Can you convince me that God exists?

Question

I know this sounds like a demeaning question or an attack on theology, but I am serious. I'm Agnostic, I'd prefer to believe in God but I know I'm leaning toward Atheism...I do not "feel God in my heart," I have never seen a miracle...I think that the universe might have always existed with no beginning or ending....The complexity of life seems like it could be by chance, given the eons of time it had to come together in the right way....

Of course I cannot prove He does not exist...It is impossible to prove the lack of something....

THANK YOU EVERYONE THAT GAVE SERIOUS AND HONEST ANSWERS. I am trying to believe but have more doubt than faith. If anyone believes that they can help, please email me [e-mail]....Thank you again!

Answer 1

Prepare first a list of points justifying non-existence of God. Then put each of those points in a specific question form in Yahoo Answers. I hope the agnotist in you will be convinced that God exists. But how, where and why are different issues altogether.

Answer 2

The Universe: Some say that the universe is eternal, that it has always existed - the Steady State Theory. It has supposedly constantly been producing hydrogen atoms from nothing and it suddenly came into being cataclysmically - the Big Bang Theory. A sound explanation may exist for this, but, science, from what I've read, can't find out what it is. Scientifically, the main evidence points to the second law of thermodynamics, which says the universe is running out of usable energy. The amount of usable energy in any closed system (the whole universe) is decreasing. The universe is running down. If our overall amount of energy stays the same, but we're running out of usable energy then what we started with was not an infinite amount. Therefore, the universe is and always has been finite. It couldn't have existed forever and won't exist forever. It must have had a beginning.

Chance: Anytime we see a complex design we know it came from the mind of a designer. If you see a watch you know a watchmaker made it. If you see a bridge you know an engineer made it. Not just something created naturally like a crystal that has a repeated design, but something complex, something that has been altered from its natural form and it can't be explained by natural forces. Life is a complex design, not a simple pattern - a great intelligence was required to produce it. A DNA molecule has the same amount of info that an entire volume of an encyclopedia has. Science is based on repeated observation, not chance. Objection to the design argument is not scientific.

Miracles: What is a miracle? Something contrary to a scientific method? If a scientist knew in advance how an experiment would turn out on the basis of known natural laws, he woundn't go to the trouble to do an experiment in the first place. There are new scientific developments all the time. I consider these miracles in themselves. From a Biblical perspective I believe that miracles took place and take place today. I, personally have not seen a miracle, but have heard of medical miracles. I will research.

I trully hope this has been of help. I'm on limited time and wish I could research more thoroughly for you.

God Bless and I hope that you will also research more.

Shari

Answer 3

Well, your question is pretty difficult to answer. I think that it is impossible to "prove" that God exists. There really is no empirical way to go about it. The question I know how to answer, however, is this: How can I learn for myself that God is real?

You mentioned the universe. Think about this... Look at the world around you. Isn't it just simply amazing that everything works so perfectly? Even things like the distance between the Sun and the Earth or the complexity of the human body attest to the existence of some divine Creator. I am a scientist (biochemist), and the more I learn about the world around me, the more I am convinced that God is real. You're right about the time frame thing...there has been a lot of time for things to have randomly happened. I hope you realize that irrespective of how miniscule the chance is that we are here by random chance, the world is pretty amazing. There is something more to it than chance.

But all that aside, a firm belief that God exists will never come by logic alone. Faith is a belief in something which is not seen, which is true. The first thing you must do in order to develop faith is have the desire to know if He exists. With this desire must then come understanding--how can you believe in a God you know nothing about?

Convincing someone that God is a real, loving, supreme being over the internet is as close to impossible as you can get. But I know that God is real. He is a loving spiritual Father who knows us intimately and wants our ultimate happiness. This is something I have learned over the course of many years of serious and diligent searching. Please try it. I realize my views are slanted toward those of Christianity, but search, ponder and pray to God with real intent. If you have true desire to know if something is true, the God will let you know through your feelings. You will feel that it is true.

