How do you know God is real?

[Joe Berry]

Apologies if I put this question in the wrong forum.

I've been chatting with a guy that calls himself an Agnostic but I believe he may be atheist.

I've quoted scriptures, I've mentioned the numerous prophecies fulfilled, I've mentioned the facts that the Bible possibly mentions dinosaurs, mountains under the sea, what foods are good and not good for our bodies, I've mentioned how the Bible says the earth is round and that the earth is sitting on nothing. Everything I say, he explains it away.

Yesterday, God put a verse of scripture in my head, "Search for me with all of your heart and you will find me." In other words, I believe God was saying to me, until that guy himself searches for God, he will not believe anything I say.

But now, I want to know for myself, why you know God is real. (for future references when I speak to an agnostic or atheist)

 

[Bonairos]

Just for starters, how do you know He's not?

 

[WIP]

For me it happened one night while I was out for a walk. It was probably about 1 or 2 am in late fall before there was snow on the ground. I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk. That's a nice time to do that on a crisp calm night, by the way. The northern lights were dancing pretty good that night and being out in the country away from the washout effect of city lights the night sky is quite impressive to see.

As I was looking up at the stars the total vastness and perfection of it all just seemed to hit me. How could something so beautifully put together be an accident? Where did all the matter come from? All the galaxies with their orbiting stars, stars with their orbiting planets, planets with their orbiting moons, atoms with their orbiting electrons, electrons with their orbiting sub-atomic particles. How the earth is so perfectly placed just the right distance from the sun that our atmosphere remains livable. How the atmosphere is designed in such a way to protect us from the harmful radiation from the sun and yet allow the needed light and heat to penetrate. How we have both dry land and water perfectly suited for our existence. How the plant life on our planet perfectly compliments our existence by using the carbon dioxide we exhale and releasing the oxygen we need for survival. How we are so perfectly able to reproduce with all the right organs being created time after time after time. I could go on for hours.

It's just too perfect to be anything other than God-created.

 

[Bonairos]

WIP,

"Behold Your God!"

Be blessed, Stay blessed!

 

[Joe Berry]

For me it happened one night while I was out for a walk. It was probably about 1 or 2 am in late fall before there was snow on the ground. I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk. That's a nice time to do that on a crisp calm night, by the way. The northern lights were dancing pretty good that night and being out in the country away from the washout effect of city lights the night sky is quite impressive to see.

As I was looking up at the stars the total vastness and perfection of it all just seemed to hit me. How could something so beautifully put together be an accident? Where did all the matter come from? All the galaxies with their orbiting stars, stars with their orbiting planets, planets with their orbiting moons, atoms with their orbiting electrons, electrons with their orbiting sub-atomic particles. How the earth is so perfectly placed just the right distance from the sun that our atmosphere remains livable. How the atmosphere is designed in such a way to protect us from the harmful radiation from the sun and yet allow the needed light and heat to penetrate. How we have both dry land and water perfectly suited for our existence. How the plant life on our planet perfectly compliments our existence by using the carbon dioxide we exhale and releasing the oxygen we need for survival. How we are so perfectly able to reproduce with all the right organs being created time after time after time. I could go on for hours.

It's just too perfect to be anything other than God-created.

For me,it happened one night at 3 am,February, 1994. I was sound asleep when God woke me. (Well,in my dreams) But, it seemed so real. I got up, got on my knees and asked forgiveness for my sins at that moment.


My wife says the same thing you said above. We like to walk at night and admire God's creation, the heavens and the stars.

 

[Bonairos]

Joe Berry,

You already know for yourself and have the answer you first inquired about.

Be blessed, Stay blessed!

 

[darktipper]

All you have to do is look at the stars at night and think about them. Who created that.... Then move your body and think who created me? The best one of all is gravity..... Who created that. If the big bang theory was real then who created the bang lol

I like to sometimes look at the clouds and stars and marvel at the thought. God must be huge.....

 

[WIP]

This isn't about evolution vs. creation. It's about the awesomeness of everything around us. Every time I look out my window I see God in His creation. The warmth of the sun, the beauty of fresh fallen snow, the colors in autumn, the unlimited cloud formations, the dawning of new life in the spring, the smell after a spring rain. Science may try to explain how His creation operates but it's all God's handiwork and He made it happen the way He wanted.

 

[Danus]

Yesterday, God put a verse of scripture in my head, "Search for me with all of your heart and you will find me." In other words, I believe God was saying to me, until that guy himself searches for God, he will not believe anything I say.

But now, I want to know for myself, why you know God is real. (for future references when I speak to an agnostic or atheist)

I think your absolutely correct. That is what God is telling you and that's how I know God is real.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink because you can't convince him he's thirsty. He'll have to come to that on his own. What you should find is a thirsty horse.

