# Healing and Wellbeing > Spirituality, Religion and Faith >  >  How do you believe in God

## Grand Jete

I don't know, maybe this seems like a stupid question. I want to believe in God or something, anything spiritual...but I just can't. I don't know why I can't, but it's just the way it is. I feel like other people have some sort of special feeling or inspiration or something when they hear the word of God (or whatever religion they are a part of) and I feel....nothing. But I want that so bad, because I feel like it would help me to feel less alone. I've always wanted that sense of belonging that I sense in many faith communities, but when I tried becoming a part of a church, I felt like a big fat fraud. 

I guess my question is, have you always believed in a God? Was there some spiritual awakening that occurred? Or am I just weird for always feeling so empty?

----------


## Ironman

> I don't know, maybe this seems like a stupid question. I want to believe in God or something, anything spiritual...but I just can't. I don't know why I can't, but it's just the way it is. I feel like other people have some sort of special feeling or inspiration or something when they hear the word of God (or whatever religion they are a part of) and I feel....nothing. But I want that so bad, because I feel like it would help me to feel less alone. I've always wanted that sense of belonging that I sense in many faith communities, but when I tried becoming a part of a church, I felt like a big fat fraud. 
> 
> I guess my question is, have you always believed in a God? Was there some spiritual awakening that occurred? Or am I just weird for always feeling so empty?



Then, pray for the desire to be open to Him.  The feelling of fraudulence is a big issue.  We have to remember that Jesus (the little dude who was born on Christmas Day), died for our sins so we would not have to carry that shame.
We are a new creation in Christ.

----------


## WineKitty

Christ wasn't born on Christmas day.  He was most likely born during the Harvest time.  Not trying to argue or debate but having factual information is key in our faith and understanding.  Sadly, organized religion perpetuates traditions and "rules" that aren't of Biblical roots.

If your curiosity is piqued about having faith, about God, about something bigger than ourselves, about creation and order, about there being more than just "this is it"...about your spirit and soul being something unique and more than what some might tell you....the best place to start is the Bible itself.  You will find organized religion has little to do with, in many cases, what the Bible says.  I would recommend the New King James Version and beginning with the Gospels.  The birth of Christ is best documented in the Gospel of Luke but the underlying feeling is the birth of Christ wasn't considered relevant as far as even mentioning an exact date.  It is the ministry and the message of the Good News that is relevant.

I personally love the Gospels; they are my favorite books in the Bible.  Prayer can feel empty if you feel no one is truly listening.  By gaining knowledge about Christ and his ministry one can gain faith, interest and take it from there.  I am not "against" churches but suffice to say a good one is about as hard to find as a good mechanic.  Faith in God comes from one's heart and no one can walk that road for you.  No one can even show you the "right" road, its one you have to navigate for yourself.  Peace can be found with God though and while you will NEVER understand it all, take heart in that you will NEVER understand it all regardless of where your faith may lie.

----------


## Chantellabella

> I don't know, maybe this seems like a stupid question. I want to believe in God or something, anything spiritual...but I just can't. I don't know why I can't, but it's just the way it is. I feel like other people have some sort of special feeling or inspiration or something when they hear the word of God (or whatever religion they are a part of) and I feel....nothing. But I want that so bad, because I feel like it would help me to feel less alone. I've always wanted that sense of belonging that I sense in many faith communities, but when I tried becoming a part of a church, I felt like a big fat fraud. 
> 
> I guess my question is, have you always believed in a God? Was there some spiritual awakening that occurred? Or am I just weird for always feeling so empty?



I wasn't raised in a religion but was forced to attend a Catholic all girls high school by my crazy parents because they would get the tuition for 10 dollars a month because we were poor. The nuns scared me. My mother had me believing God was some angry deity who hated me. In other words I ran from anything God related. Tried about 20 religions as an adult because I thought God was religion. Found out he wasn't. When I reached out to this person/all being/ higher power that others seemed to worship, I found that I wanted a relationship with whoever he /she /or it was. Because when I asked for someone when I was lonely, or was scared and needed someone to sit with me, I sensed that there was someone/something there who listened. I started listening back. Then I actually heard a soft calm soothing voice. When I started to listen to that voice, my life seemed calmer. It wasn't the religion. It was God. I listened to the entire bible on audio cds. It took me a year. After understanding the historical progression of God, the Jewish people, Jesus, and people who believed in Jesus, I found that not only did I want a relationship with God, but I had the proof I needed. I'm a mistrustful doubting Thomas by nature. 

