My problem with God's existence?
Whether He exist or not I do not know and whether He is telling me to go back to worship Him I still can't tell if it's Him or my brain.
I was a Christian when I was 5 years old; protestant. At 19, I started to have doubts from life experiences and from numerous religious debates from all over; youtube, articles, forums, etc.
I grew up in a violent neighborhood and kids who are studious in school are often bullied and frowned upon. There were only two different racial groups that went to the schools I went (elementary to high) - Blacks and Asians.
Whites had the money to send their children to Private school so to see or know a White kid would be something to brag about.
I unfortunately was part of the minority of students that went to school to learn. The elderly people and teachers would tell me and my other Asian friends that racism does not exist. I knew if I was ever going to get out of that place I would have to get as much education as I can, because somewhere out there was another world where people are nice and there would be trees, flowers and many other colorful sorts of things. I've seen it all on TV. The all White suburbs. Course there was also the central part of the city that was filled with sophisticated people and clean streets but because I was situated deep in the ghettos the walking distance posed a problem.
I had to worry about being beat up or get shot in drive-by while walking home or to school everyday. I wished I could just live in a peaceful world and I envied the kids who did. I would rely on God for everything, especially protection from the Black man (not to be racist, but I've held it in long enough).
Ten years ago, I moved from that city. I now live in a safe White suburban neighborhood. Haha, it's not as perfect as portrayed on T.V or in movies. There's definitely a lot of materialism going on, and even drugs. But most of all, there are atheists and agnostics. It's funny because even in my native hometown, the worst of the people there believe in a god.
I've went on too long. I'll add more if you need to know more.
So now to get to the questions -
I relied on God for far too long, how do I get him out of my head and out of my life (if the atheist says he is fake)?
Why is he still a part of me even when I discovered Buddhism, in fact, it brought me back to Him after reading Gautama Buddha's teachings?
Will my IQ blossom even further once I abandon the concept of a god?
So many opinions on Jesus' existence, but I still like the guy, and DO consider him my God more so than the Father.
I'm sure there are more questions I would love to ask and be done with, but lets start with these.
Thank you all so much for your time.
Update:Super top quality answers on Yahoo! Answers, wow!!!
Update 3:This is hurting my head aaarrrgh!!!
Comments
Your questions are those that have been wondered generation after generation.
I think you are confusing religion with a connection to the higher power aka God.
Buddhism is more of a way of life than a religion.
I personally read Tao & Buddha, I consider myself a Christian. Over the years I have lost my need to be what I call "Church". Religion has been created by mankind, thus, it is flawed big time!
I have wondered over the years why a pure-love- God make only one way to the spiritual connection with the God aka spiritual realm of our spiritual selves. I felt that if a person never hear of the one God and the Christ, how could a loving God damn them all to hell? I finally came to the conclusion that there are many paths to the same destination. Many names for God/Higher Power. I had to deal with Christ -- then I realized that God is Christ and Christ is God. Therefor any culture can worship Tree or Buddha or Whatever they name God and not be kept out of eternal life.
There is nothing wrong with your feelings. You are bright and human. There is nothing wrong with wondering why the God in Church is often different than God the universal higher power. Dogma kills. Be glad that you are open to the mysteries of the universe and not continued in a cookie-cutter-sort of person.
Think on this..,,,,, it seems that all culture's have a creation story, a God, a universal flood,and morals and then an afterlife.
I realized eventually that God the creator is so aw some that He really doesn't have time to micromanage our lives. Our intent & circumstances often set who we are rather than if we find a parking spot in front of the grocery store.
God explains Science and Science explains God. There is nothing wrong with evolution. Think of the vastness of the universe and all the creators of the earth and sea and sky, there is little change that it all just sort of happened out of random selection.
Rely on God, and remember this.......that if we sit in a boat that has a hole in it, sinking,..do we just pray, do we just use buckets to get the water out of the boat? As humans connected with Higher Power we pray and we use the buckets and whatever else we need to do so that we don't sink & die.
Again, Father, Son & Holy Spirit are all one. A relationship with the Creator is a good thing. Feeling guilt or confused in how to please our God is a real waste of life.
Your IQ will not grow if you don't believe in God. Our IQ is our IQ. Whatever we believe in is what we believe in. Do you really think that the power that created this amazing universe has time for our hairsplitting thoughts. He is so accepting of his creation and He sees us as we are without all the chains that bind us. We are the ones that choose to be chained and gagged by all of our "what-ifs - shoulders & could ifs' that waste our precious time in our earthly journey.
Email me if you want.
If the question is about God's existence, that cannot necessarily be answered. While I may personally believe in God, it is by faith, and not so much by physical or mathematical proof.
