I can personally answer this by attributing the answer to my life experience. Being raised in an abusive environment and put into a negative environment in foster homes for 5 years until I was 7, then being moved back into the abusive environment where we (my brothers and sisters) were molested for another 7 years until I ran away. I can tell you that the only way I was able to navigate and overcome such a life was being touched by the Love of Jesus. Now I have not only forgiven my father but pray for his salvation knowing he needs to face up and surrender his malicious and evil heart to Jesus. I know this because I surrendered my heart and Jesus taught me how to overcome and gave me healing in such a manner I have been able to raise three wonderful children and my daughters are married with wonderful children.
My oldest brother was hurt the worst out of us all and turned against God because we were raised in a strict religion. I could understand why he equated the god he hated to the god that was foisted upon him while being severely abused but deep down he knew the real God who created us did love us. He committed suicide when he was 30 and ten years later I was taken to heaven where I saw him living in peace, and learning.
I know God because I accepted the touch of his wonderful Love at a young age and learned the power of forgiveness. However, I would not let my biological dad be alone with my children, because forgiveness isn’t stupidity but it is Love, and true wisdom is found in knowing my maker.
My brother couldn’t understand why a Loving God would allow so much pain in suffering, but Jesus taught me that it is the works of the flesh like selfishness, lust, hate, and envy which are the seeds which bear the fruit of suffering.
I know our maker has touched us all but gives us the free will choice of what we want to follow.
Love, or Hate
Life, or Death
Good, or Evil
Jesus paid for our sins that we could be granted life.
Why should someone start believing in God?
The question in the thread isn’t about any specific religion, though. It’s just belief in God. So something happening through “one of the myriad other religions out there” doesn’t show that it didn’t happen as a result of God.
You are not one of them, and you have already made it clear that you HAVE chosen to disbelieve.
For that matter, your link doesn’t CLEARLY show anything of the sort. It states one guy’s claim, and that claim supports the choice you’ve made, so in that respect it’s “clear” to you. But beyond that, … meh.
And other studies show the opposite.
And no, I’m not going to hunt for examples. I know you are aware of them.
Studying several Physics and Biology books, or getting a degree in such, simply enhance the depth of the Bible. This triples for AI.
Leave it to you, my friend, to look at this from a non- anthropogenic direction.
My answer to Meriweather’s well crafted OP starts with God, not Man.
I will word this for the non-believers here. Follow along in pure logic folks, I don’t care what you believe, just let your reason see the argument.
If there is one God, like that of Abraham, who sent his Son here to make anyone who believes in him justified with him,
And, this God is not a gaudy imagery God, he acts in a visual or widely perceptible way only infrequently,
Written words attributed to God are very few (12 commandments), and the words of His Son on earth are few and many of them in parables.
If this God that created everything, including you, wanted you to start down a path that lead to him, do you think that you could resist Him?
Faith comes FROM God.
Ephesians 2:8…
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
May each of you hear that call, it is a blessing.
Which has nothing to do with the point being made.
The Paraha don’t even have a word in their language for God. If you want to pretend that in their hearts they know God in order to make a Bible verse true…enjoy your delusion.
Actually, I am not. If you could provide a link I’d be interested in reading about the studies. Thanks!
Please don’t ruin one of the few good conversations on these boards with your ridiculous trolling, Spinach, OK?
Lol feel free to discuss. I know its easier to believe in fairy tails and assert your beliefs. You dont believe things subjectively exist?
Grace is not about winning a Super Bowl. Grace is about the inner person, the inner spirit. It is a process, and one that takes much longer than the course of a game.
“It’s unquestionable which team was more devout, more deserving of God’s grace. It was the Eagles, by a long shot”
I didn’t say anyone KNOWs God. I said seek. As in, explain why things are as they are.
And it’s not about a Bible verse. It’s about human nature as recorded throughout history.
You can nitpick about the Pirha all you want. It doesn’t change what I said about people choosing to disbelieve.
Your response to my original statement reminds me of an old saying: Throw a stick into a pack of dogs, and the one that yelps is the one you hit. I hit too close to home for you apparently. The point being made (or, at least, the point I made) is that people choose to disbelieve. I didn’t call you out, (nor anyone, actually), but you’re doing all you can to defend yourself against the point I made. You HAVE made that choice. You’ve made that clear in plenty of posts, on this board and its prior iteration. That’s your choice. Lightly-studied obscure jungle tribes won’t change that. But you can spend the next 50 replies trying to tell me all about them all the same.
That’s the rub isn’t it? That what you know of your god really is just the teachings of your church. What I thought I knew of a god was according to (mostly) Southern Baptist teachings. Almost every day I “talked” to a god to try to “know” him more, but it was always me doing the talking.
So I’m not going to argue against your teachings, I’m simply going to say that teachings are not enough for a non-believer to contemplate if a god exists.
There are really billions of gods. All of these gods exist only in the mind of the individual believer. I’ve seen no reason to believe otherwise.