Please solve: A God Question?

Question

I've just watched a question about evolution and creationism get dominated by people asserting Christianity, so I wanted to ask everyone to solve a problem for me.

When I ask people why they believe in the Bible people say "because it's the word of God" so I ask them, why do you believe in God and they say "because of what it says in the Bible".

That looks like a circular belief system which I presume a lot of people are stuck in and it's easier to carry along with it than challenge a big part of one's identity.

My question is, what am I missing? I'll happily believe in the extraordinary if you'll give me some extraordinary proof.

Answer 1

Some things have to be believed to be seen.

Answer 2

Here's the proper sequence of logic:

Christians believe in Jesus Christ because he claimed to be God, and he rose again from the dead to prove it.

Jesus founded, authorized, empowered, and personally guaranteed the Catholic Church.

When God gives his personal guarantee, you can depend on it to be true.

The Catholic Church compiled and authenticated all of the old testament writings, and wrote the entire new testament, producing the bible.

The Catholic Church maintains that the bible is the word of God, innerantly set down by all the various writers, under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Protestant Christians take issue with the Catholic Church, but they generally believe pretty much what the Catholic Church says about the bible ... then they add on a bunch of their own stuff, which may or may not have any truth to it.

So, the real reason why the bible is true is because the only Church that Jesus ever founded put it together and guaranteed it, in God's name, by God's own authority, and through God's direct inspiration.

The best proof of all this is the hundreds of old testament prophecies about Jesus Christ, written by some 40 separate writers, over some 2500 years time, that were fulfilled by Jesus alone, during his short lifetime ... and the fact that Jesus did indeed rise again from the dead, just as HE predicted.

The facts of the matter have been very well documented in terms of both the history and the theology, but in the end, some measure of faith is still required.

Answer 3

First off:
Why I believe in the Bible: it's the word of God
Why I believe in God: not because of what the Bible says, but because of what I see around me.

Second:
Christianity is build on faith. There's no one actually speaking from the clouds saying "I am God, believe in me" It's a complex religion that is often represented by people who won't let themselves question anything. (I do, and I am still a Christian). So, Sunday school answer: faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. I am sure you probably posess faith... right? So why don't you get it? I don't know.

Thirdly:
Here is what convinces me: nature, complexity, and people. I always look at the moon and sunsets and think how could these exist if someone didn't put them there. Also, I see so much complexity. Think about the human body and how randomly amazing it is. It is made up of little cells and organs. Think how weird it is that we can walk. I don't know. I think its weird that our legs move the way they do :). Finally, I look at people who are Christians and there are so many and all over the world. The live and die for God.

Not a sermon... just a thought.

Btw... I hope that helps :)

Answer 4

The Proof is in the Bible pick it up and read it and you will see that it is Historically Correct and that it has never been proven false in any form it is complete Truth. Tell me why we use B.C. and A.D. Before Christ And After Death for are dating system Because It Happened. There is a place on line that will give 1 million dollars to anyone who can prove the Bible wrong.

Answer 5

It's not circular, it's linear. The basic progression is

1. Pick up a bible.
2. Read all four gospels.
3. Realize that many of the people responsible for this testimony went to their death to defend its authenticity.
4. Attempt to put what Christ advised into practice. Begin to pray and try to love God and others at all times.
5. Find out by experience that everything he promised is indeed true.
6. Gradually learn what it means to live as a person whose destiny is to spend eternity with God.

Answer 6

I'm not sure ordinary beings can give extraordinary anything. However, I believe that they can believe in part of the extraordinary. But maybe what you should ask yourself is if the person writing this to you exists or maybe this if just some weird strike of lightning which produced the exact signals in a wire somewhere that made it answer this question on Yahoo! Answers. Or maybe you should prove to me right now that China( or any other country that you have not visited ) exists.

Answer 7

We do have assumptions. I assume that the Bible is God's Word, and if it is, it should be self-consistent and true. Since the Bible is self-consistent and true, my belief that God exists is reasonable. A better evidence of the Bible's validity however is the resurrection. If the resurrection happened, Jesus is the son of God, God exists, and the rest of Scripture is His Word. The Bible puts forth the idea that He resurrected, since I've never seen any evidence to the contrary, and the fact that if it didn't happen, Christianity would never get started, I believe it, and from there, the rest of the Bible falls into place.

Every belief system has axioms, things it assumes to be true without proof. They're necessary to do anything.

Answer 8

the pope in one of the links provided commented on the limitation of science and its inability to provide fully man's quest for philosophical and spiritual fulfillment. What he is saying in essence is that we can use our imagination to fill in where science left off. Like make up a god, heaven and hell. It's amazing. And by the way, the same arguement just goes on and on in such a circular way as you pointed out. Because if you ask a religious person to explain god's reasoning or even logic to you they will tell you that we cannot understand god with our human minds. But wait, I thought that was why we went up to god in the first place, because science couldn't explain everything. So tell me again why we need to make up this omniscience god that we still do not understand, can explain or even makes any kind of sense to anyone above the age of 6?

Answer 9

I don't believe in God because the Bible says so entirely, but because I know that God is real. Proof, each day you wake up-that's not because of you, but God. Every breath you breathe is because of Him-you can't do anything without His saying so. Every tree that waves in the wind or flower that grows without help from anyone is because God created it for His purpose and will. To tell you the truth, I don't want to be on this earth alone and without God.

God Bless You

Answer 10

If you REALLY want the answer to this question, I suggest you watch the video The Privileged Planet and read the book Origins of Life. Another great video would be The Signature of God. I highly recommend these to anyone who is TRUTHFULLY searching for God. I hope you will look into it. It's an eternal life and death matter. Don't be deceived. God bless!!

Answer 11

Yes I may be an ardent supporter of the theory of evolution, but I still have spirituality. I don't like organised religion, it just annoys me because it's a bunch of people forcing opinions on others.
Me? Well I believe what I want, I'm not a Christian (no hypocritical book tells me what to do), I'm not a Muslim (no hypocritical book tells me what to do), I'm not into Sceintology (buy a machine to get rid of an "alien spirit" my ****).
I'm my own religion...I'm not angel but I try to be good and follow what I think makes me and others happy (to a certain extent) and just see where it goes. I don't need some one telling me how to live my life, and I don't force it on others.