You're not weird for feeling empty. And your questions aren't stupid. They're actually awesome, because that's where I started looking for God...........started just asking questions and looking.

----------


## takethebiscuit

> I don't know, maybe this seems like a stupid question. I want to believe in God or something, anything spiritual...but I just can't. I don't know why I can't, but it's just the way it is. I feel like other people have some sort of special feeling or inspiration or something when they hear the word of God (or whatever religion they are a part of) and I feel....nothing. But I want that so bad, because I feel like it would help me to feel less alone. I've always wanted that sense of belonging that I sense in many faith communities, but when I tried becoming a part of a church, I felt like a big fat fraud. 
> 
> I guess my question is, have you always believed in a God? Was there some spiritual awakening that occurred? Or am I just weird for always feeling so empty?



I used to be Christian. In all honesty, I never full identified with or accepted the Christian concept of God. Just my personal view and experience. I lost my Christian faith and had some quite powerful spiritual experiences. Eventually, I realized it was time to be honest with myself and about myself even if the stuff I was coming out with was anything but conventional. 

I'm Pagan. More specifically: Goddess Worshiper. It's kinda a bit like Wicca/Witchcraft but not quite. I do take elements from other faiths into what I believe so long as they are based on love and compassion.

Feeling less lonely and having a sense of belonging are great things. And they can be obtained in other places besides religion and spirituality. You really can't and shouldn't try to force yourself to believe in something when you don't. Doing so will only ever result in you not getting a sense of belonging. Because you'd be trying to connect with others based on something that isn't true for you.

It's hard sometimes. Most of my family are Christians. It would have been so much easier had I also been a Christian. But I had to be who I am or I would walk through this world telling one big fat lie after another. 

By all means be open to possibilities and how you feel/think. But let no other person tell you what is spiritually true for you. I don't know what "God" is for you if he/she/it is anything to you. That's a question you can answer. And it's your answer that matters. 

If you want to feel less lonely....get to know yourself. Connect to what is true for you and what is not true for you. That way you will begin your journey on the path to connect with others who really do share what's true for you.

----------


## TheCARS1979

I used be catholic and no meat on Friday and all  but some years back my beliefs changed to Agnostic and the belief of the idea of the Da Vinci code and the idea that Jesus Christ line continued and that people today maybe related to Jesus Christ. On how the Last Supper  painting which Da Vinci painted revealed that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had a offspring. The story states that Magdalene disappeared and the church chased them down  trying to kill his family  He painted the painting backwards with Mary holding a child  in a mirrored image and painted it on the large wall  taking him 6 years. He was protecting himself  from the church cause if they found out it will be his life. The Last Supper  painting hidden secrets took years to discover.  the Knight of the Templars were followers and they still exist today. Leonardo was a student of the knights of the Templars. the movie stars Tom Hanks from 2001 I believe, the book I think came out sometime before.

----------


## TheCARS1979

I used to be Catholic, same here but now Agnostic and  follower of the Davinci Code and the secrets of the Last Supper

----------


## Otherside

I used to be a christian, but now it just doesn't seem to...feel right, if that makes sense. I've begun to understand the buddhist teachings more, specifically "It does not matter when or how the world was created, or when it will end. We will for arguments sake, presume that it has always existed", or something like that. I don't know if I'd call myself a buddhist or not, but some of the ideas just...make sense. There isn't any laws. There's "precepts" which we as humans are urged to consider before doing an action, to weigh up the pros and the cons. It seems more...focussed on the person, rather than on the God. It doesn't tell you what happened. If anything, it's allowed me to consider and find the spirtualness that makes sense and feels right to me.

As it, I've always had problems trying to get my head around the fact that if God created the world, who created God? My head can't seem to come to terms with the fact that God existed in nothingness and has always been there. It can't help but wonder where he came from. I'm not saying I don't believe God exists or anything...I guess my head just wants to know how things work.

