathe, but theoretically it's possible.
So, going back to the question, being made in God's image doesn't mean identical. Something we might do, such as breathe or doubt God's existence, is not necessarily something God has to do too.

Answer 4

what god its all bull s.h.i.t religion cause death and destruction

i just find it unbelievable these people do what this so called god Tell's them

where is all the hardcore evidence that he or Jesus ever existed (oh that's rite its' supposed to be locked away in the Vatican yeah rite whatever if they had any evidence with all the debate with beliver's and non beliver's yd think they would show us sumthing its because they have nothing)

am very open minded about wheather he dose exsit or not but for me i need evidence (PROVE) not just a bible to read or a priest to brainwash me

the thing that reli gets to me is most of these god lover's are not up for debate,the non beliver's are in the wrong and they are rite they are not open minded people we are scum to them because we have a opinion

i feel sorry for there children because they are born into a world without any idea what to belive..because the child is born into a god loving family they will also brainwash the child into beliving whatelse dose the child know nothing he has no choice ITS ALL WRONG that the thing you see ever since the bible was written its just been a brainwashing thing, throw the generations they have had 1000's of years to do it

i cant wait intill the space people find the first alien like,then what excuse are they gonna say

am intitled to my opinion


adam and eve dont make me laugh

and yes am a hypocrit because i celebrate xmas and easter and marriage and say all the words

ITS ALL WRONG

Answer 5

Let me give you a more frustrating thought to ponder. If you are a Christian, it's a sin to commit suicide, even if it's because you badly want to be in heaven next to god.

Now, in Christianity, you are allowed to sin, and sinning is okay as long as you ask for forgiveness. You can commit the most heinous atrocities, but as long as you ask for God's forgiveness, you won't be damned.

Suicide is a sin. If you kill yourself, you go to hell.

Now, suppose I am Christian, and I want to be with my god soooo bad, that I climb to the top of a building and jump. I've just committed myself. I am going to die, and I am going to die a sinner, so I am also going to hell. But, halfway down, I am filled with absolute sincere regret and before I hit the street, I beg my god's forgiveness.

What happens? Do I go to heaven or hell? If I go to heaven, I got what I initially wanted, albeit under once false pretense (remember, I repented.) If I go to hell, I got screwed over, because I truly repented, and the rules I obeyed my entire life didn't apply.

See, the truth is, there are no rules when it comes to god and religion. It's a made up construct, and since it's made up by fallible humans, it's full of flaws. You can't win. All you can do is subscribe to the concept of faith, which gives you no more guarantee than not subscribing, or subscribe to the concept of fact, which at least gives you some guarantees while you are alive.

Some will tell you that it's better to subscribe to faith and "insure" yourself, since, "what have you got to lose?", but the WHAT that you've got to lose is living your life without having to live a lie.

I, for one, think it's far better to not know, then to be certain of something there's no proof of, so being an agnostic is probably the best ability one can have.

Answer 6

Begging the question (Latin petitio principii, "assuming the preliminary element") is a sort of casual fallacy wherein an implicit premise could straight away entail the tip. Begging the question is somewhat certainly one of the classic casual fallacies in Aristotle's previous Analytics. some present day authors evaluate begging the question to be a species of circulus in probando (Latin, "circle in proving") or around reasoning. have been it no longer begging the question, the lacking premise could render the argument viciously around, and jointly as never persuasive, arguments of the type "A consequently A" are logically valid[a million][2][3] because of the fact asserting the theory jointly as denying the self-same end is an instantaneous contradiction. frequently, validity basically ensures the tip could stick to given the reality of the premises. Absent that, a valid argument proves no longer something: the tip could or won't stick to from defective premises—in spite of if in this actual occasion, this is self-obvious that the tip is fake if and on condition that the theory is fake (see logical equivalence and logical equality).[4] ------------------- -I contend that we are the two atheists. I basically have faith in one fewer god than you do. once you already know why you brush aside all the different attainable gods, you will understand why I brush aside yours.- Steven Roberts.

Answer 7

He gave us the ability to make up our own minds. To accept or to not accept. Free will is a huge responsibility and also a powerful force.

He did give us the ability to know that he or she exist. Every culture that has ever existed has had their beliefs and faiths. Sometimes we just take something that is very simple and try to make it difficult...

Answer 8

If God created people that loved him because they were robots and they had no choice in the matter, it wouldn't mean anything to him. So he gives them enough evidence to feel good about believing but not so much that we have no choice. Of course he doesn't doubt his own existence. Those things came with the fall of Adam and Even when they sinned.

Answer 9

God created us in His image, but He also gave us the will to choose. We chose evil, our own will, over God's will. There in comes the "doubt". It is a tool used by the enemy, to make us feel weak, when in God, we are strong. Doubt usually comes into our heart and mind, when we take our focus off of God and look at things through the eyes of the world.

Remember when as a child, you did something wrong, how it made you feel bad. You doubted if your parents still loved you?

Answer 10

The key word there is ABILITY. We have the ability to think and consider ideas, just as He does. However, we do not have access to ALL knowledge, as He does. So we can end up doubting out of sheer ignorance. God doesn't have that problem.