Just using common sense, why is a deity necessary for your life.?

Question

God does not define me.

I said COMMON SENSE!!!!

The bible and "hell" have nothing to do with common sense.

The fundies are out today.

I actually got some great answers.

Cindy for one.

I am a believer just not a Christian.

Maybe I worded it wrong.

I was looking for a reason why people turn to God besides religion.

Thanks for your answers.

Answer 1

Well, I think religion is one of the things that most makes us human, and that ritualizing core beliefs unifies a culture. We've lost the old tribal ways and are awash in a swamp of conflicting monotheisms, multiculturalization, solipsism, and relativism, but there WAS a time when things had both a more human scale and a deeper grasp of the nature of deity . . . when godhs were local, and looked to for luck and help and a good harvest, or to bless a marriage with fruitfulness.

As civilization accelerates and alienation increases, people cling to what were once communal rites as personal truths, because it gives them a sense of meaning in a faceless, depersonalized world. Monotheisms, in attempting to explain *everything* in terms of a single deity, actually reduce their deity's effectiveness to a mythical afterlife alone . . . since if He controls everything in accordance with some secret plan or ineffable divine will, there's no point in relying on him for practicalities.

I prefer the old folkways, with their many godhs, and local cults, and life-affirming rituals of the seasons and the harvest. I don't know that my deities are *necessary* to my life per se, but they are certainly a valued, honored, welcomed and beloved part of it.

Nice question!

Answer 2

why do you think a deity is not necessary for your life? have you checked outside lately? you don't have to call a deity GOD but obviously there is something out there that is greater than ourselves. take a look at nature. the trees, flowers, butterflies, lakes mountains, etc. how can there not be a deity our their to create all this. look in the eyes of a new born baby, an old person. this world we live in started over 5 billion years ago. thats a long time. a deity doesn't have to define you. but, by your living in it you define it. A higher deity than ourselves made this for us and then gave it to us for us to use as we saw fit. we just need to be careful how we define our world so that we can pass it on to the next generation and so on.

Answer 3

Deities are not necessary except for people who cannot think or act on their on accord. Common sense dictates my every move as well as it should for all adults, unfortunately it does not. I do not need a god to make me do the right thing, being an intellectual human with a conscience and morality does that all by itself.

Fundies will love this, won't they!

Answer 4

Wisdom, someone to cry out to when I am stressed out, direction, a friend, one who fills me with peace that I cannot understand, I trust his wisdom much more than that of humans, the Bible works in real life & across cultures (at least all that I know), God motivates me to grow as a person & to treat people out of selfless love (1 Cor. 12 & 13).

Personally- God does define me.
Recommend- Read "Blue Like Jazz" it is great book from a normal Christian (Donald Miller). It is also a best seller. I think you would find this book very interesting, based on your question.

Answer 5

I'm sorry, it just looks like you asked this question already knowing what answer you were looking for (one that already agrees with you). You have to acknowledge that your idea of common sense and that "fundies" as you call us is different. I encourage you to stop and consider not what other people believe, but rather why they believe. I am a Christian and I believe that God is. He just IS...and it's not a question of whether or not he's necessary. Now, why do I believe he even exists? Ask me that, and I'd be glad to provide a satisfactory answer for you. IM me or email me anytime!

Answer 6

My life is so much better as a Christian than it ever was when I didn't believe. God is necessary now because I know He exists, I know what He has done for me and I could never deny that again.

God Bless.

Answer 7

w/o a creator there is no creation. You can rationalize it, all you want. You can disbelive it all you want. Athesists like you seem to be, say that there is no God. They say were is the proof? So why should God who created the whole universe every galaxy, star and planet, indeed everything in the universe, come down to little ol' you and say, "here I am" "psst, by the way I'm real". How arrogant and self- centered can you possible be?

Answer 8

He gives me hope when all other hope seems gone. He is my friend when all of my other friends have seemed to abandon me. He believes in me when no one else will. I don’t have to prove myself to anyone else, because Jesus knows me and who I really am. I can endure other people’s blatant slander, because I know that since Jesus knows the truth, the false opinions of other people mean nothing. I have the strength to tell other people “no”, even though it might end a friendship, because I already have a friend who will never leave. I don’t have to scheme about getting even with other people, because God will even all things out in the end. I don’t stress out about things because I know that God will work everything out. I am happier because I have learned to be grateful for what I have, and to focus on my blessings. I have also learned to view the unpleasant things in my life as welcome challenges to improve my character, not as things that get me down and defeat me.

I am more patient with people, because I know that he is patient with me. I can forgive other people, something that is hard for me to do, because he has forgiven me, and he expects me to do the same. I am more generous, more kind, more even tempered & calm, and I do more charity work because I appreciate what God has given me.

On a related note, I love Josh McDowell’s story of how Jesus changed his life. Here is an excerpt that I find especially moving:

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...There's another area that I'm not proud of. Hatred. It wasn't something outwardly manifested, but a kind of inner grinding. The one person I hated more than anyone else in the world was my father. I despised him. To me he was the town alcoholic.

If friends were coming over, I would take my father, tie him up in the barn, and park the car up around the silo. To avoid embarrassment, we would tell our friends he had to go somewhere. I don't think any person could hate someone more than I hated my father.

Maybe five months after I made that decision for Christ, love for my father ñ a love from God through Jesus Christ ñ inundated my life. It turned my hatred upside down. It enabled me to look my father squarely in the eyes and say, "Dad, I love you." After some of the things I'd done, that really shook him up. When I transferred to a private university, I was in a serious car accident. With my neck in traction, I was taken home. I'll never forget my father coming into my room and asking, "Son, how can you love a father like me?" I said, "Dad, six months ago I despised you." Then I shared with him my conclusions about Jesus Christ.

"Dad, I let Jesus come into my life. I can't explain it completely, but as a result of this relationship, I've found the capacity to love and accept not only you, but other people ñ just the way they are." Forty-five minutes later one of the greatest thrills of my life occurred. Somebody in my own family, someone who knew me so well I couldn't pull the wool over his eyes, my own father, said to me, "Son, if God can do in my life what I've seen Him do in yours, then I want to give Him the opportunity." Right there my father prayed with me and trusted Christ....

~Josh McDowell

Answer 9

If He weren't in my life I would be destined to Hell with no hope of redemption. That's pretty necessary if you ask me. I also would enjoy the blessings I've been given or have the will power to resist sin.

Answer 10

To not believe in God is quite irrational. Unfortunately, it is the denial of antithesis in this day-and-age that has captured you into your current way of thinking. You should read "The God Who is There" by Francis A. Schaeffer.