i am a firm believer. i'm not looking for anyone to try to convince me. what i'm asking is, what was that turning point in your life that made you believe, have you always believed, do you believe only because you were taught to? i want to hear your awesome stories and details.
as for the athiests in the peanut gallery...shut up, no one wants to hear it.
2006-10-19 08:09:02 · 22 answers · asked by kristeena911 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
ok, ok... i'm sorry, i hang my head in shame, ive been corrected. if the people who are non believers can comment as to what in life made them not believe i would like to hear that too. what i didnt want to hear was people condemning me and others for believeing. i want adult respectable comments, not trashing. i'm sorry.
2006-10-19 08:18:19 · update #1
A believer in what? When did I find god is that what your asking, I never knew he was lost.. But I guess what was the most spiritual experience for me, was also ironically the most devastating. When as a child I was being molested, I left my physical body to detach and felt something more higher than myself. This was aslo ironically where I loved god, and hated him. I used to bury my tidings in my front yard so that god would free me from my pain and make my soul worthy. I didnt understand that it was the pain that I had to experience to better know who god is.
Now I see what it is that I could not see then, because of my connection with god, Ironic isnt it in order to find the light you must walk through the darkness.
2006-10-19 08:30:31 · answer #1 · answered by fryedaddy 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
My belief, like that of many others, has gone up and down. There was a point, though, where I had to dig my belief out from under the dust and wipe it off. That story is below, and is an answer to a question similar to your that someone asked the other day. Yet, since that time my belief has only strengthened. In fact, I find prayer to be a wonderful thing. I live close enough to where i work that I use the walk to pray. This has been a great way to begin what are incresingly great days. In fact, without making this longer, but since that dark time (below) I am now seeing my life-long dream coming true, which I know is a blessing from God.
Yes...there was a time where I was out of work for a couple of months, the 'friends' had fled, (except one: Thanks MLB!!!), car was wrecked, health was going downhill and depression was setting in, no food in house, facing eviction, utilities scheduled for shut-off at any moment. I prayed...and "let go and let God". I was immediately filled with a feeling that all would be fine, and I was "told" to go out side and get some air and the first person I encountered would have valuable insight for me. I did and the first person I saw was a neighbor from downstairs who commented that I was not looking too well and to tell him what was (obviously) wrong. I did. He told me that there was day-labor place in town I could go to for work, and that if I promised to do that he would talk the landlord out of evicting me. I agreed, and the landlord ended up hiring me, the county paid my light bill in full, and I found that I could go to the food pantry for groceries. I worked off the rent, got myself back together, got a better job, and have thanked God for His Love every day since. So, yeah, it works!
I was raised a Catholic, and learned at an early age that Catholics were not my 'cup-o-tea', but I knew I was a Christian. I once tackled the LDS church, because they seemed to have a good idea of Christianity, but I saw how they treat women and learned that 'ordinary' folks can not be visited by Holy beings. (I had a visit from John the Baptist once and told a church Elder, which branded me a sort of heretic). So I studied on Jesus, found HIM a comfort and invited Him into my heart. I have, from time to time, 'forgotten' Him, but He has never forgotten me.
2006-10-19 08:39:25 · answer #2 · answered by The Mystic One 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have always been taken care of. I know it sounds cliché but the window has always blown open when a door has closed. As many times as I have said "I will just put it in God's hands" the right thing has always happened. I know it may sound selfish being that it is what he has done for me, but that is not what I am trying to say. There are moment’s during mass (or any other time) that I truly feel his presence. I am using mass as an example because they are the most recognizable times. Every time my husband and I have had a fight on a Saturday and go to mass on a Sunday the liturgy speaks to us and solves our problem. I am sure it is very general but it happens every time. I feel complete after the Eucharist and I love the quiet time I spend talking to God. I love confession, it is my therapy. I know I can talk to god all I want, but this makes God tangible for me. I am not a bible beater, I am a good person that does good things but I take my faith very seriously (not my religion even though I like it a lot). I guess I am one of those that gets criticized for taking the bits and pieces that I like from my religion, but if I dwelled on every aspect of any religion I would not have any faith. (I studied religion in college and was very discouraged because there were so many contradictions, went through a time where I didn’t have any faith.) I don't believe there is just one right religion or faith, but I do believe in the importance of having one and how it functions for society and individuals.
