AIBU to ask if you believe in God - particularly if you didn't previously, and what that's like

[Pinesinthedunes]

Just as the title says really. I don't believe in God. I'm very curious about those who do - particularly those who didn't previously. How did your belief develop? How do you conceptualise God? Can it be a choice? I have a lot of admiration and curiosity for anyone who is able to sustain a sincere faith in Western culture. How important is having a community around you to strengthening your faith? Thank you in advance for any thoughts on this you would be happy to share

Hello, I do believe in God but my faith isn't exactly what Christians are "meant" to believe. I have times when I don't believe and times when I do. For me it's about hope that there's something more to life than material stuff, and it's about living the values of Christianity by being kind and tolerant, doing voluntary work, that kind of thing. It makes me happy when I live my life that way.

I know lots of atheists live by the same values, and for me those people are practising the same beliefs as me, though they call it something else.

It's really hard to explain what makes me believe, it's not logical. There are a few verses from the Bible that really resonate with me. One of my favourites - in the darkness a light is shining and the darkness cannot overcome it.

I found religion when I was 18. Converted to Catholicism when I was 21. Now I'm somewhat of a lapsed Catholic but my faith and relationship to God hasn't changed. Just to the church.

As far as how it feels. I feel lighter, more able to deal with hardship. I never feel alone in the world. I don't fear death as much.

I believe in God, raised in a religious faith I don’t resonate with any longer. But my faith in God is stronger than before and brings me an inner peace. I don’t need rituals or a place of worship to pray or feel connected. I am grateful for all I experience and have no fear at all of death.

I believe in God.
To say that this life is the result of an accident is ludicrous to me.

Billions of humans on the planet and not two of us share DNA.

No two humans have the exact same shade of eye colour.

The sun and moon run in absolute precise order. Any miniscule deviation from that would be catastrophic for the universe. And we are to believe that some cosmic dust that accidentally created life, allows this impeccable series of events to turn night into day and then day into night, and has done so for billions of years, but has not once messed this up?

For me personally, this life, by design, is not created to be perfect. I believe we were created to worship one God. There will be happy times and some difficult times but the everlasting peace that people search for belongs in the afterlife.

To me god is more that what my mind can hold. My faith is a feeling of certainty. A bit like how a when a child is born and straight away knows to suck on the mother's breast for food. (Or the bottle, not judging!!)

There are some answers we as humans will never get. IE who created god etc.
But i believe our minds can only take in so much of the vastness of god. A bit like If you are a student of astrophysics. After years of studying you find that you have barely touched the sides.

If you are sincere in building a relationship with God then look for him. That could be talking to him, praying, looking at different religions.

But also, look around you. The signs are everywhere.

Religion is easy. It’s a quick answer to so many things. I wish I believed, so i felt comfort about leaving the world. But I don’t. The tales are just that, fairy tales for those lacking the knowledge and science we have available today. I have a family member who turned in their late twenties during a period of serious isolation and good for them. They have a community now, a husband and many friends. It maybe saved them.
But for me there is nothing to consider. We’re just a minuscule part in a massive vast space and life is short. No one cares, no god, no body.

For me I had an experience and I believe that I felt God's presence in that moment. I spent a lot of time after questioning it but for me it was like once I saw it I couldn't unsee it. I'm really glad that I came to faith later in life because most of my friends aren't Christian and I think that's helped me keep my feet on the ground so to speak. I know a lot of Christians who have grown up Christian and I sometimes feel they are too quick to accept things as black and white when I think there are a lot of grey moral issues. I think it also allowed me to see how problematic the church can be and decide how I can practice my faith in a way that feels most ethical to me. Sometimes that jarrs with Christian communities but its important to hear different perspectives at the same time. For me I feel a lot of peace because I believe things happen for a reason and I believe in a higher plan as such and in God's promise to prosper and not to harm us. I also feel less alone with things I'm worried about because I believe that prayer is powerful in conjunction with action.

