Does God exist? Many people are a part of vast arrays of religious practices, but some people struggle with the thought of believing in the unseen and the seemingly non-existent. I have grown up in a family that was full of conservative Christians, and that meant that church was a necessity on Sundays and praying to God happened before every meal. Some people never question the way they are raised, and they never wonder about those who are thought to be celestial. Unfortunately, and fortunately, I was not one of those people. I was always an inquisitive child and my intelligence led me to conclusions that most children are not able to reach. Some may view this as a very positive thing, and I do as well, but there are downsides. The biggest …show more content…
The question involved this: “If God is such a good deity and loves his creations so much, why does he allow so many bad things to happen?” This query rocked my world and sent disbelief flying through the most solid areas of my Christian foundation. Suddenly, I was no longer looking at the world the same way, and I had doubts about everything that I had ever been taught. Examining the very foundation of one’s being can really put a damper on one’s theology. I searched and searched for an answer, but never found one that sufficed. It never made sense to me that God would allow suffering and heartache, but no matter what I found, the question remained. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that maybe I needed to search myself, so I began hunting for my solution. I finally realized that God, apparently, does not want the bad that exists, but he allows us to make our own decisions, which leads to the problems that seems to protrude from every corner of the earth. Although that gave relief to my question that always seemed to linger, it did not, however, subside remaining …show more content…
I saw all the bad in the world, but I also noticed all the good that seemed to outweigh the negative. I was aware of the things that no one could answer, but having the answer to everything meant that life would no longer hold a purpose. The existential questions flowed through my thoughts but so did the knowledge I had gained from the experience and the apparent answers to my questions. I had to decide whether to believe in something I was unable to physically see or cling to only the things that are visible. My meaning for existence rested upon this decision. I cursed the fact that my inquisitiveness hindered my religious practices, but my intelligence also helped me through this difficult period. I knew what my solution was, and my answer was that I did believe in God. Finally, my conclusions were this: “I would rather believe in God and find out he does not exist, than to not believe and find out he does.” Either way I had nothing to lose. I was afraid of questioning because that meant I had little faith, but that is all God wanted. It is indeed true that many people belong to many different religions, but I, however, belong to Christianity. As answers seemed to burst forth, the relentless questions flying through my mind subsided and I was reminded that, yes, God does
“I do not believe in God,” I told myself inside my head, expecting something to happen. I expected the hand of God to part the clouds, reach down into the car and slap me across the face, but it didn’t. Nothing happened. It suddenly felt as if a giant weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Though that may sound a little cliche, it is still very true. I suddenly felt that I was starting over, that everything that happened prior did not matter and that I was free of any guilt I may have felt while I considered myself to be a Christian. The most amazing thing is that I could successfully challenge my entire view of religion with one simple sentence. I considered myself to be very dogmatic, and I hardly never took into account any opposing views, whether fact or
Growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood as a kid sanctioned me to perpetually become aware that I was different from my neighbors. Through some social interactions with my friends in elementary schools, I quickly descried that my appearances, such as my hair, eyes, and nose was different from my peers. For instance, my hair was a lot darker than most of my peers’ hair and the texture of my hair was different from most of them. “Grow out your hair” were phrases that lingered throughout my childhood days, where I had my hair at a very short length. Throughout my childhood, I longed to try to be a part of the dominant group in society such as the Caucasians, but I did not do anything to be a part of the bigger group in society. Instead,
As a second language learner I have never expected myself to be a perfect writer throughout the semester. Even If English was my first language still, I would not be a perfect writer. It is not about first or second language, it is about how well I understand the learning objectives. Then organizing and writing with my own ideas and putting them in my paper. I am going to be honest, I am not good at English subject and English subject is my strongest weakness than the other subjects. In this paper I will discuss and analyze my own writing, reflecting on the ways that my writing has improved throughout the semester.
