Christians. Why do YOU believe in god and I don't?

Question

Humour me. How did our early childhoods differ?
Were your parents religious? Did they attend a church, even if it was only for Christenings/weddings/funerals? Did they have you Christened? Did they believe in a god? Was every adult you had close contact with believers? Did you pray in school? Were your parents able to give you clear, factual answers to any of your questions on any subject? Did you go to Sunday school? Was there any religious symbols about your childhood home, encluding jewelery? Was it ever suggested that there was no god?

Answer 1

Of the deeply religious friends I have, the answer is yes to most of these things. I am not religious and it saddens me sometimes to see them blindly following their faith, giving irrational answers which have more base in fantasy and magic than anything else whenever I challenge them on something.

My parents had me Christened and took me to church every Sunday, I thought it was boring and was so glad when I didn't have to go anymore! Also we had to sing the usual hymns at primary school every morning and listen to some boring chapter from the Bible. I guess there was just no turning me!

Answer 2

A. I can't answer this first question, because I do not know about your childhood.

B. No, my parents are not "religious". There is a big difference between having a 'religion' and having a 'relationship with the LORD God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)'.

C. Yes, we attended churches. As mentioned in (B) when you have a 'relationship with God', you do not get tied down by any one certain denominational dogma or doctrine.

D. I was baptized twice, once as an infant (by my parents) and then when I was old enough to research, investigate, and decide on my own what I believed.

E. Obviously, since we did attend Christian churches that is, a yes. You really can’t comfortably attend worship services, if you do not believe in the LORD God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

F. My father was in the military, so I had contact with: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists, Pagans, and Atheists.

G. Of course I prayed in school, how was anyone going to stop me from doing so? There is a joke about this one, it goes like this: “As long as there are tests in school, there will always be prayer”.

H. IF they did not know the answer to something, I was able to openly talk to others. As I grew up I was able to do research for myself. It is not like I was unable to think on my own.

I. Yes, I attended Sunday school; please refer back to (B) and (C).

J. Yes crosses and Star of David. Christianity is a sect of Judaism.

K. I’ve heard this from Atheist friends, while growing up and even now.

Finally, "I" believe in the LORD God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) because I researched, investigated, and prayed about this belief system. It is the only one, in which the LORD God has proven Himself in my personal life. I did not get that proof from Islam, Buddhism, or any other ‘religious’ viewpoint.

I am a Christian, who follows and practices Jewish traditions; because Jesus the Christ and all His Disciples were Jews (they never denounced Judaism).

Answer 3

Sir, I am not a christian but through plenty of deep thought I have concluded a satisfying answer for myself. You generally have the argument of God creating everything or the big bang. Of these these two I would ask, Who created the big bang? There is only one answer to that. How was there all this something from absolutely nothing? There is only one answer. But the real question is...where, when, and how did God come to be? I cannot answer that question. Because it would seem impossible for God to not have been born at some point. Maybe God has always been here. If God was born, though, what created God? There are many questions to this that can be asked, but there is no real answer. No christian can give me a satisfying answer to those questions, because all there answers stem from the bible and those answers are unacceptable to me. Good luck in your inquiries.

Answer 4

Hi. my mum was a Catholic ,my dad did not belong to any religion.I was baptised,and attended Catholic Schools.I went to Mass every Sunday.I believe in God.My mum has a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.If i had been brought up with another religion that would be the one i would stay with.There has never been an issue of no God,as far as i'm cocerned.

I can't give you a scientific reason why i believe in God.God is outside the realms of science.The answer is "faith" which i know is a lot of garbage for an answer to you.I don't know the answer as to why you do not believe in God.Only you can answer that.For those who believe,no explanation is necessary.For those who do not believe,no explanation is possible.

Answer 5

My parents weren't particularly religious in the sense that they were very active in the church. They both did, however, believe in a single God and identified themselves as Christian. Because i am Hispanic, a lot of it has to do with the culture being so intrinsically tied to Catholicism/Christianity. Everyone in my family is Christian (whether they are active participants or once-a-year Mass-goers is another issue).

My brother-in-law, interestingly enough, is not Christian, though he is agnostic. His family is Indian and his father is a practicing Sikh, though he became devout fairly recently. My brother lacked the structure of religion in his family because at the time of his childhood, neither of his parents were religiously active. He says he regrets not having a belief system to follow and to be able to rely on, especially in hard times. and honestly i cant say for a fact that i would be christian today if i hadnt had the upbringing that i had. but then again, this is true of many of my defining traits. Im into peruvian food because thats what i grew up eating, Im a democrat because my parents were liberals, and im a believer of the importance of higher learning because my parents both got their college degrees. If this history hadn't been there, would i still have all of these traits? maybe i would have found them on my own, maybe not.