----------


## WintersTale

I am a Christian. I consider myself Episcopalian, which is a more liberal branch of Christianity. We believe in civil rights and gay marriage, although gay people still aren't married within our church.

I've always been a strong believer in God, but I went through a period where I doubted, because of my mental illness. I felt that any God who would give me social anxiety and bipolar type 2 wasn't worth believing in. After a while, I realized that he gave me those things so that I could have a stronger personality. 

I'm not 100% sure that there is a heaven or a hell, though, so even though it looks good on paper, I don't know where I will go when I die.

----------


## CloudMaker

I believe in god because YAHWEH said so in the Bible

----------


## Cuchculan

Some people need proof of things before they can believe in them. Is a belief system. Much like the paranormal is a belief system too. We can hear stories from others. Amazing things that happened to them. But until we see real proof, it can be hard to actually believe in what we are been asked to believe in. With God you might be questioning certain things. Would a God let certain things happen in the world? Disasters and the likes. Plus your own condition. Why is there so much suffering out there? Loads of questions you could ask that might make you doubt any God or Religion. Especially when it comes down to belief. If you saw something happen before your own eyes, you might begin to believe. Because of what you saw. You would have your proof. You would have less doubt. In a sense it is you been asked to take a blind leap of faith. To believe in something millions of others believe in. But you might not see what those millions of others see. Thus it confuses your mind. you want to believe. But you need a reason to believe. That reason is not the words of others.

----------


## CloudMaker

> Some people need proof of things before they can believe in them. Is a belief system. Much like the paranormal is a belief system too. We can hear stories from others. Amazing things that happened to them. But until we see real proof, it can be hard to actually believe in what we are been asked to believe in. With God you might be questioning certain things. Would a God let certain things happen in the world? Disasters and the likes. Plus your own condition. Why is there so much suffering out there? Loads of questions you could ask that might make you doubt any God or Religion. Especially when it comes down to belief. If you saw something happen before your own eyes, you might begin to believe. Because of what you saw. You would have your proof. You would have less doubt. In a sense it is you been asked to take a blind leap of faith. To believe in something millions of others believe in. But you might not see what those millions of others see. Thus it confuses your mind. you want to believe. But you need a reason to believe. That reason is not the words of others.



U don't need proof u just need faith "ALL WHO BELIEVE IN ME SHALL BE SAVED"

----------


## Cuchculan

Blind Leap of Faith !!!!!!!!

----------


## Skippy

I dont believe in any god or especially any sort of afterlife. i think it was the ultimate power grab, using humans greatest fear as the medium. when i see people hurt myself and others so badly thinking it doesnt matter cuz we all gonna fly to a magical fairyland where we live forever and everything is perfectly happy all the time, i get seriously angry.
imagine the hell and boredom of that....id rather cease to exist.

but we see nature has everything does have a way to it....a purpose. we cant live forever and never will so what can one do? make clones of themselves aka have children. thats why sex feels so good n all that jazz, as its natures way of making sure you dont make the mistake of not continuing yourself. well, its not us, we die, but least our line goes on.

----------


## CloudMaker

> I dont believe in any god or especially any sort of afterlife. i think it was the ultimate power grab, using humans greatest fear as the medium. when i see people hurt myself and others so badly thinking it doesnt matter cuz we all gonna fly to a magical fairyland where we live forever and everything is perfectly happy all the time, i get seriously angry.
> imagine the hell and boredom of that....id rather cease to exist.
> 
> but we see nature has everything does have a way to it....a purpose. we cant live forever and never will so what can one do? make clones of themselves aka have children. thats why sex feels so good n all that jazz, as its natures way of making sure you dont make the mistake of not continuing yourself. well, its not us, we die, but least our line goes on.



that a very sad view of reality  ::(:

----------


## Skippy

> that a very sad view of reality



Yeah, it probably is. Life being some strange dog eat dog race among organisms to some unknown finish line...