Given “ I can only understand "spiritual" as some kind of ill-defined woo,” I don’t really think it’s a leap, great or otherwise. But you’re obviously more than welcome to disengage, sorry you don’t feel able to continue the conversation.

It’s beautiful isn’t it? I love Blake, to me, his works are proof enough of the divine.

Just wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed your contributions to this thread, @OMG12

You could say the opposite though too.

One cell goes wrong and you have cancer.

All the ways weather affects people- famine, hurricanes, tsunami etc

I was raised catholic, attended Catholic schools up until I was 16 and I have never believed in any god. I remember as a child in church wondering why on earth everyone around me believed the stories I was being told.

Oh thank you, that’s very kind.💛💛💛

I see from your previous post you are a Christian with an open definition of God. Do you follow any particular school of thought or is it just something that you came to a knowledge of?

@Howiwonderwhat that was a truely lovely post, thank you to all who took the time to offer thoughtful replies here, I'm still just reading through them. I think some of the contributions to this thread help illustrate why it must be so hard to maintain a deep sense of faith or belief today, let alone discover one.

Howiwonderwhat is certainly right in my case that I can accept an abstract idea of God, but when it comes to Jesus, and worshipping Christ there are all sorts of mental barriers to be overcome. I'm very new to this. I have sympathy with the atheists here, I was one. But I have realised it just isn't so simple. Humanity is in dire straits without its sacred canopy, when Neitszche declared the death of God he was serious about how catastrophic this was for us. And to those who have said if I'm serious about trying to find God, I should try talking to him, I'll see if I can.

Thank you all again

You can have a relationship with God without Jesus in the literal sense. Christ means the anointed one. It’s a title, there’s no reaso you can’t take this title for yourself.

wishing you all the best on your journey. You’re right the world needs a sacred wrapper

As a psychologist and ex-spiritual seeker myself, and more significantly as an experienced life coach for almost 20 years now, I have witnessed how seeking God can turn into one of the most damaging pursuits an individual can embark upon during their lifetime.

I have sadly seen countless times now the damage that this pattern can do to a person’s psyche, to a person's ability to genuinely overcome the problems and limitations in their life, and ultimately to their entire existence, as the pattern unwittingly grows and consumes them over time.

Now when confronted with people displaying this pattern, I strongly urge them to start detaching from these kind of thoughts, and to stop framing life in terms of “God” and “God’s will”, and whether they can have some sort of relationship with him or not. The only thing that they should be cultivating faith in is their ability and commitment to never stop looking for the answer to whatever problem or limitation they are experiencing in their life, that has led them to turn to the notion of "God" in the first place.

This is twice you’ve used this exact wording to answer my posts. Yet you don’t respond. What are you actually up to? It’s extremely bizarre and slightly unhinged

I’ve never believed and never will BUT I have friends and family who regularly attend church and fully support them. Not that long ago one of my friends was talking to me about she’s questioning her faith and it actually upset me because it’s always been a big part of her life.

My perception, and this is purely that, is that many see or use religion as a form of self care, a way to offload their problems or similar. I use other approaches for that, like exercise, I literally talk myself through them sometimes (yes I know that’s a bit weird!), which in many ways you could argue is similar to talking to a higher lower/god etc.

Plus you have used it to answer on another post, in fact these are the only posts you have made - reported

I would say it’s probably more similar than you realise

Oh yes, I agree. I completely see why people follow religion, I can see the benefits I just find mine elsewhere.

Is that against the rules?

It makes me wonder if they’re a genuine poster. 3 posts word for word all the same, their only posts.

I hope that isn't in your role as psychologist or therapist, since it's a serious breach of ethics.

I seriously doubt the “person” is any kind of therapist. It seems some kind of bot reposting exactly the same post once a month on similar threads.

I do believe, but I don't think my particular religion (Judaism) is any sort of 'one true way'.

I think all religions are a lens through which we can potentially look at, come closer to, the divine.

This is my ancestral and tribal one, and it's the one I would use if I wanted to become more religious.