People say they "KNOW" there is a god... please explain?

Question

I know, more of the same crap, but really, it's not, I promise!

I am trying to figure out why these people claim to KNOW there is a god.

Is it just me, or does everyone agree that they believe in God because of:

1) Faith (Dogma?)
2) What they were taught, told, explained...etc

Here is what I mean.

A child is born on a deserted island (No, not imaculate conception, but let's just say it's just the mother and the child.)

The mother has never heard of religion before. Therefor, the child will never hear about religion from it's mother. Would this child all of a sudden believe in a god? Without some outside force compelling this child to believe, my thought is that he wouldn't.

Now, we have people saying they KNOW there is a god. How do they know? Saying I "KNOW" something implies that you have proof of what you claim to know.

As an atheist, I do not deny the possibilty that there COULD be a god, I just choose not to believe it myself. Explain please?

Thanks!

melanieinuyasha---
I don't want to start a debate with you, but I am not bashing on you with this question, I am simply trying to understand the mentality behind religion, it's hard for me to grasp.

As for you not bothering me, I, unlike a lot of christians, don't try and convert people to atheism, whereas many of "you" try and convert me... so yeah.

Just please try and answer the question honestly. Thanks!

Avatar, you completely missed my point.

You yourself said that if you seek him out, you will find him.

That in itself would imply that you must first have knowledge that there is someone/something to seek out. If you did not hear about it from another person, do you believe you would have come up with the concept of a god?

Answer 1

You hit the nail on the head. When consciousness attempts to understand the universe on a fundamental level, ignorance and imagination combine to form the supernatural.

Answer 2

If you believe that there is a possibility, then you are not an Atheist. You are considered to be Agnostic. Some people claim to know that there is a God because they have convinced themselves to believe and not doubt. You cannot know if there is a living God unless you trust and surrender in acceptance. I was the same way once and I questioned it all as you do. I was told by a priest in Vietnam to pursue my doubts. I came to the conclusion one day that the only way I could know of find God is to believe like the Bible says with the faith of a child. I believed in Santa Claus without a doubt until I found out he did not exist today for real. So I then decided to give God the benefit of the doubt and from that time on I have had experiences that have shown me that there is life after death and if that is so then there is a great possibility that God does exist. I continue to experience many paranormal events that tell me there is more to creation than just it all happened.
There is too much intelligence in the function of life. Take the human eye for instance. How did that just happen to develop without some intelligence behind it. There are too many things to go into here but if you would like to talk further with your questions, contact me. I have been searching for god Most of my life. I know in my heart that he is because sought after him. Jesus said,"seek and you will find." So I did.
Now you can't pull the rug out from under me, because I am 99.9 % convinced. It is impossible any other way after what I have seen. Keep questioning, It is when you stop, that you put yourself in a box called belief. It is ok to believe when you are sure.
Rev. TomCat

Answer 3

Once upon a time I was an Atheist. I had an experience which made me think that God must exist. Long story, but it involved a prayer and someone coming back to life. Was a kinda creepy WOW sort of thing. So I got a bible and read it cover to cover. I joined a church... an open minded one. Then after a year I went to visit a monastery with some other people. And I had an experience there in meditation that changed my life forever. I felt lifted up out of my body and one with... some force that was all through the room and gave me a feeling of the most intense peace. It is what people call the 'peace that surpasses all understanding' and it was. I wanted so much to stay there and in that state of perfect bliss. When I say that I 'know" there is a God, it is not by faith, it is by experience of God's presence. Over the years other things have happened, I have seen people healed with prayer when they were given up on by medical science and give only weeks to live. Something exist in the universe that is greater than me and more powerful and is pure Love. I call it God.

Answer 4

You are right, there is an outside force that would entice the child to believe: God.

You seem to have completely discounted the fact that God is more than capable of speaking for Himself. and Those who have been touched by His Spirit and have heard His voice know that He lives.

You aren't going to find out whether there is a God by sitting around reading books theorizing whether this or that is possible. The only way you are going to learn whether there is a God is by interacting with Him. Exercising faith, talk to Him through prayer. Seek Him out and the Lord will reveal to you that He really does live.

I know that because of my own experience. I sought and I found. I asked and it was revealed.

