Is God real or is it an analogy?

Question

I have always considered myself a devoted christian. I was never open to any other way of thinking. That is untill a year ago. Now I thirst for knowledge but still fear that if God is real i will go to hell. I have chronic depression and want to search for some answers and healing. please help. My mind is open.

Answer 1

You need to be born again.
Watch this video - it will be an eye opener:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4136610474021109864&q=rawlings

Answer 2

Do you mean that God might be love in the sense that love exists as an abstract concept? One type of liberal religion sees it that way, such as what JS Spong believes. That makes "God" awfully passive. I think if you approach Christianity with honesty, an open mind and willingness, you'll find that the presence on the other end of your prayers is not passive, but can lead you away from your depression and into both love and truth, if that is your prayer.

Intellectually, of course atheists might be right. That's why there's a need for faith that there is something real at the other end of your prayers, but faith does produce benefits that makes it easier to believe God is real. Why not pray for God to lead you in knowledge? How are you going about looking for knowledge that opposes God or makes you fear you're going against God?

Answer 3

Now an answer from someone on the other side of the scale. I used to be a christian, even at one time I lost faith but then became a born again christian... but then I started realizing things and to cut the story short I became agnostic. I personally believe he is an analogy, because as much as christians will say he's real and tell me to reprent or to believe because its the one true faith... ask yourself. When you were a kid did you BELIEVE there was Santa Clause? You believing made him real. Or when you were afraid of the dark did you believe you heard strange noises? If you believe something so much you start feeling those things... its a way to trigger your mind to think differently if all you have is that "one" thing. Be it God or other gods... all religions are the same and even compare it to wiccans and other beliefs... people who think they can do magic believe it but to others these effects do not work. Now don't tell me there is a God until he can actually make an honest change in my life... if God can do anything then he would of done it a long time ago and I'm doing much better finding answers out for myself. Before you seek faith seek answers in yourself, if your doubting religion then maybe something in you compells you to find truth? If you seek a God that never answers, you may never find the truth. So I wish you luck and sweet dreams my friend. I'm sorry if I offend anyone... please forgive me and please do not pass judgement on my opinion.

Answer 4

You have never tasted what God really wants us to live, friend, that is 'sureness'.
The truth is the truth, once you hold it, you no longer have to be afraid of any other theories or science or whatever they call it.
Just think of a God who created all science (I mean true science, not false theories). Seek Him and you will find Him.
There are lots of things which are too big or complex for any of us to understand, but I think I know something that might offer you some help. Take a look at dr. Carl Baugh's thesis (just search for it at yahoo or google).

Answer 5

God is whomever you make Him to be. Being raised by a devout Catholic mother and a Scientologist father made me strongly question my religious beliefs, and what God is to ME.
In my opinion, God is what you make Him to be, like I said before. To me, if God really, truly loves everyone, all of His children, then surely he can understand the simple fact that we are, after all, human beings with free will and a capable, equal mind. If God did in fact create us, then surely He will have no problem accepting the fact that we question Him, His powers, His love for us individually, His existance, and better yet OUR existance as a human being. I feel as though God, of all things, can accept the fact that we question Him BECAUSE he created us. He knows that religious doubt was to come.
So, that being said, why would God send His beloved children to Hell for utilizing only what he gave us? The human mind. A human mind with the ability to question anything and everything given to us, questionable to us, and existing on this earth. I believe that what YOU make of God is what He really is. Whether you believe that Jesus was God's son, whether you believe that a little part of God was put into every human being, whether you believe that there is some sort of higher power out there...God doesn't mind. I think that He is PROUD of us, as human beings using our minds in such a way. He is PROUD of the fact that we (his beautifully flawed creation) are using what he gave us. God didn't give us a brain, a mind, a heart, to be close-minded and not accept other people, other religions, other mind sets. He gave us a mind to be used to its fullest extent. To God, in my opinion, us, as a human race, using our minds in such a way is such a beautiful thing. I'm sure God would be happy to know that you're finally using what He gave you to its fullest.
Life includes doubt, fear, depression, anxiety, all connected to religion. When we doubt what we've always known, what we've been raised around, what we've believed for SO many years, it's hard to lose that mentality. We become depressed, confused, and scared that maybe this new way of thinking is somehow wrong, and will somehow harm us in the long run, even after death. But what I feel that people need to understand is that yes, God loves us all unconditionally, and that yes, there is more to life than just having one belief for so many years. It is only human to fear God and to question his existance.