Yet regardless of what may or may not be, we should be living each and every day to the fullest and treat each and every life 
as something special and irreplacable. if we truly do exist for such a short time that is even a gift in itself to be here at all, and we need to enjoy life and not let things like fear or negativity stand in the way of it.

----------


## Cuchculan

I believe in life after death. It just doesn't involve us.

----------


## CloudMaker

> I believe in life after death. It just doesn't involve us.



SAD I hope ur wrong

----------


## Cuchculan

The biggest mystery of life is death. What happens once you die? Only one way to find out the answer and nobody is in any hurry to find the answer out.

----------


## Skippy

the worst part as i was saying and ill elaborate is people like this:
"Ilife doesnt matter so i dont have to live it and can hurt anyone i want as badly as i want. its ok to murder anyone cuz they will just go to the afterlife" i was abused by such people so badly.... as well as for loving the person i do. least we have real love unlike most...

ahh i dont mean to be a dick, its just i was hurt so badly by these things....

----------


## Ironman

How?  The way He reached out to me when I called out to Him in despair one night was NOT coincidence.

Right after I graduated college, I was visiting bars "in an attempt to meet people/friends".  Four Saturdays in June, 1999.  When I saw that wasn't successful, I remember driving home (completely sober) telling God I hated my life.  Not two minutes later on my way home (and this is 2:15am at the time), I see a baby rabbit in the middle of a five lane road.  I tried to swerve, but still hit it (driving a subcompact car no less).  I got the immediate message "this is what you could have been, but I have plans for you"  I seriously did all I could to miss the rabbit, but it was to no avail.

I was going to bars trying to meet people who didn't want to meet me.  They had other things on their minds.  I actually grew up with one of the bartenders at the time (hadn't seen her in six years) but she was there one night, and I distinctly heard her say "God Bless You".  That still stand out in my mind all these years later.  I was being reminded of who I am in Christ and hadn't been to church in ten years at the time!

......little did I know until later that 1975 (the year I was born) AND 1999 were both the Chinese Year of the Rabbit!

From then, He just asked that I pay attention and be in a place where He could show me things.

----------


## BrookeAshley

Original poster, I like this thread because I basically feel the same exact way you do. My sister is very religious and so is a good friend of mine. They always say they are praying for me and I want comfort from it, but I don't feel it. I feel afraid and alone. I so desperately want to believe there's a God, who loves me, and is looking out for me and hears me plead for help and for my pain to be taken away. Sometimes I do pray. I don't know if I'm heard but I do. Some days I just give up and tell myself no one is out there and I'm all on my own. So I'm not sure what the answer is. I'm not sure how you become religious. I'm not sure if there is a true religion I believe in. I want to believe in a greater power. After all, I look at my daughter and the love I feel for her is so massive that surely there has to be more to this universe... Part of me wants to start going back to church and believing in good again, and having faith. The other part is scared of the hurt and fear I feel, and I feel like I need to rescue myself or i'll never be okay again.

----------


## InvisibleGuy

I personally believe there _has got_ to be a higher power. I refuse to believe that we're just randomly floating around and everything is up to chance or fate or circumstance or a roll of the dice. I just don't think the gods give a flying fuq as to what happens to most of us. I think there is a very small percentage of the world's population that seems to be blessed. Like God is really and truly watching out for them, and their prayers never go unanswered. It's a really tiny percentage though. They're blessed with money and good looks and tons of friends and success and they just can't seem to help themselves, they run blindly into good luck at every fuqing turn. They step in a huge pile of good luck and fortune when they're not even looking where they're going.

My sister is one of those people. She's a kindergarten teacher, and she just got a huge promotion. She makes a lot of money and so does her husband. They just flew with their kids to Puerto Vallarta for summer vacation, and this year was sort of a let down cos they only stayed for one week. The worst thing to ever happen to my sister was a bad hair day. I'm dead serious. She does not know what it's like to truly struggle, and she doesn't know what real loss is.

I'm not jealous, not at all...she has her life and I have mine and I feel blessed with what I have. I feel blessed to have my kids in my life in whatever way I can right now. I feel blessed to have a roof over my head, and family that (mostly) loves me. But I know what it's like to struggle and to truly feel what real loss is. Not everyone does. Some people are blessed in ways most of us aren't. And that's always confused me, tbh. It's the big question....why are good people made to suffer and evil people led to success, over and over again. That's a part of the gods I will never, ever understand.

