How are you so sure?

Question

What makes you so sure that your religion is right and all the other religions are wrong? You say you "know" that God exists, but you "know" he exists the same way a suicide bomber "knows" that his martyrdom will result in his glory in paradise. Think about it. Would a young muslim man take his own life unless he was positive, 100% certain that what he was doing would secure his reward in the next life? The same way you are certain of your beliefs?
I was mormon for 16 years. Every time I heard a member of the church bear their testimony, they would say how they "knew" that the church was the right one, they "knew" Joseph Smith was a prophet. Never did they say "I believe..." They "KNEW".
So what's the diffence? What makes you so sure that you are right, and millions of others who disagree with you are wrong? You all are equally certain of your beliefs. And please don't just say "well there's a bible." What makes you believe it over any other religious text? How do you know?

Answer 1

Fundamentalism is Fundamentalism. It comes in many, many different flavors.

I have no problem with anyone believing what they believe. Honest.

Where the problem comes into play is when someone believes what they believe SO STRONGLY that they insist that I must believe it, too.

The thought of 'There is but One Truth and I know it' is the foundation of pretty much any type of fundamentalism you can name. It is the fundamentalism, not the faith, that flies planes into buildings and bombs abortion clinics.

I daresay any battle or war that is fought over religious grounds can be boiled down to one person thinking he knows what is 'true' more than anyone else. Or any congregation that thinks their version of 'God' is more pure than another congregation's version. Or any country's main religion that believes it to be The Real Religion and those Other Ones Over There are worshiping false gods.

Both sides are saying the same about the other. Is God laughing? Or weeping?

Answer 2

Well, I'm sorry you were a Mormon. Generally good values, but their book is a joke. The Bible stands on a much better foundation than the book of Mormon or the Koran. But, I don't have time to walk through 3000 years of history with you. I will say this.. The Koran is based on a revelation to Mohammed... one man. The Book of Mormon? One man, Joseph Smith. The Bible? No less than 40. At least 8 in the new testament. The Bible was then collected over the 1st 300 years after the death of Christ. So, it's origins are different.

Also, the Bible really does correspond to history and has been proven to be accurate many many times. I, personally, think that Genesis should not be read as a scientific history, but the Bible is a living document that is just as much alive today as it was 2000 years ago. It's historically accurate, and no one can argue that it's instructions on how to treat your fellow man are in anyway destructive. It's written to the individual. It does not attempt to impose a political philosophy as does the Koran. It gives people hope, and it can be tested against real life experiences.

You ask this question because you are concerned about truth. Well, what is truth? And what compels you to be concerned about it? What compels you to hold people to this standard of yours? Is it your standard? Or do you think that this standard of truth lies outside of you and placed in your heart by something greater than yourself. Start there in your search for whether or not there is a God, and whether or not the Bible is His book.

All in all, your question cannot be answered simply. You do have to pour over lots of literature and lots of history to determine it's accuracy. And it has to be a personal experience, your own journey.

Answer 3

first I have to say that the Bible does NOT agree with the term religion !!!! that word is a NO NO to God.... and as for *knowing* the word I use is *faith*, I have the faith that God is and that I will be part of the *new earth* when Jesus reigns and rules ...... think about this..... ok, as a human don't you just *KNOW* when something is right or wrong, anything ??? rather it be something with work, play, a new car, a couch, or moving to a new place, or when you meet a new person and you just *know* that person will be special to you in some way ??? that is what *faith* is..... you cant see it, but you have the faith that it is there and is right or maybe even wrong .....As a human I have to have the *faith* that this is NOT what is supposed to be.. suffering, pain, killings, rapes, etc......... I have to have *faith* that there is something coming that will be PERFECT...... and I do have that faith..... and the last point I want to make, and then I will hush, is this.... I do NOT attend and earthly *church*, we believers (Christians) are the church, the bride of Christ.... I cant say what earthly church HOUSE is the right or wrong one...... ok, enough out of me......... God bless

Answer 4

Answered prayers, peace, fellow Christians, never having been let down, the Holy Spirit...