Sooo...all that being said (whew!) don't worry. God really does love you, unconditionally, no matter your beliefs or the questions you might hold for the future, concerning your religion. It is only normal what you're feeling, and should you feel depressed, pray. No matter your beliefs, even if you stop believing in God 100%, He will always love you, and understand that your feelings toward Him are only a result to His creation.

Hope this helped. :)

Answer 6

The older I get, the more I question things. One of those things is God.

I think God is something akin to Mother Goose (and that's not meant disrespectully). Maybe it is something people believe in because the stories have been passed down from generation to generation. There has never been any evidence of a God except in words. Never has there been a picture of what God looked like.
It's possible some men just wrote the bible, the same way people wrote mother goose stories. And it has been added to and perfected by people passing it down. The same imagination went into the bible as the other stories created many years ago.

Jesus was a man, but people who really needed something to believe in, created stories about him and made him into a religious idol. In those days people were not highly intelligent, and they believed anything they were told.

Those stories of all the religious happenings cannot be proved. What scientists have found can be proved. Like the evolution of people from apes. And what about the things that they have found that are millions of years old?

And if God did all these miracles, why haven't they been done since? Possibly because now we can explain the previously unexplained.

Even the fact of Jesus is suspicious. Unwed motherhood was unexceptable in those days. It's possible that Mary got pregnant and they made up the story of 'immaculate conception' to cover up the fact, and it was believed. Why was it that it only happened once?

I'm not saying I don't believe in God, but I'm not saying I do either. It's just too many things don't add up. I think maybe God is just something that is in people's hearts and minds because they want to believe.

Answer 7

One could agonize over particulars forever but I say keep it simple and think of God as the Supreme Being,and Christ as His embodiment in human form and therefore our point of contact so to speak. Nothing to lose sleep over. Just pray,mostly thanking not asking,and remember that you are His creation. Try to live by Christ's teachings,what more can you do? You're not a philosopher and you have no obligation to get stressed out over having the "correct" concept of God. I'm sure it's all beyond us anyway.

Answer 8

A devout Christian who's never met the God of all comfort: a classic case of spiritual abuse, and by 2Corinthians 11:15 "ministers", and to the point of chronic depression, which is also biblically called "oppression", which is notably "of the d-evil(law)". In Acts 10:38 it says Jesus was annoited with the Holy Ghost (Law) "and" power (Grace), and went about healing (grace-ing) all that were "oppressed of the devil(lawed)"; Which things are an allegory: Galatians 4.

For the natural depression take flax seed oil capsules. They're cheap, readily availabe at most stores, work well, and have no side effects.

For the spiritual oppression of legalism flush law as "dung", for it not only depresses but is also "the ministration of death" in 2Corinthians 3:7 and James 1:15.

Dare to compare two allegoric Gods: high and higher:
- Grace: I will never leave thee nor forsake thee: Friend
- Law: I will forsake you, the city, and your fathers: Enmity
Christ is our peace who abolished the law(enmity): Eph 2.

For further help to seek and find His grace in time:
'Affordable Online Counselling: Email Counselling'

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 9

What kind of other way of thinking did you get yourself into? You think that if you learn you'll go to hell? Thats weird. Knowledge doesn't lead away from God. If anything, if you have a TRULY open mind, it will lead you TO Him. Not this crap the atheists spew, "oh, open your mind, don't believe in God." That in itself CLOSES your mind to all possibilities. Opening your mind means leaving yourself open to EVERYTHING, not everything aside from God.

Answer 10

You can see or feel nature,yourself,things around you etc is the physical body of the God & that part of the God does not answer your this question as you are habituted/made to hear(even though it phisically gives answers by differrent ways). Now you want to experience the God as we experiences each other(by inner side of ourselves). And to experience the God by inner side of his, you have to talk by inner side of yourself by doing all the work for him and by living for him only to get that type of power of talking with God directly. and that will analyse whethere God is real or is in an analogy.

Answer 11

Honestly !!!go to a medical doctor for the depression. To open your mind you have be open to ALL of the possibilities and trust me that will only serve to confuse you more. There are literally tens of thousands of religions to explore..very time consuming and to be honest I think that your problem is physical and has nothing to do with religion.