how come some people have the power to believe in God and other don't?

Question

believe me, I tried to believe in God but it just doesn't work for me
I tried praying, reading the Bible and stuff, going to a churchgroup I tried it all but it's impossible for me to believe there is a God and if there is he doesn't seem to want me around.
Is this because my parents are atheists and told me these are all stories, I don't blame them, this is what they believed
but why do others believe without questioning and I don't succeed at all...

Answer 1

If your question is honestly asked then I might be able to help but it will take more explanation then I can easily put here. Feel free to contact me if you like and I will do my best. One thing I must say though. You may never believe without question. People who are absolutely faithful are more rare then you think. Few admit it but many people have some small doubt about something in their belief. They may believe in god but they still have questions or worries about what they are told. Theres nothing wrong with that. We spend our lives finding the answers. Sometimes faith is when we trust that the answers will come.

Answer 2

Dear...

Please do not worry to much. Most do not admit that in reality they do not know if god exist or not.
First of all ask your self what is your concept of god and what others. Second be honest with yourself to admit that you do not know if he exist or he do not. You just do not know. This is true for you and most of us.
Some believe that they have had experiences that shows they had some contact or other with god. The truth is that most of this experiences are just mind made.
Unfortunately there is the other side of coin also. If you are going to watch very carefully your life you will find out that all your life and experiences are more or less based on the believe system. You just accept (more or less) that thing that you believe are true using using just your faith. All we do is based on the faith. If you want to get up from the bed this is possible because you believe it it is possible. There are cases that people case to believe, are fully functional but unable to walk. And again, we people need motivation. You will never do anything without positive or negative motivation. Not even go to bad, toilette, etc... You have probably noticed how your believing that you can do something helps you work that part of your life trough.

Just turn all the concept around. Try to find out if there is some upper power in the world? Where is coming from? Who you really are? Where are you coming from? Where are you going? What is death? Is death really an end of your consciousness? Are you your body? Are you your mind? Are you your feelings? ..or you are something else?! Etc...

If you have other motivation please forget god and go after them.

Answer 3

Maybe your going to the wrong church and trying to reach God takes an open heart. If you have a preconceived notion and you may being raised by atheists, it may be a bigger challenge for you to open your heart.

Just because a church says Jesus or Christ or Lord on the front door doesn't mean you'll find God there. Unfortunately. But you will know when you found the right church. Also, when you pray you must humble yourself. The Bible says God loves a humble and contrite spirit. He will come to you and you will never regret it. Pray for a true Christian to some into your life and that God will lead you to the right church. It will happen for sure. But you must realize God is God and you are human. Humble yourself in His sight and He will lift you up.

Answer 4

I wouldn't call it a power, i would call it a weakness.

People make themselves feel better in times where they need a little extra help to get by...... the strong ones realize they control their own feelings and can use their minds to ease their own stresses...... The weak and feeble-minded ones have those same experiences, but they attribute it to a higher power because their self-esteem is so low that they cannot believe they made themselves feel better and they took control of their own lives.

What happens when a person prays to their god? Usually nothing.... but for example... If you go to work every day, and you bust your butt to impress the boss & you pray to get a raise.... of course you're going to get a raise! Not because you prayed, but because you are a good worker and you impressed the boss. The "power" of prayer is just a self delusion. If they do not get the answers they wish for they attribute it to not being in god's will..... the truth is they just never tried hard enough to get it on their own so it never came. I can pray to any god.... or even the bottle of water sitting on my desk..... that i get my paycheck this week...... when my paycheck is deposited into my bank account was it god, or the water bottle? Or was it just because I have a job and i work hard and get my hard earned pay?

Believing fairy tales to be real is a sign of intellectual immaturity. Only primitive peoples thought the world's mysteries were all the doing of some god. The world was flat, the earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around it.... there were so many things that could not be explained..... mysticism gave them all of the answers. A volcano erupted? god must be angry with us, let's throw our virgin daughter into it and hope that it pleases him. Do you see people doing that today? No. Why? Because for the most part we've got more sense than we did then. We know the reasons for eruptions and are even learning how to predict them. If these things were a work of god wouldn't they be random and unpredictable?

In summary, god is for those who do not know how to use logic and reasoning to answer their questions. god is for those who are too primitive and need to think that the universe needs a great creator and that creator is watching everything they do. They console themselves and attempt to give their lives meaning by convincing themselves that this all powerful creator is going to one day allow them into his eutopia... this paradise where everything is perfect and pain and suffering are a thing of the past. It gives them comfort for their lives and helps them deal with the harsh reality that life can be at times.

It's a shame that they don't realize that they have the power within themselves to make it better.

Answer 5

I do believe that part of it is how you are raised. Some people do overcome their parents beliefs and go out into the world seeking the religion right for them.
As for you, don't force yourself to believe in something. Instead wait for the life changing moment that makes you believe or see the truth, whatever it is to you be it science or a god.
I am an atheist, but come from a very Christian family. I, personally, don't believe in any god, but I feel that if other people find happiness in believing in a higher power, then by all means, believe. Just don't force yourself or do it because you're pressured by others.

Answer 6

First off, Father Guido: very funny. lol I think I'll be chuckling about Lewis Black's comment all day.


You search, and yet have found nothing that your heart accepts.

If you want to believe in something, believe in humans. Human nature to be exact. Some of us are good, some are bad....etc etc.

Either God is nonexistent or he doesn't care to find you.

And you don't succeed because you probably have a need to know the why and how when something is told to you. Needing to the know the why and how about things is basically the anathema to religion.

Answer 7

My parents weren't atheist,and I have asked the same question. They say it is a "choice"but I don't see how. I was given the example of someone putting a gun to your head and saying "your money or your life" and told even though the second option sucked,I still had a "choice". True enough for that example. A more accurate analogy would be for someone to put a gun to your head and say "believe in God/FSM or die". In that situation,I only have a choice in what I SAY,not what I BELIEVE. I can "choose" to SAY I believe in God,but in reality,I have utterly no choice whether to actually believe it or not. I sympathize

Answer 8

I do not call believing in any deity a "power". It seems to be a weakness instead. Mom's father was a preacher, so I was brainwashed with his religion when I was a boy. I am a scholar, and I think about everything and question what anyone tells me. I corrected my teachers all through school, and I saw errors in the Bible by age 7. I do not believe in anything, because beliefs are not proven. I insist upon genuine knowledge, not blind belief in nonsense.

Answer 9

The power of the mind is quite incredible, but you must believe in yourself before you can believe in anything else. If you *want* to believe in G-d, you certainly do have the power, but perhaps first you should concentrate on the causes and conditions of your doubt.

Belief without questioning is one thing, but belief after careful examination is quite another.

Whether one believes in G-d in the Christian sense or in the Buddhist sense (or any any other sense), or I suppose even in the atheist sense of non-belief, we (people in general) tend let let many many ideas/beliefs about ourselves in the temporal world around us get in the way of living a meaningful life.

(By 'beliefs' I am not talking about the tenets of a particular religion, etc., but more about how we view who we are in relation to other people: tall, fat, rich, cool, dork, popular, etc. or things like "If i get that new car, I'll be happy, if i am prom queen, I'll be happy, and so on and so forth.)

Answer 10

We all have the ability to believe and follow the truth. The truth that there is a God and that He loves you. You are going to have to shake off these lies your parents told you. You grew up thinking one way and God is working on your heart and showing you the truth. Don't give up. Talk to a pastor. Join a bible study. The devil is a lie and he will try to keep you in this funk. Don't let him. God bless you.