Why believe in God, if you have never experienced Him?

[Thinker108]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Just curious...bec as I read on forums it seems apparent so many have not
experienced Him/It/She.

Is it just something built inside you to believe?
Something in the soul?

I think trust is a good thing - I mean,
there are so many beautiful scriptures, so
some of them must be right, right? Is that why?

And if one believes, but has never experienced Him - do
you seek Him/It/ She?

Father, Mother, Vishnu, Krishna, the Divine?
Jesus and Krishna have both said, Abide in me --- how does one do that
if you have never experienced Him?

And yet I read many still believe?

Thanks

because we only can believe, there is not another way to know God. If you say, meditation, for whom you meditate? If you say spiritual practices, for whom you practice? If you say I practice and meditate for self realization, you are accepting and believing that something is to know which you don’t know. Without belief, there is no path to realize God. For me, I experienced him.

[Honza]

Originally Posted by Thinker108

because we only can believe, there is not another way to know God. If you say, meditation, for whom you meditate? If you say spiritual practices, for whom you practice? If you say I practice and meditate for self realization, you are accepting and believing that something is to know which you don’t know. Without belief, there is no path to realize God. For me, I experienced him.

Well said!

[Thinker108]

Originally Posted by Honza

Well said!

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Hi chandrakavi - welcome here.
Thank you for reviving this thread, that I feel is for our atheist friends.
If someone has never experienced "God" or a Superior Power - why does someone have to, I say.
Now, to clarify - this is coming from a person that has experienced this Superior Power and Cosmic Consciousness - and am thrilled that I have - but, hey, if you haven't - so the xx what?
Enjoy yourself - be happy.
And never get caught in any religious concepts!!!

Thank you Miss Hepburn!
I don't go for theism or organized religions nor do I go for atheism , because I see it as a religion also.

I am into meditation, it is a different way of experiencing but instead of God it is called: totality, wholeness, Existence, you take your pick in words.
God is more a word from western monotheistic culture.
Everything about believing or not about God is subjective and very personal.
So it is not something to agree or disagree with, although we all have our opinions.
Some call it Godliness, but it is , the way I see, a way to impose beliefs on others, that is not respecting other people , So in a word I am more into the Eastern culture experience, Nirvana.
So as you say, one should enjoy life ,life love and laughter, and surely religious concepts and dogmas should be avoided.
Religion is what you do with your life every moment.
Cheers!

[CSEe]

Just sharing . In my opinion , human by nature is curious , from curious develope into interest , then from interest become belief and from belief develope into faith..............is faith resulted from curious lead to creation of religion and the creation of GOD by human knowledge .....is all human option by his own will , his own choice .

What is curious ? Curious should be a fundemantel search of all discovery and curious is not an option but is a process of "life"........is the purpose of life to discover ownself , the meaning of ownself , the purpose of own existance and the end of ownself ..........thats Buddhism to me .

Thks
CSEe

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Jyotir,

I know, who really knows what I'm asking?
Just keep talking I love listening to you.

I guess I wondered how people believe in something
they have not experienced. What compells them to?
What is the need, for example. How can they?

Now, if they have for even a few seconds gotten a glimpse of, say,
touching a flower and the thrill of their Cosmic Beloved suddenly
should pass through 'some faculty in an extraordinarily natural manner' to them...well, then they
would not qualify as not experiencing 'something' of the Divine.

I have a hard time with the statement, "belief is the experience of God',
though it is part of God's Cosmic Tapestry. And I will ponder your sentence " including within the belief itself - 'evidence' or none, as it is self-evident."

Belief =not knowing, not sure, to me.
Why place one's faith in something one has never gotten the slightest magical glimpse of? That's the main question.

Many people here have had profound experiences.

But many have not had even a one- yet, they believe.
Or maybe it's a hope or wish that the stories of others are true.
That seems logical - to aspire for something unseen, but experienced by others.

That must be it.

I love your sentence:
"It is receptivity that allows even the
so-called mundane to be experienced as sacred."


Do you see the dot over this i ?
That would not exist if not for Him. You and I are blessed to know this.
We are in Him and He in us - the outside of the glass is the same as
the inside of the glass - yet one holds the water and the other is held by you.
Same glass... One glass. Inside, outside the same.


Love you.

Didn't Jesus say to Thomas, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed."
Isn't this what having faith is all about? Heb. 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Doesn't it also say somewhere, If you believe you shall see the glory of God?
I think we have it backward when we say, seeing is believing. I think it is the other way around, believing is seeing.
Be well, Geri

Greetings..

It is interesting that whatever happens or whatever the situation, 'believers' will believe it to be the work of 'God'.. yet, for the unbeliever, the same event happens.. nothing changes except the believer's attachment to the belief.. believing in a 'God' to inspire self-happiness, is no different the believing in Life, and experiencing the same happiness..

Be well..

[Xan]

Originally Posted by Thinker108

because we only can believe, there is not another way to know God. If you say, meditation, for whom you meditate? If you say spiritual practices, for whom you practice? If you say I practice and meditate for self realization, you are accepting and believing that something is to know which you don’t know. Without belief, there is no path to realize God. For me, I experienced him.

Yes... it's about experiencing him/It/pure presence. But there are many motivations for spiritual practices besides belief in "God".

As for me, I wanted to know the Truth for myself. It turns out for me that's whole awareness and pure love without any name.


Xan

[Chrysaetos]

People aren't born with a belief in a god, they are taught there is a god.

Belief in god would never exist if humans lived in vacuums.. the constant reassurance of the ''I'' construct is kept alive through human interaction.
God is derived from this separate idea of a self, an ''I'', god being the super-I.. the 'solution' to life's mysteries.

Originally Posted by Time

Its all culture. WE are brought up with that idea, even if we arent taught it by the parents. ITs EVERYWHERE in our culture, even if your christian or not. The west is highly influenced by christianity, and the notion of male domainance. And even that, that depends on the society. Iroquois women were the rightful property owner, and took care of everything besides war, and hunting/fishing. The men even shaved off all of their body hair, and kept either long, or the typical 'mohawk" hairstyle.

Yes. Christian influence is deeply embedded in our culture. You go to your average movie in the cinema and you will see the same themes repeated over and over again..
the bad guy is rich and has no love, while the good guy is poor but has love. It's as if you can't have both or have to choose one or the other..

Most of us here are all cultural Christians.

[Silver]

Originally Posted by Chrysaetos

People aren't born with a belief in a god, they are taught there is a god.

Belief in god would never exist if humans lived in vacuums.. the constant reassurance of the ''I'' construct is kept alive through human interaction.
God is derived from this separate idea of a self, an ''I'', god being the super-I.

Then it's sort of a given, huh?

What would your/our world be like if we all lived in separation from each other?

I think we can all see the 'good' and 'bad' sides of believing in a higher power.