2006-10-19 08:27:21 · answer #3 · answered by micah z 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Just a comment: Christians are always arguing on this board that Atheism IS a faith... Why, then, would their input not be worth having? The question is addressed "regardless of your faith", after all...
Re: Additional Details
I was raised a Protestant in the Christian faith, and began the path to Agnosticism at about the age of 10 or 11 when I began asking questions for which the Ministers had no answer. I then read and studied various religions and philosophies for years, and spoke to a number of Priests, Clerics, and other religious and non-religious people before becoming convinced that there is simply no evidence available to point to the existence or non-existence of any supernatural being. Presently my faith is in humanity, and I try to help others when possible.
2006-10-19 08:12:46 · answer #4 · answered by Blackacre 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Wow...how much time do you have?
I was raised Christian...and walked away from the Church in my young teens. I became rebellious. Sad actually...I did what I wanted and it only brought me an intense emptiness. I was living the secular lifestyle and thought I had my finger on the pulse. Ha...not even close!
Fast forward 20 years...my mom prayed for me for 20 years and was able to see the fruit of her prayers.
One Saturday, I was invited to go to Church. I had been toying with the idea. Mind you, I never lost my belief or faith...I just wasn't walking the path with the Lord.
I went to Church and the Pastor's message spoke directly into my life.
I decided to go back...again and again. I began saying the sinner's prayer. I think that happened two, three maybe four weeks in a row and the Holy Spirit began to convict me.
I've never looked back. I have an amazing and intense relationship with the Lord Jesus and I wouldn't give it up for anything!
I know not everyone has the same relationship that I do...but it doesn't have to be the same. Doesn't mean it doesn't have to be any less awesome or intense.
I love my Church. It's a Spirit filled Church that teaches from the Holy Bible. It's also a non-denominational, so we try not to get caught up in "religious traditions, ceremonies or legalism etc."
I'm still amazed that the Lord would love me after all I've done, invite me back into the fold and use me in a mighty way (ministry)...but he does.
He heals the broken hearted. When your burdens seem heavy...He's there to help. (Matt. 11:28 is one of my favorite verses).
I know in the dark times (20 years without Christ) I had a guardian angel...I did some really stupid...dangerous things. Without God beside me...I would have died.
I now have a hope, peace and comfort in my life I had never known.
Jesus ROCKS!!!
2006-10-19 08:11:13 · answer #5 · answered by Salvation is a gift, Eph 2:8-9 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I was raised by my very Christian grandmother, church every sunday, proper morals, so on, when I was about 13 I started to question faith and God. This sparked a need to learn for myself. So, I began studing religions.(and still do) Every type of religion I could find, I study, well I turned 18 and got married and got pregnant. My first child did not live. She was born on July 1, 1994. I was devestated and to be honest I cursed, and I told my dear sweet grandmother that her "God" was a joke and I never wanted to hear another word about that......EVER, in october of 94 I found out that I was pregnant again, I was terrified. My doctor told me not to get excited because the baby wasn't going to live and I had slim chances, that night I went home, I had gone to the rest room and had passed a blood clot(sorry I know that is so gross) the size of a softball. I start to freak, then I felt this calm come over me. And I said to myself, you know better than this, you know what you must do to make it through this, I went into the bedroom, I laid down on the bed and I began to pray, I prayed for forgiveness and I said " I can not be afraid of this, so I will no longer worry. This childs life is in your hands, I don't want you to take him but if that is your will then so be it." Again I felt the same the same calm. 7 months later(and 6 wks premature) my son was born, with not one of the health problems they said he would have. 7lbs 11ounces, 27inchs long and healthy, that is the exact moment I knew with out a doubt that God was real. The doctor up until the moment my son was born said he would not make it and if he did he would have all kinds of health problems, and I would tell her that it was in Gods hands and she would see that this time she was wrong. I will never doubt again.....