Good luck. =)

Answer 4

You are not alone. There are many people in this world who feel the way you do. I went through this myself. The fact that you are here proves that you don't want to not believe. I cannot convince you that God exists, no one can, that's why we have faith, though. It is so complicated. I wondered if I could even believe the Bible or anything, but then I cried out to Him. He heard my cry. I have no doubt at all the He exists. Just because you have seen a miracle, doesn't mean that others haven't. I have seen miracles, I have been overflowed by the Spirit of God, I cannot make you believe, but I can pray for you, and I will right now. You must just believe, if simply by faith. I put this on something else, but also, wouldn't you rather live your life believing there's a God only to find out there's not, rather than live your life like there's not, only to find out there is?

Answer 5

Wow, I was talking with some friends from church recently about this. I also had this feeling deep inside, "what if God didnt exist?" We talked for hours, debating on facts. Our conclusion: Yes, God exists. I'll try to give you some insight on what we went over.

Ok, let's not get too complicated and just give an everyday example. Suppose you got home today, and there was this beautiful chocolate cake with icing and everything, on top of ur table. Now, we have 2 theories of where that cake came from:

1) There was an HEB truck this afternoon going by ur house, and all of a sudden, a car hit it at 70mph, and the truck rolled over violently. There were eggs, flour, all sorts of stuff in the truck, and they all got mixed up in the crash, and the truck caught on fire, and the extreme heat baked all that stuff, and as the truck continued to roll on the street, the stuff flew through ur window and miraculously landed on ur table.

2) Someone who knew how to bake a chocolate cake, went there and did it, and then put it on top of ur table for you.

Which one makes more sense? If you answered #2, good! Then God created the Earth and everything in it. If you prefer to believe in an absurd and very creative theory called "the big bang", in which somehow gases mixed up, just in the right proportion, and then everything exploded and the earth was formed ... my friend, you have a very creative mind. First of all, how were those gases there? Someone must have created it. God. Stuff doesn't just appear.

=D Doesn't that make sense? Ok, now, let's get a lil more complicated.

Scientists say that man evolved from monkeys or whatever their creative mind came up with. Well, it has been proven that over time, living beings only lose genetic material, constantly. Therefore, evolution cannot be possible. The human body is so complex, there is no way it just "evolved" from something. A project called GENOMA, just recently finished their research. Their task: make a complete mapping of the human DNA. Many countries joined forces to complete this project, each taking a body part, like arm, leg, or whatever, and finding out the DNA code for it. Germany was in charge of the human eye. At the end of the project, they said that the human eye was so complex, that there was NO WAY it could have evolved from some other animal. It's a fact. Scientists researched and wrote it down. Aren't they contradicting themselves now? Ok, I believe I made a point on this one. Mankind did not evolve. God made man in His image.

Ok, now back to the big bang stuff. The NASA has been measuring the distance from the Earth to the moon, and it's a fact that every year the moon gets further and further away from the Earth. Fact. It's been proven. It's also a mathematical equation. So, if we take that mathematical equation, and do it backwards, we come up with how long since the earth and the moon we're almost touching. The calculations say something about 10 thousand years. It can't be more than that, otherwise the moon would have been rolling around on the earth.

Also, it's possible to calculate the rate of aging of the Earth. Every year, scientists calculate the rate at which the Earth is aging. It's roughly the same. If we then backtrack how long since the Earth was relatively "new", the calculations vary from 10 to 12 thousand years. It's fact.

Also, the population of the Earth. Today, we have roughly 6.5 billion people alive. Populations, increase in a mathematical progression. In other words, there will always be more people alive today, than there are people dead. Fact. It's not possible to have more people dead than alive. Draw a sketch of a simple family tree, and you'll stumble upon the same conclusion. So, if we backtrack how long since the beggining of population, the results say somewhere between 10 to 12 thousand years.

Every fact that we can backtrace, falls upon the same range. 10 to 12 thousand years. In other words, the Earth is relatively new, not millions of years old as some scientists say.

So, why would scientists not agree with this? Why would they come up with these ridiculous theories about some big bang or whatever? The answer is simple. At the very moment that they agree that there is an all-powerful being, a God, that created everything we know, they realize all their sins. At the moment they realize their sins, they know that they'll have to eventually have a commitment and a close relationship with God. They don't want any commitments to anyone. So what's the easy way out? Make up some random theories that we evolved from monkeys and that the Earth just happens to have been created randomly by a Big Bang, that they themselves can't explain how it supposedly happened.