I was baptized when i was young. I attended a Catholic elementary/junior high and high school (all girls), though mainly this was due to my mother believing that the education there was of a higher standard than that of the local public schools (which i must say, i agree with, even though it's sad to say). We did pray in school, though there were some students who were not Christian and while they were required to take religion classes, were not forcibly converted or anything (a classmate of mine was a practicing Muslim and though she didn't believe in the doctrine, she did find it interesting). These students would just stand respectfully during prayer time.

My mom would answer questions that i had for her to the best of her ability, though with the subject of faith, sometimes there are no concrete answers, which makes sense (that's why it's called "faith" and not provable fact).

I would sometimes go to Sunday school when i was little. I would go with my grandmother to her non-denominational Christian church. Catholics dont really have Sunday School.

There were some religious symbols both in my home and in my grandmother's (e.g. a small statue of Jesus with children, a painting of Albrecht Durer's "Praying Hands"), but nothing over the top. My sister has a cross necklace, but i dont, for no particular reason. though, one might be that i want to show people that i am a christian through my actions and not by a symbol that i wear.

when i was younger, especially when my father died, i did wonder whether or not there was a God, but have searched enough to know in my heart that there is one and this knowledge and my faith has helped me through very trying times. My reasoning on this is: if there wasn't one, how could so many people have been misled? I'm not just talking about Christians, but also Jews and Muslims. They are all monotheistic believers. Also, there is too much good in this world to believe that there isn't a God who created it. There are too many unsolved mysteries and quirks of nature that must have some creating entity behind them. This isnt to say that i dont believe in science and evolution and the like, because i do, but im inclined to believe that God had a hand in it all. I can see how people could argue whether or not Jesus is that God (and my belief that he is is based solely on faith, for it cant be proven with concrete facts), but to argue that there is not one at all, is a little harder for me understand or accept. But that's just my opinion. Regardless, everyone is entitled to his/her own.

great question, by the way. :)

Answer 6

My parents were not religious, we didn't attend church as a family though they allowed the kids to if we wanted to,I was not christened though I wanted to be baptised and they allowed me to do so, My parents did not have christian freinds. When I went to school we had prayer in school and I liked it. My parents rarely spoke to us kids on subjects of religion except to say if we wanted we could ride the church bus to church. My dad was an athiest. I am not. I do not attend a church although I belive in god I am a spiritual person. I don't need organized religion to have faith.
Why do you like foods that I don't?
Why do you belive in things that I don't?
The answers are because we don't need to belive in or like the same things as we are only human. Never knock what others belive in or like. We, like you are only human.

Answer 7

The reason you do not believe is because God has not given you the faith to believe. No one can come to God on their own. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. He does all the work involving salvation and if he chooses not to you will never believe. Christians have nothing to boast about because He chose us, we did not choose Him. He must grant us repentance, give us the faith, draw us to Himself, make us alive in our spirits that are naturally dead to Him because of our sinful nature, remove the heart of stone and give us a new heart that is sensitive to Him, and put His Spirit within us. Unless God does these things you will never believe in the True God. That is why Jesus said, You must be born again. It is by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord to give you the faith to grant you the repentance that leads to life. I do hope this answers your question and please take time to read the scriptures.

Answer 8

1. my dad was, but he passed when i was 13.
2. they did. i hated church and never wanted to go.
3. no.
4. dad did, mom denied God for a while, then started having a tiny bit of faith again.
5. noooo. in fact, most of the people i was in contact with, never believed in god.
6. i went to a private school for about a month or so, and we prayed there. i never wanted to though.
7. no. that was the reason why i denied my faith.
8. i went to sunday school, yes. hated every moment of it though.
9. yes.
10. quite often, yes.


basically, i wanted to believe in God in my later teenage years. i dont know your story, but...i had a troublesome life and all those years of my life, i felt like everyday was just horrible. after i regained my faith; everything became better. i became a better and more positive person.

Answer 9

Cananddo, its a bit odd asking somebody to justify their childhood and deeply held beliefs, and then to compare them to yours - of which they have no knowledge.

You can not go around demanding complete strangers to justify your belief or lack of belief in their deeply held beliefs either, its not polite or would it be possible for anybody who differs in an opinion, to tell you why you do not see the world their way.

You could take the 101 questions and water them down to individual questions, and suggest reasons that you might differ, and see what responds you get, but as an atheist, I find your question somewhat intolerant, and the kind of narrow minded type I would have expected from a very right wing religious fanatic, not somebody who professes to share similar view points to myself.

Answer 10

Christened, Sunday School, Church, Confirmed. Church every Sunday. It depends on what you beleive in your heart. I believe that its everyone's personal relationship with God that matters more - he's the only one that knows what is truly in your heart. Honestly I don't go to Church a lot these days cos find most people in my Church are fake and don't like it anymore.