I find fault in every religion except Christianity. I've examined other religions objectively, and I've examined Christianity objectively. I see Truth in Christianity, I recognize the infallibility of the Bible, and I have experienced the undeniable reality of God through the Holy Spirit. I've seen true Christians in their daily life and heard so many down-to-earth testimonies and seen so many lives fulfilled by the Truth that I couldn't pretend it wasn't real if I tried. More than anything else, though, I've seen God change me, even though I'm one of the proudest, most stubborn people I know. I've felt the Holy Spirit at work inside me, and I've experienced Jesus' love for me in an almost tangible way. My walk with God has been amazing, and I have faith that the more I offer myself as a living sacrifice to him, the more amazing it will become.

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" (John 14:6)
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16)

Answer 5

The Christian God was very careful to prove Himself when He had the Bible written. He wanted to make sure you would recognize him as a God when he acted. What he did is predict the future. No person on earth, no medium or psychic, can claim the one hundred percent prediction rate of God. God gave names, dates, and places so we can check out history and verify his work. He even gave us the very words someone would say centuries before the fact!

By taking this route, God would not have to appear and prove himself over and over again to new groups of people.

Now if you wanted everyone to know that you, as God, were going to come as a human being, you would explain what you were like so you would be recognized. You would put in the city of your birth, where you grew up, what kinds of deeds you would do, your temperament, your purpose, even how you would die.

God did all that in the Old Testament. It was all in written form four hundred years before Jesus came. The New Testament gospels follow Jesus and point out some of the places where He fulfilled the prophecies.

Let me give you an amazing example of prophecy.

“Daniel 11, written in the 6th century B.C., gives an amazingly thorough account of Alexander’s Grecian kingdom, divided first into four competing factions after his death. It predicts details of the struggle between the Ptolemy and Seleucid empires for a period of 160 years, right down to the advent of the Roman Empire. That is why the skeptics used to claim that the book of Daniel could not have been written before 164 B.C., but now we have proof of a much earlier writing text.

“The prophet Isaiah (44:28) gave the name of a king not yet born and of a kingdom not yet instituted and of an event that would not take place for another 150 years. He predicted that a king named Cyrus would commission the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Cyrus did come to the throne in Persia, and in the first year of his reign in 538, he issued a decree that the temple in Jerusalem should be rebuilt. (See 2 Chronicles 36:22-Ezra 1:1-3. This prophecy described in the Bible is confirmed by the discovery of a Babylonian inscription.)

“Daniel actually gave the time when Christ would come into the world and die. Daniel (9:24) predicted that Messiah would be cut off (die) 483 Hebrew years after the issuing of the Persian decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Artaxerxes Longimanus issued that decree on March 5, 444 B.C. (Neh. 2:1-8), granting the Jews permission to rebuild Jerusalem’s city walls. This, too, is confirmed by archeological discoveries. Four hundred eighty-three prophetic years (360 days to a year) and seven days later, Jesus was crucified as predicted. How could a prophet accurately predict the date of Messiah’s death hundreds of years before it took place, unless he was the ‘voice’ of God as he claimed?”

Thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran, we know with certainty the above prophecies date before the occurrence of actual prophesied events.

He has proven His existence perfectly and wonderfully. The Christian God is the true God.

Answer 6

Personally I think people confuse the psychological effects of different kinds of thoughts with experiencing God. For example, if I were to really, truly believe the crisp, refreshing can of 7up next to my computer was in fact the earthly incarnation of an all-powerful, all-loving creator of the universe and not only that, the can was watching over me and protecting me and loving me and judging me (this is important because it gives you and your actions more meaning), it would probably bring me a lot of comfort and perhaps enough fear to think I had had some sort of religious experience.
Really, truly believing anything supernatural can have profoundly comforting effects on your emotions and the way you feel. I guess this comes from the fact that not knowing things can be very uncomfortable and we live in a big universe with a lot of unanswered questions.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

I agree. I was a Mormon too for 17 years and I was just thinking about this very question this morning since the missionaries are now "courting " my 17 year old son.
I firmly believe that any religion that claims to be the one true way to salvation, heaven or whatever you want to call it, is a religion to run away from.
Peace

Answer 9

Faith...That's where everything relies to for me. I grew up all my life as a Christian and I do not wish to change. I am not the one who can say whether what you believe in is wrong or right. It's just not what I believe in. What is of the spirit is of the spirit and what is of the blood is of the blood.

Answer 10

I'm a moralistic naturalistic atheists skeptic and study various religions and have found experience is the best teacher .
If your spiritual nature conflicts with humane life you should ask yourself why?