 

[Deavonreye]

I think your absolutely correct. That is what God is telling you and that's how I know God is real.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink because you can't convince him he's thirsty. He'll have to come to that on his own. What you should find is a thirsty horse.

Well. . . . if you look at it from the other side, . . . you must first lead the horse to an actual source of water rather than the dry riverbeds the horse seems to find.

 

[Oats]

Well. . . . if you look at it from the other side, . . . you must first lead the horse to an actual source of water rather than the dry riverbeds the horse seems to find.

but if the horse doesn't know the difference between real water and non water what can you do

he'll come to his own conclusion and wont stop me from drinking

 

[Sam21]

Well. . . . if you look at it from the other side, . . . you must first lead the horse to an actual source of water rather than the dry riverbeds the horse seems to find.

A really thirsty horse will not bother with a dry riverbed, he will go where there is water.

 

[Oats]

I think it is safe to assume there is a God

I think there are many reasons I believe

One of my number one reasons I believe is because there is extreme order in this universe lends into itself

How can such order be the result of a random explosion with no cause

 

[Deavonreye]

I would suggest going to a physics forum [or similar links] and making the statement that "the universe has order".

As for the "horse to water analogy", the problem is that you see the horse as "stupid" when it isn't the case. The horse knows what is good clear and clean water. Stagnant water will probably make the horse sick.

What I am saying is . . . . if what is being offered is of value, a person will be more open to receiving it.

 

[cleanfreak]

It takes faith. A lot of the stories in the bible are WAY out there and without faith, I would not believe. This is the main difference of the atheist and the christian. As soon as you mention faith, the debate is really over.

 

[Deavonreye]

I'm not an atheist, but I trust you know why "the debate is over when faith is brought up"? It's really quite simple. Without a method to test a claim, there is no way to determine its veracity. With this in mind, any religious claim has equal probability of being factual. . . .or unfactual.

I tried "faith" for decades and found no worth in it. Evidence is what's valuable in determining direction.

Now, if this "faith" works for you, fine.

 

[cleanfreak]

Now, if this "faith" works for you, fine.

I can tell now you are not an atheist, just from this statement. I would dare to guess 99% of atheist would never post this.

With that said, you have "NO" under your christian status. May I ask what do you believe in?

:

 

[darrell]

I'm not an atheist, but I trust you know why "the debate is over when faith is brought up"? It's really quite simple. Without a method to test a claim, there is no way to determine its veracity. With this in mind, any religious claim has equal probability of being factual. . . .or unfactual.

Atheists say, “There is no God,†because faith can’t be measured scientifically in the way we measure the physical world. But this is a dishonest position because the scientific method doesn’t work that way. Science doesn’t “prove†anything. Evidence either supports or doesn’t support a hypothesis. Agnostics are honest because they acknowledge, as Deavon says, “equal probability.†Personally, I have found tons of evidence to support my faith.
<O</O
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1, New King James Version)
<O</O
One time in prayer, I thought of a black hole, a star so dense that it has collapsed on itself. The gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape it, and we can’t see the collapsed star; all we can see is a void. But just because all we can see is darkness, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing there. On the contrary, the mass is so dense and great that nothing can escape its pull, not even light; everything is drawn to it. When we look beyond the event horizon (the boundary of the black hole – the point a distance from the center at which the force of gravity no longer overpowers light), we again see stars. The farther from the black hole, the more scattered the stars, and as we get closer to the black hole, the number and closeness of the stars becomes greater and greater. The effect is that all the heavenly bodies appear to point to a dark void.

<O</O
Faith is like this: we seem to stare at a God we can’t see with our eyes, yet everything points to a God who is very real.
<O</O

I tried "faith" for decades and found no worth in it. Evidence is what's valuable in determining direction.

Now, if this "faith" works for you, fine.

Personally, I find much worth in my faith – it gives me hope. If I weren’t a Christian, I’d have to be an existentialist, and that’s a proposition I find totally hopeless.

 

[Gendou Ikari]

Just for starters, how do you know He's not?

Bertrand Russell's Tea Pot:

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.

All you have to do is look at the stars at night and think about them. Who created that.... Then move your body and think who created me? The best one of all is gravity..... Who created that. If the big bang theory was real then who created the bang lol

I like to sometimes look at the clouds and stars and marvel at the thought. God must be huge.....

The question then becomes: Who created God?

 

[Gendou Ikari]

I can tell now you are not an atheist, just from this statement. I would dare to guess 99% of atheist would never post this.

With that said, you have "NO" under your christian status. May I ask what do you believe in?

:

I am an atheist and I have no problem with faith as long as it is progressive and not regressive. Then again, I am better than 99 per cent of all Atheists.