Do you believe that NOT being able to experience something is automatically reason to believe it exists?

Question

Its something that has come up quite a lot today.
A young and inexperienced athiest goes out and asks the big question: "Why do you believe in god if you can't see him" ....

... And en masse, the christians all start counter-asking about seeing the air or your heart or some historic figure... or metaphysical concepts.... as if somehow the fact that you cannot see these things justifies their belief.

Firstly, I'd like to note that in MOST of those cases, regardless of one not being able to 'see' the things in question, they can be experienced... and measured with objective instruments.

Secondly, and more importantly... why is not being able to experience something justification for believing IN FAVOUR of it rather than against it?
Naturally, I see things exactly the opposite way.... I will tend to disbelieve things if I cannot experience them nor reason them... EVEN if most other people believe in them. This includes many subatomic particles and until recently black holes.

As usual, I'd like to make an addendum in response to the answers given:

Faith.... the belief in something in spite of reason... Why view it as a virtue when it clearly inhibits your reasonable functioning?

I don't have "faith" in anything... ever.
I trust people, but only based on the available evidence... i.e. their mannerisms and past behaviour. Even when I generate opinions with very little evidence, I keep them flexable that they may change if the evidence... when it reveals itself... stands against my original beliefs.
Nobody -needs- faith, and it really doesn't help in any way. If there was a god and he really wanted you to believe in him and for it to be worthwhile, he would at least leave some reasonable and unquestionable evidence of his existence and not merely rely on blind acceptance. It is because there is no evidence for his existence that the divide between theists and athiests is so strong and hostile, which cannot be what any benevolant god would want.

Answer 1

To believe in something that cannot be seen is faith.
And no. I don't believe that everything that cannot be observed should be believed. But God should be.
Why?
If Jesus Christ did not walk on the Earth, and if He did not perform the miracles that are recorded in history, and if He did not die, and if He did not come back to Earth alive, then why is he the most controversial person in history.
If He was not divine, how then did He come back after His death.

If the sciences can prove or justly verify most things true or false- why then can it not disprove or prove the existence of God.

Fact is that it is impossible to prove or disprove the existence of One who is not physical. All sciences are physical in some sense. No matter how large the subject (astrology) or how small (sub-atomic particles), science is physical. God is spiritual.

And besides, God is not Santa Clause, He is my Father. I know Him. I have a personal relationship with Him. Something else that science cannot measure. And I understand how difficult it can be to believe. I went through the difficult transformation from doubt to faith. But that is an evolution that you can be sure will change your life.


The reasonable and undeniable evidence is around you. Jesus, which has been proven to exist, walked on this Earth. Faith, as useless as you may think it is, has healed many people from diseases and illness that science and medicine already give up on. Faith also gets you the ride to heaven, and the perminant parking permit.
Other proof is in the millions of millions who do believe in Him after 2006 years. Christianity has been persecuted so heavily in the past that it would have died out if it weren't real.

Answer 2

I do consider there are extraordinary phases of existance,and if you already know the string thought(they are saying there are both eleven or 14dimensions inside the equal realm of existance)I cant consider the specific quantity however the mathematical equations are sound,so I consider its feasible.The simplest supernatural occasion I can take into account vividly isnt frightening,its extra angelic in nature and generally larger for Christmas than Halloween however right here is going.My father died of a big middle assault,on Memorial weekend of 1996 and even though he wasnt an evil guy he did have hedonistic developments(dishonest on my mom and such)I had a rather dangerous feeling that his soul wasnt in which it was once intended to move,He died within the past due afternoon,and that night time I was once feeling this manner so dangerous I couldnt shake it.I pulled right into a fuel station and a temporary supplied to clean my home windows,I advised him I'd provide him 5 greenbacks if he prayed for my Dad.(I felt if a stranger stated it,it could aid or depend.why I dont recognise however i did) so he prayed for Him correct there,on the pump.A feeling lifted off of me,this heavy weight and I regarded into his eyes.They had been essentially the most super blue.After he was once performed I thanked him and he smiled,held out his hand and stated his identify was once Irish,I left feeling larger and a bit foolish.I regarded for himthe subsequent day,he wasnt round.I didnt see him for 2 years,after which someday I bumped into him once more,I permit him blank my home windows and paid him and within the direction of the convesation he stated his identify was once Irish.(i had identified him of direction however didnt point out approximately the final time we had met,however he remembered.I checked out his eyes they usually had been darkish brown no longer the blue i remembered

Answer 3

I suppose I agree with you about the experiencing. Many people who hold spiritual beliefs hold them BECAUSE they have experienced them. There are ways to experience 'God' just like there are ways of experiencing the wind. You just step off into it. Via many different ways, drugs, meditation, praying, ecstatic dance, there are many ways to experience 'God'.

Answer 4

I may never have seen God with my own two eyes, but I know He exists. I've felt His pressence. I've walked into churches and felt my soul lift and my troubles vanish. I've met priests and nuns who fairly glow with the light of the Holy Spirit. I have a friend whom the doctors gave up on, who is now cured of cancer after being prayed for. That is my proof.

Answer 5

That is what faith is. There are many beliefs and understandings of things that are based on faith. Such as your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. How do you know there yours until someone tells you that it is so but you believe in it by faith. Events in history
that you were not a witness to yet you believe them to be so etc...

Answer 6

I 100% agree. I don't get how people justify their beliefs anymore when it comes to religion. I guess they just have to make themselves feel special, and safe. It's a crutch for the feeble minded, to be sure.

Answer 7

but thats why all religions are "faith based" you can't prove it, you believe it because it's the closest truth you can obtain.

So if you're dating/married someone do you automatically assume they're cheating on you (since you can't prove otherwise) It's all in the individual, what they have trust in, what they have faith in...