So religious people, how do you 'know' that there is a higher power out there???

Question

can you please explain it without using passages from your holy books???

Thanks!

BTW this is my last question :( i ran out on all three of my accounts!

*pout*

Thanks Don, Pangel and fireyhair your answers were the best so far!

:o)

Answer 1

Several years ago I had an unusual experience concerning an uncle, a distant relative who lived over a thousand miles away.

While driving my car I suddenly felt the unmistakable presence of this relative that I hardly even knew. He was more like someone I had heard about than someone I knew. It was very strange; it felt as though I was momentarily lifted right out of my physical body. I seemed to be suspended somehow beyond space and time, bathed in a love so intense It felt like I could have just disappear into it at any moment if It would have let me. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed to last forever at the same time. I realize how crazy this must sound. The experience was so strong that at first I was afraid I was loosing my grip on reality. I finally managed to chalk it up to an over active imagination.

Three days later I got a call from my aunt telling me that this uncle we are talking about had gone into a coma and died the day I had the experience. It felt like ice water had been poured down my back when she told me this. I had lost any real ideas of God or faith and had become somewhat of an atheist. Needless to say this experience caused me to rethink some of the conclusions I had come to.

I feel blessed to now understand that even in our darkest confusion something loves us so much that it went out of its way to assist me and bring me back to a state of absolute certainty about Gods love for us.
During the experience it seemed like there was a vast amount of information that I was somehow allowed access to. One thing that I came away from this experience understanding beyond any shadow of a doubt was that any Idea that God is unhappy with us or would judge or allow us to be punished for any reason is simply impossible.

I can’t explain the love I felt with words. They simply don’t make words big enough or complete enough to do this. The only way I can begin to convey this love to you is to say that there was simply nothing else there. Nothing but love. No hint of judgment, no displeasure of any sort. It is as though God sees us as being as perfect as we were the day we were created. It is only in our confused idea of ourselves that we seem to have changed.

I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck. Love and blessings.

Your brother don

Answer 2

I guess because God has both talked to me and showed me miracles. I know, that sounds a little crazy, and people may not buy it, but it's true, and I therefore can't deny it. Before all this I had a feeling, but now, I just know. Because I hold my experiences sacred, and I don't want people to mock or take them lightly, I refrain from sharing. But, let me tell you, we all can 'know'.

That being said, "religion" is by itself something based on faith, which in essence means a belief in things not seen, which consquently makes it difficult for some to 'know' what is or isn't true. It takes more then just reading holy books/studying and attending religious sermons. It takes personal effort and the desire to know, and the faith that God exists and that He answers prayers as the holy books attest. Those books state that it is by the Holy Spirit that we will know. Sort of rambling, sorry. This is how I came to experience what I have and now know what I do. Good luck.

Answer 3

That's why it's called faith. Without a higher power whats the point of being here. Why be nice to people if there is no one to reprimand us in the end? Why do we have a conscience? I could just go on a killing spree and not think twice about it if someone didn't set down the rules from the beginning. Good will towards men had to come from somewhere, and I really doubt that any man came up with the rules without a higher power.

Answer 4

I am a Pagan, and I don't use any holy scriptures to tell me that there is a higher power out there. It's very hard to explain, but I FEEL there is. At times I can sense my own soul, and I know that it exists. When I look around at all the beautiful things on this earth I know that it is no coincidence that they exist. Someone or something of a much higher consciousness then ourselves obviously designed them. The simple yet intricate patterns of a butterfly's wings, the way the stars line up, the patterns and mathematical equations of the universe tell me that there is a higher power. No book in the world can compare to the evidence that is laid out before our very eyes!

Answer 5

My favorite is the DNA molecule. Even tho Crick and Watson are atheists, and thought they were proving their atheism, the fact is that their discovery of the double-helix DNA and how it operated proved that inside even one cell is a structure so unimaginably complex that you don't have enough atoms in the universe to even make one try at random assembly. But then, the DNA produces the enzymes that turn around and assemble the DNA . . . so which came first? Neither. You must have both existing at the same time AND communicating with each other or nothing happens at all.

Anyone who believes that this happened without God has a faith so strong that psychiatrists call it "delusional."

Answer 6

I know that I know, I have a relationship with my "Higher Power", He never leaves me or forsakes me. He has shown me the future concerning me, three years later, exactly as He showed me.That is only one account, there have been others, He healed me,I have witnessed miracles & too many prayers answered in impossible situations. I've only known Love & Peace that can not be explained only experienced. I pray for you to experience God's love for you, you will never be the same & there will be no confusion from whence it comes.

Answer 7

How do you "know" there isn't a higher power? Exactly. You don't, it's a belief. If any higher power could be proven by science or whatever, this whole section wouldn't even be here.

Oh, and not all "religious people" as you say, believe in a higher power. I am no religion at all and I believe in a higher power. Generalizations kind of suck.

Answer 8

It can be the same as I see it in you. You are more powerful than me since I can sense that you are much well informed and intelligent than I am. If you will accept the fact also that some body around you has more than what you possess, maybe in the end the best that we can find among us will have to assume that he got what he has from someone greater than him.

Answer 9

I had an encounter with God that was personal and He convinced me He was God. This encounter changed my life and I have received answers to prayers and some very wonderful miracles. There is no doubt in my heart or mind that God is real and that my relationship is real, and I have had this relationship now for over twenty years.

Answer 10

It is a feeling you feel in your heart..
Giving your heart to God is not a cure all..you still have hard times..But in these hard times you can call upon God and he will put peace in your heart instead of sadness..When depression hits..he will fill you with joy instead..Is all you have to do is call upon his name..
I've lived both ways in this world..I've lived for the world..Having my fun, doing my thing..And it was nothing but emptiness and hollowing feeling..I was raised in church..But once becoming an adult..I decided to check things out..Drinking, drugs the whole thing..
I gave my life back to God 6 years ago..I no longer have that hollow feeling..No emptiness..