I sincerely hope this has opened your eyes to the truth. Thanks for reading this, and I really hope that you now accept the commitment that God wants you to have with Him. If you're already commited with God, then I hope this text has restrengthened your faith.

God Bless all of you, and have a great day.

Answer 6

I don't think I could convince you, or anyone else, that God exists.
I'm not even sure that what I know would help you. I'm not sure if you're the kind of person that can rely on historic and archeological evidence, or if you need concrete proof.
If it's concrete proof you're looking for, like God coming down to you in a burning bush or something similar, that probably won't happen.
If, however, the proof you need is simply logical evidence, I have some good places for you to start.
First, here are some authors to research:
Lee Strobel, a former atheist, who set out to prove the Bible wrong, and instead found God. He has a whole fantastic series of books. May I suggest his book The Case for a Creator?
Josh McDowell, another former atheist who also set out to prove the Bible wrong, and also found God. He has many books out, but one of his best is Evidence That Demands a Verdict. In it, he recounts all of the evidence that supports the Bible, and how the Bible was written (and when, and by whom), among other things.
Ralph O. Muncaster, another apologetic. His books lean more towards the scientific evidence that supports God.
There is also John F. Ashton, Ph.D.
A couple of good websites to start with:
http://debate.org.uk/topics/history/bib-qur/bibarch.htm
and
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/atheismintro.html
There are many more. Feel free to email me, and I would be glad to elaborate for you.
Good job in wanting to search for answers. Above all, though, pray to God that He reveals Himself to you. He'll answer. He answered me.

Answer 7

I am not going to go on a tirade with you regarding this. Open the window and stick your head out Do you see the blue sky the green grass or the beauty of a rose. Take a look at a small child's face and when he or she smiles., These are miracles. You exist, how. My friend, it was not a coincidence. God exists and to deny this fact and say the eons of time brought it together is an aburbity. Do you understand that if the eons of time, that you subscribe to had been off by an inch we would not be.

Answer 8

I cannot, but you may convince yourself.

Try reading "Rational Spirituality" available on the Dhaxem website. Only conveyed from the Source in February 2006, it is already a major force amongst the thinking people. One day, sooner than most would believe, it will replace the religions with the sheer weight of its logic.

It explains the Universe, what is the Objective God and the evolution of the Subjective God in convincing, lucid terms, the understanding of which can be limited only by some readers' intelligence.

Answer 9

There are many things that make me believe in my religion. I mean scientists theory 'The Big Bang" How was that caused? There was nothing but then they say some chemical reaction. If there was nothing, then how was there a chemical reaction. They leave that blank. This is because there is no 'logic' in it. They do not want to use religion, since it supernatural'.But it is spiritually logical that the Lord created us. I mean, you know the first man theory, how was he/she created? If there weren't any people to reproduce, how was there the creation of the first man. And yes, it is a proven fact that humans are created from sperm, etc. (you know), but how miraculous is the reaction?? I mean, just from cells meeting the egg, and create us, with minds, feelings, souls, and a way of life. That just proves that there are miracles, and beliefs doesn't have to be scientifically logical to be correct. But I'm not saying science stuff aren't correct, but what I'm saying is that not everything you hear about science is true. I'm really talking about theories, of how world was created, how the world end up in this way, etc. Life's meaning cannot be explained by science, but by religion it can. Science does bring hope, but you may never know if its false. I mean, we are changing science theories, and laws everyday, while the Bible's word stays the same. Think about that.

Answer 10

When you look at footprints in the sand, you know someone's been there. when you see a PC, you KNOW some company has manufactured it. Then how can YOU and the earth and the universe in such extreme complexity exist without a creator? They say its by chance... well even if you have 10 balls numbered from 1 to 10 and you put em in a bag and pulled them out one by one, the chance ud get it right would be 1 to 4 million. Remember that you're causing no harm to God by not believing in Him, its is only to yourself.

Answer 11

About the universe thing... Most scientists agree that the universe had a beginning (you can research on that yourself). Then you can agree that every action has to have a cause. In that case, if the universe began to exist at some point, there had to have been something or someone to put it in motion (a cause).

To me, it seems that the complexity of life seems to point far away from chance.

If you "prefer to believe in God," try prayer. You don't have to be part of a religion to pray.