... God and how He is related to us – how powerful He is to make everything in this world works; how He made everything almost perfect for us. I have also learned that believing He exist, makes me understand more about His existence, just like what St. Anselm said. I believe that believing He exists, is what makes Him exist. For me, Yes, God really exist.
I have always had the knowledge of Christ, but up until this last year, I realized I did not truly believe in him. I questioned the things in my life and why I always ended up with the same misery over and over. I had grown up in an abusive life from my early years. I can honestly say I had brief periods of peace when I was allowed to go with my grandparents, but they were short lived. I was taken to a variety of counselors from a very young age and put on prescription medicines starting at 16. Everyone around me could not figure out what was wrong with me and why nothing would “fix” me. Sin was a normal for me, and I carried on that lifestyle into adulthood. I had no concept of trust and what love really was.
As time went on and I grew up, I started to understand the principles of my faith more clearly. With more understanding came with more questions. It seemed to be that the more I thought about my faith, the more questions I had. I started to really think about my faith and analyze the reasons behind why I believed during my mid-teens. I had trouble understanding religious concepts such as heaven and hell. Why would anyone condemn someone not to a place of eternal, ...
At the age of 14 I had already doubted if there were a god. I had happened to be brought up in a quite religious family, and so being a child, believed in what they believed in. I had tried praying, watching for a sign that there was some sort of powerful entity there to help through hard times, and everytime I tried I heard nothing, I noticed nothing. The so called “God” wasn't speaking to me, so I took my life into my own hands. Who better to be in charge of my life, my way of living, than me. I even tried to speak to Satan, during an edgy emo phase of my life. Nothing from that end either. I do not believe in anything but death, and death only. We have all been dead before life, and I have no memories of wandering the Heavens with Jesus
When I was roughly twenty-three years old, I was experiencing the toughest time my life has brought me. After getting in trouble with the law and then straightening my life, out everything started being on the up, to include newly being married, buying my first dream house, and my wife giving birth to a perfect beautiful baby girl. I then decided to join the military due to working multiple dead-end jobs because of a criminal background. With all these positive things happening in my life, I found out my wife had cheated on me, and cold heartedly told me she didn’t want anything to do with me. A family is all I ever wanted in my life, and this news devastated me to the point that I contemplated committing suicide. One night while laying with my wife in bed I decided to pray. I said to God “if you are real why are you allowing something like this to happen, and I want to see a sign to know that you are real.” “Show me something that isn’t a coincidence, I want Yarelis (my ex-wife) to slap me in my back right now, and I will know you are still with me.” Out of nowhere she slapped me in my back. I freaked out and asked her why she didn’t, and she had no explanation besides an urge came over her that she couldn’t fight. This immediately brought be to the poem “Footprints in the Sand.” Therefore personally, regardless what anyone can say, I believe in God, and I worship him in my own
Undoubtedly, the most influential people in my life have been my mother and father. It is to them that I credit many of my accomplish-ments and successes-both inside and outside of school. Throughout my childhood, my parents have always fostered and encouraged me in all my endeavors. At all my sporting events, spelling bees, concerts, and countless other activities, they have always been front row and center. My parents, in conjunction with twelve years of Catholic training, have also instilled in me a sound belief in a loving, caring God, which I have come to firmly believe. It therefore should not come as a surprise that the news of my mothers sickness would greatly alter my entire outlook on life. Where was my God?
The concept of God can be a difficult one to grasp especially in today's world - a world in which anyone that believes in God is trying to define exactly what God is. To even attempt to grasp such a concept, one must first recognize his own beliefs in respect to the following questions: Is God our creator? Is God omnipotent (all-powerful) or omniscient (all-knowing) or both? Does God care? Is God with us? Does God interfere with life on earth? These questions should be asked and carefully answered if one should truly wish to identify his specific beliefs in God's existence and persistence.
