I am trying to believe in God...but I am failing!

[AlwaysMeanWellOftenWrong]

I have started to go to church with my two children.

I am trying to open my mind and my heart and to let myself believe, but I can't.

I believe in the Christian way of life and I want to learn more about how to live as God wishes. I understand that God makes his feelings known to us through the Bible.

So, I read the first few lines of the Bible. After watching Stephen Hawking's talk about the Big Bang and other science programs that are on the telly at the moment - I am really struggling to accept it as God's word - literally anyway.

How can I get past this and get close to God, feel his love and truly believe?

I feel like such a hypocrite. Luckily, I know that God will forgive me if he does in fact exist, for I am truly sorry that I am so human that I don't believe.

Others will disagree, but I think you can enjoy the rest of it without believing in God.

You can't force yourself to believe anything.

www.catholic.com/library/Adam_Eve_and_Evolution.asp

www.catholic.com/library/Adam_Eve_and_Evolution.asp

Why do you need to believe in god? Why are you taking your children to church? Not asking confrontationally but curious if you have no belief yourself

Why do you want to make yourself believe something you clearly don't? I just cannot understand this. What is the motivation for this false belief?

Also, you don't have to take it literally.

(I'm an atheist by the way) but different strains of the church believe differently about creation. Very re CofE followers, for example, believe the seven day stuff.

"God" can just be a name used to describe the fact that the world was created.

why do you want to believe? Are you not happy and capable of living a mindful and decent life otherwise? I don't understand. I don't believe, and feel no need to.

re above should read few as in "very few CofE"

I believe a lot of the messages, such as not to be greedy, love one another, forgiveness, not judging etc.

I am on the fence. I don't truly not believe, but I don't believe either.

Why would you want to? What bits of the 'Christian way of life' appeal? If it's the marking of seasonal festivals, Christmas trees and easter eggs and so on, you can have those anyway as they are all cobbled together from older traditions and myths. If it's the misogyny and homophobia you fancy, you can get that at home as well if you want to.

i believe in god and jesus, but seriously, the bible is bollocks. nice stories, good examples of morals, but the gospels were put together for political puposes some were in - some were out, they didn't fit with what the church wanted to advertise.

so you can believe in good, the good things jesus did etc, without believing that the bible was the devine word of the lord through the penmanship of some people who were around at the time. bollocks.

I have never felt so liberated, and so much peace flooding my soul, as the day I truly accepted that I don't believe in god. At least, certainly not a god as portrayed by the Christians.

Don't beat yourself up about it! You can't force yourself to believe something that makes no sense to you.

I prefer gentle agnosticism... I accept that there may be a god, in some form. But since we humans are so far from perfect, and twist everything to our own desires, I very much doubt that any human perception of who god is and what he want of us can be anywhere near the truth.

Don't try to force yourself to believe. Just remain open and absorb what you are comfortable with. You will never understand everything.

Also why don't you talk to people who hold a range of beliefs about God and the Bible? I don't take it as God's 'literal' word, but I still have a faith.

Oh, and doubt is an essential part of belief, so make it your friend!

Thanks for reminder about Hawking prog, will try to catch it on C4's website.

amen annie!

Have a look at humanism.

It is quite natural for all but the vilest sociopaths to believe in the messages you state above. Being christian doesn't make you a good person.

What motivated you to go to church?

See, this is why I like being Jewish; belief in god is totally optional! Even our rabbi admitted she sometimes struggled to believe any of it in one of her High Holy Days sermons this year.

I read Richard Dawkins's "The God Delusion", and that really clarified things for me. I realised that I don't believe in God as a sentient being. In my mind, "God" is kind of a convenient way of describing Life, the Universe and Everything. The "deist God", as Dawkins puts it. The rest of it is just different frills added by different cultural groups over the millenia.

No, and being a good person doesn't mean you have to have Christian belief either. Why organise your moral code to fit a religion?

Annie: "But since we humans are so far from perfect, and twist everything to our own desires, I very much doubt that any human perception of who god is and what he want of us can be anywhere near the truth."

So true, so true. There is a very complicated term in Christian theology which says exactly this. Can't remember what it is, unsurprisingly!

i might convert, my dad was jewish, do i get points or something, like a tesco clubcard?

Something drew you to christianity though, aside from a myriad of other things you could believe or not believe in. What was it? Perhaps you're trying too hard to believe the way other people do and not letting your faith evolve as something unique to you?

Motivation - My kids are going to go the a CofE school and I wanted to see what they would be taught.

I grew up a Catholic - I am baptised and confirmed. I lost my absolute (I know many will think me brainwashed by my school/church at a young age) faith when I was 14 years old.

Now I want it back.

That's like demanding to believe in Father Christmas again. You can't. Tough.

Why do you want it back?