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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to make myself believe in god?

999 replies

HopHopHopSkip · 25/07/2013 22:55

I have always been very logical and so despite going to a Christian primary school, having a very religious mum(though not in a pushy way) and reading the bible when I was younger(the story version Grin I was a bit of a book worm) I have never really got my head around how god could be possible.

But I really wish I had the extra "something" that some people seem to find by believing in god. I'm probably not making much sense, but I wish I could get myself to feel like there's somebody watching out, that there's something after death, that everything happens for what'd ultimately a good reason/what's meant to be so on.

AIBU to try going to church for a bit even though I don't believe in god? Or am I just being silly, is it something you can't 'make' yourself feel?

OP posts:
WMittens · 27/07/2013 13:43

WMittens, yes, that is exactly what the bible is.

What, not the Word of God?

WMittens · 27/07/2013 13:45

Caster8
ANormalOne. No the bible does not say that God is omniscient and omnipotent.

www.openbible.info/topics/omnipotence

www.openbible.info/topics/omniscience

WMittens · 27/07/2013 13:46

madhairday

No. The word of God does not mean that each word is from the mouth of God. That would be just odd.

madhairday · 27/07/2013 13:49
Grin

JK Rowling, obviously

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 13:50

headinhands. I do think that some people worship God, but as you say, are partly caught up in the emotions. I know of 1 Christian that left an evangelical church and joined a different denomination, because for her, she realised that she was in the evangelical one becuase she enjoyed the emotions of it.

Can I ask why you joined that church, or any church in the first place? Did someone persuade you to go, or were you brought up in it?

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 13:52

WMittens. Perhaps I am misunderstanding your post. Yes, it is the Word of God. The bible is inspired by God. It couldnt possibly not be really.

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 13:56

I thought I understood what omnipotence meant and what omniscience meant. I did not.

omnipotence, yes God is that.

Omniscience, I am looking further into. Probably not.

WMittens · 27/07/2013 14:06

Caster8

Perhaps I am misunderstanding your post. Yes, it is the Word of God. The bible is inspired by God. It couldnt possibly not be really.

I think you must be.

That last sentence:
"It couldnt possibly not be really."
Erm, what? Are you actually saying there is no possibility that the Bible could have been created from anything other than God's influence?

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 14:11

That is what I am personally saying. Yes WMittens.

WMittens · 27/07/2013 14:13

On the subject of influence - The Lion King was influenced by Hamlet, but that doesn't mean Hamlet was real. All it meant that the idea of Hamlet already existed in the minds of the creators of the Lion King.

WMittens · 27/07/2013 14:15

That is what I am personally saying. Yes WMittens.

Thanks for clearing that up. Can you explain the steps that brought the Bible about, through the influence of God? Can you do it while obeying Occam's Razor?

headinhands · 27/07/2013 14:24

Dione. Can you provide figures that show there is more of those things? As for environmental stuff. It's only been recently that we can cultivate huge areas and have bigger affects on a micro/macro climate. Do you have any of the modcons that industrialisation has given us?

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 14:31

I havent a clue what Occam's Razor is.

No, I dont know the steps that brought the Bible about.

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 14:32

I think I would like to ask a question to some posters.

Do you struggle to understand things in your lives, that you dont like?

headinhands · 27/07/2013 14:39

I don't understand everything in my life no.

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 14:57

ANormalOne. I have had a bit more look at omnipotence, and omniscience.

God can do anything. Yes He can, if He chooses too.
But that is not the same as knowing everything.
Does He know everything. No I dont believe He does. As in, I think He knows more about Christians, [as we have the Holy Spirit in us] than non Christians.

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 15:01

headinhands. I meant to ask posters if they struggle to accept things in their lives that they dont like.

headinhands · 27/07/2013 15:08

Not sure if I'd put it as struggling to accept. I have family members with very life limiting diseases. I accept it, how couldn't I, but wish it weren't so but don't dwell on those wishes as know it's just the way it's come off the pack and deal with what's in front of me I guess.

headinhands · 27/07/2013 15:11

Caster8, I think I recognise your beliefs. You've changed your name a few times in the last year haven't you? Didn't you once tell me that you prayed that your friend wouldn't notice an ugly piece of furniture your husband was refusing to move?

DioneTheDiabolist · 27/07/2013 15:39

Headinhands, I didn't say that it was getting worse. You said that you thought that it was getting better and I disputed that.

To the question Why is there so much suffering in the world? the believer will say god gave us free will and therefore man causes suffering and it is man's job to stop it. The athiest will say there is no such thing as god therefore man causes suffering and it is man's job to stop it.

Both give the same answer, yet for some, instead of doing something about it they prefer to argue the toss about how that conclusion was reached. It's a small point, but one that I think shows how wedded we are to the notion of otherness rather than actually doing something about it.

It is the exploitation of this human trait that allows
the greedy few to cause suffering to many. You said in a previous post that we're all kind of the same. I agree. However we are also individuals, so we're all kind of different too. For me, it's about recognising our sameness and accepting our differences and learning from them, instead of seeing them as other or even worse, lesser.

WMittens · 27/07/2013 15:56

Caster8

I havent a clue what Occam's Razor is.

No, but you have the entire resources of the Internet at your fingertips, so could learn and expand your knowledge if you chose to do so Wink

No, I dont know the steps that brought the Bible about

If that is true, then how could you state, "The bible is inspired by God. It couldnt possibly not be really." as you did earlier? Your two statements cannot both be true - either you knew how the Bible came about, or you know without any doubt that it was inspired by God (and not, for example, by hallucinogenic mushrooms).

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 16:01

I dont need to always know how something came about.
If I did, it wouldnt be possible to accept ot believe anything in history at all.

Caster8 · 27/07/2013 16:02

Sorry to hear about your family members headinhands. Yes I have namechanged this year. Will pm if that is ok?

WMittens · 27/07/2013 16:08

I dont need to always know how something came about.

You do when you claim something as fact. You claimed that the Bible was inspired by God, now you say you don't know.

I don't have any problem with people believing in a god, or that the Bible is the word of God, but don't tell me it is as though it is a fact, especially if you then say you don't know.

claig · 27/07/2013 16:09

'To the question Why is there so much suffering in the world? the believer will say god gave us free will and therefore man causes suffering and it is man's job to stop it. The athiest will say there is no such thing as god therefore man causes suffering and it is man's job to stop it.'

An antelope suffers when a lion eats it. That has nothing tio do with man. There was a headline the other day about whales catching a dolphin. There is lots of suffering, and innocent animals and humans suffer and did nothing to cause it.