Atheism really should not exist. It seems to be the stubborn that are atheists. An easy way to change their thinking is to ask them if they know what is happening on Mars or Venus or in some country at a specific area in someones life at the very moment you are talking. The answer is obviously "No." So with that thought, you can conclude that humans only know maybe about .1% of what is going on in the universe, both the known and unknown. That leaves 99.9% that is unknown, and that is more than enough room for someone or something to exist. So now everyone is agnostic.
We can only speculate on why bad things happen to good people, but my belief is because humans have free will, and they are called to God, but not forced to worship or follow Him. The Bible says the God could have the rocks worship Him, but he doesn't. If humans worshiped and believed in God by His command, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam would have no point. Therefore, it is by faith we honour and worship Him, and that is part of why bad things can happen, even to good people.
As far as believing in God, that's a personal choice. There is strong evidence of Jesus existing, whether his claims about himself are true or not. The Bible has gone through much criticism over the years and some books (such as the Book of Judas) have been emitted because of historical inaccuracy or other imperfections. The Bible is probably the best place to research. I suggest Romans, Hebrews, and 3 John. James is good to run through as well.
Gautama taught much about living a peaceful, sin free life. Buddhism teaches to accept suffering and learn self-control. These teaching are almost the same as those that the ideal Christian exhibits. It is the similarities between the religious principles that probably brought you back.
No, you won't necessarily grow smarter without God. You can learn what you want, when you want. Whether you accept it as correct, right, or fact, that is your decision. God does not stifle teaching, He encourages it. Learn what you want, but be careful what you take to heart.
Words are made to reference things. Language isn't a tool till used by the mind, and it is a tool for reference. So what might you be referencing in the interior world, or the exterior world, that one or any might find sense-certainty in when referenced by this word "God"?
If you connect the world with God, as in pantheism, in the future, you will have a hard time dealing with the Atheistic ideas. If however, you think of God not as reality, and set reality aside as reality itself, and than define God as a deity, you can look for reasons to accept or reject such a deity, to be or not be a holder of the Atheistic representations of the world and Self. If you can't find sufficient reason, than as a thinking individual you should be able to dismiss that idea, that is to say a representation for "something", and move on.
How much is Buddha, Jesus, or any other religious figure going to help you survive? When you study human biology, and philosophy thereof, you will run into this question about religion, and I would suggest being able to answer at a young age, before you get to involved with putting importance on such historical figures.
Your IQ will blossom, not just because you don't explain things in terminology as sort as "goddidit", but you will also be comprehending the interactions of the universe, which give you a greater tactical awareness, that is, a kind of smartness.
You said 'I was a Christian when I was 5 years old' but how could you be? You were TOLD you were a christian by parents, teachers, pastors etc. sure but did that MAKE you a Christian? Are there 5 year old Democrats or 5 year old Republicans? Of course not - anyone that young is FAR too young to form an opinion about the nature of reality.
The clue that you are in fact a free thinker is you now say you can't be sure he exists or not. This is GOOD - you can open your mind to BOTH possibilities. It proves your childhood indoctrination did not FORCE you to believe something you can currently question. Congratulations! You are free to choose whatever you judge to be true & what more could anyone ask - even a God?
It seems to me that your understanding of the Christian God Yahweh is slightly skewed. May I suggest that before you make probably the biggest decision of you life, that you do research and don't just believe everything you hear off the internets?
You wouldn't be the first to have your mind so rashly altered this way.
I can't answer your first two questions, but what I can say about your IQ inquiry is that your independence from God and rebuking him has nothing to do with your IQ. It isn't a contributing factor. Both atheists and Chrirstians share the same IQ.
Well, I know that Jesus is God because He changed my life and because of the fulfilled prophesies in the Bible. Try reading it, New Testament first. I found answers there. Why would you want Him out of your head? He loves you and died for your sins so that you could have eternal life. What do you need a high IQ for? That will only make you prideful and you will get farther away from God. He is patiently trying to get you back into the fold. I advise you to pay attention. God will not always strive with men.
God's existence is a logical impossibility. He does not exist because he cannot exist. His attributes that are mutually exclusive, and the other attributes are synonymous with non existence.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/207912/fi...
Jesus might have had a few good things to say, but he was not any kind of hero as far as I understand him. He invented hell and then threatened people who did not love him with that eternal torment. He is a sacrificial object for the "sins" of someone else and binding everyone else through that. He said to uphold every OT law (including killing non believers). He said not to think about the future and to follow your whims. I happen to find Jesus contemptible.
Buddhism has some of the same oversimplified one liners like "desire is suffering" and "take no thought for the morrow".
If you worship Jesus as a god more than god himself, then surely orthodox belief is already irrelevant to you.
The ideologies of Christ (Not the rest of bible which he did not contribute to), apart from the theological perspective, is not so different from the basic philosophy of Buddhism.
Why is he still a part of you? Because old habits are hard to kick.
If you are capable of opening your mind to alternative explanations, you will become more knowledgeable, even if you still embrace some form of faith.
Your willingness to read material aside from the bible is already your first step to self reliance.