has anyone been able to understand God (not trough books or dogmas but by life experiences)?

Question

With all the suffering in the world I wonder whats our purpose and what God wants from us. I ask myself this question everyday, and I am still trying to find an answer. I would like to hear what do you think

Answer 1

I don't "understand" God, necessarily. I know that as humans we are more in tune to the physical realm and because of that, we will probably never understand God. I read the Bible and it describes God as very "mysterious" for lack of a better word. He doesn't cause all of the bad things in the world to happen, but He allows them. The Bible also says (hope I'm not getting too "preachy"), that God said "If My people pray and reach for Me with hearts that are broken I will not forget what I've spoken. Come and seek My face and Heaven will rain rivers of My overflowing grace. Night and day my ears will be open." I don't remember what part of the Bible that comes from, but God said it and He's too good to be a liar. Don't be frustrated that you can't understand the things God may be doing in your life right now. From what I've experienced in life, things happen and while they're happening you wonder what the purpose is for anything! But when it's all over and you come out of that situation (because you always do), you learn something positive and valuable not only for you to know for yourself but for you to go and share that "discovery" with other people...like I'm doing right now!!
Whew!--I know that probably wasn't what you were anticipating, but I have recently reached a new level in my personal relationship with God after pondering the very question you've asked. I hope I helped, 'cause I feel like I just rambled on and on....oh well!!

Answer 2

Understanding God starts from the Books you learned as a guide to walk the faith. It is only when you learn from every journey that you start to understand His works. Suffering in the world is man made. The earth have been planted and blessed with all the things a man need to live happily. Man is born with special skill and talent more than the other living things you can see around therefore he is here to understand that with all that intelligence as a human being, he is given a charge to take care of everything that supports his needs.
It is our greed for wanting more than that we can have that made the others to suffer in this world. You said "with all the suffering in the world" as if everybody on earth is suffering. Why don't you take a good look around you. Not all are suffering. There are those that are victims of the opportunists who never shared. There are those that are products of their ignorance. There are those that waits for the fruit to drop on their mouth while lying down the ground. There are those who is more proud in taking advantage of the weak and the ignorant or robbing from the harvest of those who work hard. There are those that cannot see the fruit bearing tree from the forest.
Above all these, you will always see someone somewhere flying high up with all his wealth, power and fame. It is only obvious that God is not up there moving each one like a chess pawn but rather a God that gave us all the opportunity to choose the best of what we can do to ourselves. You make you own destiny, you choose you own road to take. You reap what you sow. If ever you are in the wrong road, there are other alleys available to look for the right road. God never put anyone to a place he does not like. A man is born by people who decided their way to live but as he grows up, he can decide to be like his parents or to be different from them.
Your purpose in life is to find your way to be happy. And when you achieve that, you will see that people around you are happy too. Make yourself miserable, only a few will take notice and give help but just for a while because they too would try to find their own way to happiness.

Answer 3

I don't practice any particular religion, but I am very much interested in the subject of God and spirituality.

I have had things happen to me that I can not explain, and I have felt a sense of direction at times that I can not explain.

Is that God? I don't know, but I am open to the possibility that it is.

I tend to believe that there has to be more to life than what we see, hear, and feel everyday.

I am not sure what my purpose in life is, but I would like to believe that it is to explore, learn, and grow as a human being. Also, I try to respect others, and help to make the world a better place in my own small way.

I like to write. This may be my gift. I want to use that gift to teach as well as learn and to enlighten as well as be enlightened. Maybe that is God's purpose for me.

I don't know if you will find the answers to your profound questions, but sometimes the act of questioning brings us more understanding than any one answer could. Also, God may speak to you and guide you every day in ways that you don't see.


Life is a journey. Enjoy the trip. Keep seeking. Keep searching. Keep reaching.

Answer 4

First off, don't ask YOURSELF these questions, ask GOD!!! Pray about it, tell the Lord that you need knowledge and understanding from Him. Bible (KJV) says that our sole purpose for being created and put on this earth is to Worship and Praise the Lord. I can't say that I understand God, I don't believe we are to understand God. The bible says that someday when in heaven that we will know all. That means everything will be revealed to us. Our mission is to ask the Lord to forgive us, repent, and try to live our lives walking with the Lord. Pray for understanding and knowledge and the Lord will show you and give you guideance and lead your life. The suffering is the result of the enemy or the devil being ever present in peoples lives and because of not putting God first. The bible says that it rains on the just and the unjust, meaning, just because someone is a christian does not mean that there will not be problems, it is how we handle the problems that is important. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I don't! And i don't think i ever will. Reason being: I'm a human.

Our minds are not physically capable of omniscience, and God is omniscience in it's most precise form.

I believe that our actions will lead us to have a personal relationship with God, and in order to know how we should act, we must first be taught the things we need to do.

You seem to have excluded books from your evidence... I would like to make the "argument" that books are the way that God communicates to us. He has used writing as a method of communication throughout history, from the time of moses and the stone tablets. He had ancient prophets write their revelations in books for a record for posterity. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, his apostles and even the prophets of his time and those which preceeded them were instructed to keep records of the things which were revealed unto them.
These records now make up the books we know as, "The Old Testament" and the "New Testament".

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, modern-day prophets are instructed by God through revelation, and those instructions are then passed on to the world in verbal and written forms.

All of these things are wonderful tools to help us as human beings lead our lives in such a way that we can invite the Spirit of God into our lives.

I hope you find the answer you are looking for someday!

Answer 6

I think that ancient man created God and not the other way around. Because of this there is no answer to your question. Mankind has been using the God Excuse for thousands of years. And that's why they can't solve many problems, especially sectarian problems. If God would come down like he used to do in the bible and name his favorite religion, we could get rid of all the lemons that are always asking for money. And that would put an end to all the religious disagreement that is causing sectarian violence.

Answer 7

I think He wants us to live the right way by helping one another-because we all struggle at times. We all need a helping hand. So what is the right way? By our prayers to God he reveals this through people or through The Bible-other methods too. So the question is:- what is the truth about the right way to live? Well it says in the Bible that The Christian Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth. So we should be getting our guidance from The Christian Church if we want to live the way God wants us to. I have found that living by my self-will is painful and has got (and still gets )me into trouble.

Answer 8

Sure!!! God is shown in the calipiller! How it goes into a cacoon then comes forth into a beautiful butterfly!! Just like true believers do when we come forth from death or are transformed!!! God just wants you to be truthfull with yourself and him, and turn from the ways of darkness and stay in his light and truth. Do what is right and if you make an mistake along the way, just turn around (from) it and try not to do it again. As humans there will always be the adam nature in us, and God is forgiving us for that!!!

Answer 9

Good - I am glad you are struggling. When you come to your answer, you will own it as precious.
Purpose: To love the Lord your God with all one's heart, mind, soul, and body AND your neighbor as yourself.
Suffering: This has many causes and many results. A prime result can be cleansing of one's heart and seeking forgiveness.
Understanding God: Jesus certainly - otherwise anyone who could comprehend the vastness of God would be God + understanding or greater than just God. You can see the difficulty such a sequence would create.

Answer 10

My only answer is this:
A person can believe in or not believe in God. God, being God, gets to make the rules. We being created by God do not have to understand Him but we are rewarded by diligently seeking Him.
Through Adam, the first human, sin and it's result - death, came into the world. Jesus, through His sacrifice, overcame death, hell (separation from God as well as a physical place of torment) and the grave (the fear of death).
Many of Gods thoughts and His explanation of His purposes for us are found in the Bible.