2006-10-19 08:29:52 · answer #6 · answered by celtic925 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
ETA: Okay! Well. My basic worldview, which may be a good way to put it, is based on a framework of quantum mechanics, more or less, along with Jung's theories of mental energy, synchronicity, and the collective unconscious. I think my precise moment may have been after I'd been reading Jung and went to the bookstore looking for more of the same...and ended up going home with Amit Goswabi's The Self-Aware Universe, a book about how quantum theory can essentially become the bridge between science and religion. How I got there from Jung, I don't know. (Synchronicity?)
I'd already become acquainted with the theories of chaos magic, a large part of which is that there *is* no truth and there *is* no correct belief and there *is* no one way...but all ways and beliefs are useful.
Using theories of quantum mechanics in a pseudo-science sort of way, I was able to construct a framework of belief for myself in which, in a quote tossed around much with chaotes, nothing is true and everything is permissible. Re-interpretation of scientific ideas in a magical light made things make perfect sense. (In fact, looking at most religions in a scientific light with quantum theory at your side makes a lot of things in said religions make perfect sense. A LOT. Up to the point where I could seriously defend a lot of statements in religions that, by normal logic, make no sense. But I digress.)
Strong faith? Yes and no. I have faith in the power of the human will and the human mind, and I believe that we can accordingly reshape the universe if necessary. But I am constantly changing and shifting and twisting accepted human religions and worldviews in order to make that possible.
2006-10-19 08:13:22 · answer #7 · answered by angk 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
For me, it was a series of things that created my strong faith. I have thanked God over the years for not giving up on me, and he has in turn knocked me down a few pegs when needed and brought me to the point I had nowhere else to turn but to God and prayer.
I was raised Catholic and their belief system pushed me away for a while. The Catholic rules that I could not find anything to back them up with, the way the church lookied the other way for a sizable donation. They even told my daughter she could not make her confirmation because she researched other religions first, therefore her faith must not be strong! We saw it as her gathering the information to make an informed, adult decision. Isn't that the point of your confirmation - becoming an adult in the churches eyes? Or not allowing people that are remarried (or other 'sinners')to take communion? The point of communion was FOR sinners according to Jesus, right?
That turned my faith more to God and away from religion.
2006-10-19 08:19:46 · answer #8 · answered by mj 1 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well this is a good question. When I was in high school I stopped caring what God thought. My whole life I'd lived a "Sunday" life at the church but I didn't feel like it was for me so I turned to other things. I explored agnosticism (sp?) paganism, Judiasm and even Islam and finally decided on Paganism. I was always scared to do anything and I still knew that someday I was going to turn to Christ again, but I was stubborn and refused to listen. It's funny because you can't be mad at God and not know he's there. At college I was planning to, "come out of the broom closet" so to speak and let the world know about my status as a witch and pagan. But God thankfully had other plans. He brought me to him slowly and soon I realized that all this time I was worshiping false idols and dealing with demons. It was terrifying! I repented, and still repent when I feel like I am doing it again. I believe in God because He made me to believe. I understand that now, all that time I was looking for a purpose and higher order for myself. All this time I didn't realize that He is that higher order. the only thing was I had to humble myself and accept his soverignty, which didn't turn out to be so difficult. I love my Jesus and worship Him with all I can give, every day there is more to give because he gives me more by growing me. God didn't have to do what he did, but he did. That is what is incredible about the living God.
2006-10-19 08:21:28 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
certainty isn't in question. variety as a high quality of a being is the place you stumble on convenience and chosen to supply your interest. If that's the shrink of your certainty then you definitely've lots to benefit and to take into your actual means that's cosmic and countless. God is spirit and so formless. You mistake your modern-day expression, human, as definitive and it extremely is no longer. that's a fabric expression able to many acts for stable and additionally blunders of conceitedness. You too are spirit in human adventure. you're sure and constrained on your realm of thought that all and sundry which you spot is all that's obtainable to you. easily, you have lots greater to which you will attain for. The God you think of you have taken carry of a few distance exceeds your cloth carry close. you have constrained him to a e book that's no greater effective than a beginning factor. it's time to get busy on discovery and an end to obstacle by way of apologetics. every physique can have faith . . . sitting interior the boat.
2016-11-23 19:41:05 · answer #10 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