How can people say they KNOW God exists?

Question

I use my 5 senses to tell me if something is real or not. I also use my reason to tell me if something is real or not. Ex.1.- Sugar is sweet. I can detect this with my five senses and I'm sure most people would agree with my conclusions. So, I can presume that sugar is indeed sweet. I accept this as true, valid, and real. Ex. 2- Fire is hot. I don't have to use my 5 senses to see if this is true. I can use my reason. I have burned myself in the past and I have learned that fire is indeed hot. I don't need to use my 5 senses to know this is true, valid, and real.
God-talk is questionable, though. I can't detect God with my five senses. I can reason that "He must exist" just as strongly as I can reason that "There's no way He exists." So, how do you answer the question of "Is God real?" You can't answer the question. There is an answer, it's just that you'll never know it. How does this make you feel?

Answer 1

I have found that people who say they KNOW God exists have generally had a subjective religious experience which they interpret as proof. Such people are seldom able to distinguish between their own subjective experience and objective (physical) reality.

Much of the friction between believers and non-believers stems from the fact that 400 years ago humanity learned that the foundation of both human civilization and organized religion was utterly false. The physics of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton proved conclusively that the physical realm is absolutely real. This directly contridicted the unsubstantiated philosophical opinions of Aristotle (namely, Solipsism), which assert that the physical realm is an illusion created by our minds. Solipsists also believe that their subjective experience actually is reality, which is easily disproved with an EEG machine. The modern truth is that the physical is undeniably real and subjective experience is merely an illusion created by our living brains, based on the limited information our five senses provide about the physical realm. Faith is easy for those who imagine their own thoughts are real -- unfortunately, the philosophically naive are being systematically duped by those who profit from this most fundamental human perceptual error. Religion has consistently failed to provide the stable foundation necessary for human civilization precisely because the very basis of religion -- God's literal existence in objective reality -- can never be positively confirmed.

Answer 2

Why do you use only five senses, when there are so many more senses we use to make judgments each and every day?

We have a sense of humor, a sense of outrage, a sense of justice, just for starters, and we use those to make decisions about things that are important to us. The presence of God is perceivable to some of those senses, if we pay attention.

Your argument about reason makes sense, though. And as for never knowing the ultimate answer...well, I will find out, eventually. I may or may not be in any state to appreciate it, depending on what that answer is. But I'm prepared for that. If I'm right--and I just might be--then I have nothing to fear. If there is no God, and when I die I'm just gone--then I also have nothing to fear.

Answer 3

First off, your example #2 is flawed, seeing as it took your senses to originally discover a fire is hot.

Secondly, some things are accepted because reputable people have made observations, and you accept their observations without question. A good example is that the world is round. You cannot prove it through your senses, for your senses indicate the world is flat. You can't see a round earth; all you see is an earth that appears flat.

Personally, I can state there is a God based upon an experience involving two of my senses; sound and touch, but I won't elaborate, as I doubt to you I would be a credible witness.

Seeing as you have already concluded, for yourself, you cannot know, it is unlikely you will search out any such evidence. Therefore, you indeed will not ever know until it's perhaps too late...

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Answer 4

Another definition of pious is a Godly act. To answer your question, yes they are pious because they are viewed by others as selfless acts, in the image of Jehovah God.(Or Christ) Let me ask you a question? How often do you see humanist doing pious acts of kindness that are not self centered? Anyone can be kind for a moment but pious acts are ones that call for self sacrifice over a period of time. Being pious is an attribute of our nature. This kind of behavior comes from a special heart that wants to put others first. You find this attitude most in Christian communities.

Answer 5

"I use my 5 senses to tell me if something is real or not. I also use my reason to tell me if something is real or not."

We have more than 5 senses.

I don't know about others, but I KNOW God exists from my own direct, personal experience. I sensed God - but not with touch, taste, smell, sight, or hear.

Just as I sense people's emotions (even when not using the other 5 senses at all). Their presence conveys strong emotions they are having.

Just as when you see a dead body...it seems hollow or missing something. You can tell when they are dead...there is a void you can sense.

If you are not so sensitive...then you will not notice.

~ Eric Putkonen

Answer 6

if i close my eyes, i cannot 'hear' your written question, or i cannot 'smell' your question.

i need to open my eyes.

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

for so long i too was not sure, but when i nearly drowned in a scuba diving incident 6 yrs ago, my eyes and heart opened.

Answer 7

Your five sense receive data from the world around you. Your brain interprets the data. It has been shown that a mystical experience is interpreted by the brain as being "real" in the same way the experience of eating a steak is interpreted as being "real."

Since what we know is based on the interpretation of received data by our brains, it is quite easy to beleive that the mystical experience is real and leads to "knowing" that God exists.

Answer 8

I CAN PROVE HIM W/ MY 5 SENSES:
***seeing: I SEE God working mightily everyday in My life. (The question is not what you look at,but what you see...Henry David Thoreau)
***hearing: I can HEAR His small, still voice speaking to me. (Isaiah 50:4 He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.)
***tasting: I TASTE and see that the LORD is good. (Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8)
***feeling: I FEEL His presence around me continually. ((Exodus 33:14 NKJV) And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.")
***touching: I have TOUCHED God by embracing His people, His chosen ones, His anointed. (Dear children, let us stop saying that we love eachother, let us show it by our actions. 1 John 3:18)

You don't have to believe me and I'll probably get some thumbs down, But it doesn't change that fact that it is TRUE!

Answer 9

Quite sad that you have no awareness of Him. Prove, physically through your 5 senses, that your parents love(d) you. I could ask you to prove, physically, that you love someone else, but that's way too easy, so I challenge you to do this.

Answer 10

Because their book tells them it exists. That's more than enough reason for them to make themselves feel something. The mind is a powerful thing and if they believe enough they can change their own lives, but instead of seeing that they are doing it themselves they lay the responsibility on some invisible sky daddy watching over them.