It simply amazes me how many people will refuse to humble themselves and talk with the Lord and wonder why people believe. Well if you never interact with Him of course you're never going to know!

Answer 5

It is a feeling....faith....that guides us. We "know" God is real because we have felt His divine presence. That overwheliming and incredible sense of inner peace that only comes from KNOWING God.

God has been the only thing that has remained constant in my life with death of loved ones, including my husband of merely 3 weeks, among other things. Personally, I have felt Him everyday with everything I do.

Everyone can feel that. That little "gut instinct" everyone has telling them to take or not take a certain road or make a certain decision? That is God's way of talking to our souls and guiding us down the right path. It is simply up to us to hear and head those words and listen...

Answer 6

Read this question I posted earlier today. I put the link below. This is how I know there is a God. And, to answer the last part of your question, people know there is a God because they are told, and if people today were not told, they probably wouldn't know about him. No one just knows there is a God without being told, and maybe thats how God wanted it to be. He wanted US to spread his word by telling our children and others about him, and he wanted to give us free will to believe or not believe. If we just automatically knew he was there, that would take away our free will to believe or not believe in him. Those are my thoughts on it. Take it or leave it.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AibukIijSnNGiKNGYOxiVH_sy6IX?qid=20070623190630AACy8U9

Answer 7

Good question; and consider there are those who know and those who know how they know.

Even tho "believers" will argue for ever that this is not the case, I believe that many "believers" are no different than those that do not believe in a God.

How so?

Both sides of the "God" issue seem to rely upon "things outside" of themselves to validate, base their faith upon, or prove that there is or isn't a God; i.e., thru signs, miracles, scientific data, etc.

The problem is, is that this "problem" (situation) does NOT lend itself well to this approach or method of proving the existence of God -- one way or the other.

This is hinted at several places in The Bible whereby it is essentially said that "God is within".

How do you prove the existence of something that is "within" with evidence that exists "without"?

Also, much of this hinges on your definition of God. Meaning, just about all who are believers have a different definition of God; and then you have NON believers who use the definitions given them by believers!?!?!?

If I were a NON believer, I think that the first thing that I would do would be to REJECT ALL of the definitions of God as proposed by those who believe in God, and THEN create my own definition of the God who I didn't believe in and/or demanded proof of the existence of.

No, I am not saying that the God as we typically define as "the creator of, or the intelligence which created the universe" " literally (or entirely) exists within each of us. However, from a certain perspective He does, and understanding how this is, will help others understand how believers "know" such things "from within".

First, one has to believe that they have a "spirit" or "divine spark" which exists within them, and that this "spirit/spark" is a part of, or from God.

If this spirit/spark is from God, then one must assume that this spirit/spark is "holy".

Therefore, each of us has a "holy spirit" (or a part of God) which resides within each one of us.

And it is through this 'holy spirit' (and our souls) that we in-turn commune with God and/or come to "know" Him.

There is NO other way to prove it to anyone with any kind of evidence, as any kind of 'evidence' that exists outside of ourselves will ALWAYS fall short of absolutely proving the existence of God.

Really, I think both sides need to recognize this and essentially quit trying to convince the other and/or each other and move onto more important things, like coming together and coming up with workable solutions to address and fix all the problems in the world; and generally speaking how we can better treat and serve each other and our fellow man irrespective of our belief in God.

Here's an example of what I am talking about:

http://www.freeread.com/unification911/plan.php

Regards,

Answer 8

At last a honest question seeking a honest answer! You wont get it. God (and I wish there was one) I believe is a tool that religious people use to promote their beliefs(read agenda) The only real possession we have, is life itself and the fear of its loss is what religious leaders prey on to promote them selves, God is not evident, look at his followers!

Answer 9

Ok, this is really hard to explain, but here I go.
There are just moments. Like when you learn of a death, and all your friends just gather together and support each other. Or when I walk around in a amazing place. Or even when I go on stage. I probably sound like a pothead, lol, but it is true.
You just know.

Answer 10

Well, let's guess the answers:

1. "Because the bible says so"
2. "Because god has affected my life in so many ways"
3. "Because I can feel his love"
4. "Because I have faith, I don't need facts"

None of which really answers your question. Fact is, they don't know why they know. They just "know". Which means, their education failed them, as they never learned the value of critical thinking.