As a young boy, I attended Sunday School for many years. I learned about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit once a week and was immersed in a family that was religious. We never missed a Sunday, prayed before every meal, and talked about God in our lives. I was baptized and began attending a Lutheran church up until the end of middle school. Our lives became busier, and our attendances to church became fewer and far between. In school I began learning about evolution and how humans came about. I remember that I did not understand how school could teach something different than what I learned my entire life. At first I did not know what to believe. I became skeptical about many ideas in the Christian faith. Is there one almighty God? Did he create man as told in the story of Adam and Eve? I thought these bold ideas were far-fetched. For a short while, I did not believe the teachings of the Bible or of God. I had many of the same thoughts as doubters of the Christian religion. How can the idea of one God or Heaven be real if no living person had ever witnessed it for themselves? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? The absence of God and the theory of evolution seemed like the reasonable explanation to me. As time went on, I continued to attend church sporadically and did a lot of thinking about my faith. Every so often, I would find
Similar to Freud and Lewis, we spend much of our time debating and discussing our own questions of God, reality, and science. However, we may not do so in a scenic walk in the wood as Freud and Lewis might have, we certainly have come to great terms with what we believe in. Towards the middle of second semester senior year, I felt that I had really come to terms with my faith life. After two years of learning the history of our religion, a year learning how our religion affects justice in our daily life, and finally delving deeper into my question of God in my senior year, I felt comfortable with where I was. I had come to the conclusion that God may exist in the world, and there definitely is the possibility for it, as there’s no way to prove existence without God. However, I decided that in my faith life I would not focus so much on the existence of God, but rather follow the teachings of our Church. I came to terms with the idea that the Church is just another way to unify a group of people in order to achieve a better good for our world. I never had to believe in God in order to participate in service or other deeds that unify us as a people, simply because I believed in the ideas of the Church. Many have doubted me and questioned why I still stay involved with the Church despite my agnosticism, and to them I can only respond that I enjoy being a part of a community that strives to do better for our world through service, a value that had been instilled in me by my father since I was young. These same people fail to realize that the Church is more than just doing what’s good in order to please a possible transcendent being, and also fail to realize the true reason they are doing what they do. These people are blinded by God, and I have always detested this idea, and perhaps this is what caused me doubt in the existence of God, as I did not want to believe in a being who
I’d like to state the most obvious observation that I’ve made about spiritual formation; that is that I will always need to be seeking for ways to nurture my personal spirituality throughout my life. I know that to most people this may sound like a “duh” statement, but for me it has truly become a reality and one that I must admit I have been struggling to embrace. I was brought up in a church that, like most traditional churches, stayed happy living in the “comfort zone” of their Christianity. They took everything that the Bible said at face value without digging in to find out why they believed what they believed. I had never been challenged to look deeper into the text. In the past few years I have felt the need to tunnel out of this cave of what I feel is best labeled “Christian ignorance”. In the process though, I have had to come to terms with letting go of the things that brought me comfort and provided me with what I thought it took to have a close relationship with God. Some of those things were tangible. Most were not. The things that were the least tangible actually ended up being the hardest to let go of.
As a student at the University of Portland, who has now spent a semester living amidst the Catholic culture, I have started to think about religion fundamentally different than prior to this year. Theology class has been enlightening. In class, a new external lens of how one can view faith while learning to think critically in the search of truth has been presented. The inquisitiveness in me has led me to ask hard questions regarding myself, my perceptions, my misconceptions, and even some heartfelt convictions while contemplating my faith. I have experienced legitimate struggles. I acknowledge I have ignorant barriers keeping me from totally living a life with God and for God due to the confusion of exactly what that means. “All truths are
There are several different reasons why many people don’t believe in God’s Existence. Some philosophers have impacted people by invincibly denying God’s existence, philosophers believe that if something cannot be seen by eye then there’s no proof for its existence. No one can visually see God right in front of them, that causes people to ask themselves whether he exists or not. Another reason why many people don’t believe in God is the creation of science. Science has answered the basic life questions and changed the way people view ev...