----------


## JamieWAgain

I so want to contribute to this thread but alas I must wait till I get home and can type with both hands...

----------


## JamieWAgain

'...I think there is a very small percentage of the world's population that seems to be blessed. Like God is really and truly watching out for them, and their prayers never go unanswered. It's a really tiny percentage though. They're blessed with money and good looks and tons of friends and success and they just can't seem to help themselves, they run blindly into good luck at every fuqing turn. They step in a huge pile of good luck and fortune when they're not even looking where they're going...'

The above words triggered me. EVERYONE has problems and EVERYONE has 'stuff'. Stuff to deal with or not deal with if they choose to go blindly into the night without any insightful thinking...(I can't find the word I'm looking for here)

To think that GOD or a higher power or whatever you believe only helps a chosen few is really offensive to me. (I need to examine that, actually..why is it so offensive?)

I look to the suffering, the poor, the children without shoes or cloths or food, the truly, truly down trodden and I see them smile, (and smile without teeth) and for me, those are the miracles.

When I see people happy and finding moments of hope in seemingly hopeless situations, I see people I want to emulate. I see beauty where others see the downtrodden.

I think that's what GOD sees too.

We just don't understand how he let's us suffer or why he let's us suffer. But I believe, and call me naive, but I believe that the people with nothing, the people that smile and laugh but have nothing with the exception of love in their hearts, those people will be sitting at the right hand of our Heavenly Father some day.

I tried to copy and paste the paragraph about your sister, but I'm having technical difficulties. Anyway, she may have a perfect life now, or a seemingly perfect life, but she too will have struggles and let's hope she will have an empathetic brother that will show her that it's ok to fail. Or it's ok to be less then perfect. Actually, you might teach her that what matters most is right under her nose. Not in Mexico, but right under her nose. Her heart.

GOD loves her too. She will be tested and you want her to have the courage and the strength to learn that perfection is not the answer. I'm getting a bit 'yellow brick road' here, but it's always a matter of the heart, courage and the brains to understand the difference.

BrookeAshley, never give up, ever. We don't understand all the magical and wonderful things in our universe, but someday we will.

PS to BrookeAshley, I was once very, very much like you. You can do this. You can do it because I have faith in you. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. One step at a time.

XO

PPS
Introspection. The word was introspection.

----------


## InvisibleGuy

^ I agree, somewhat. I mean, I see people who have nothing, who have been stripped of everything, I can see children in third world countries, who've had their parents taken from them, who've been abandoned, who are starving to death, and some of these children, some of these people feel blessed despite the hell their going through, and I think of those children and of those people as little miracles, too.

It doesn't change the fact that for me, the god that I know abandons some of his children. He turns his back on some of his children. And he seems to walk with, to carry some of them, to help some of them through their own personal hell. I'm sorry if it's offensive to you Jamie, that's just the way I see it and for now I'm not gonna change the way I see it. I didn't just decide to wake up one morning and adopt this way of thinking, this attitude, it's from life experience, it's from the way I see things.

I don't expect everyone (or most) to agree with me. And I don't expect anyone to try to convince me otherwise. It's just my two cents. It's just how I feel, and nothing more than that. It doesn't mean I don't have sympathy or empathy for my sister, or....for anyone else for that matter, and to assume I don't is really presumptuous and tbh kind of arrogant. Honestly, I really don't care if anyone agrees with me on this point or not....it's the way I feel and it's what I believe. I'm not trying to convince anyone to adopt my line of thinking. I would expect anyone else to do the same with me. I don't care if it's offensive to you or to anyone else. I don't care if you agree with me or not. It's what I believe.

----------


## JamieWAgain

Using my own word 'introspection', I'll reflect on my words for a moment...

When I talked of your sister, and hoped she would have an empathetic brother when she may need one, you didn't hear my tone. 

Also, there was a bit of projection in my words, on hindsite it's obvious to me.

You remind me a lot of my brother, which is a complement as he's one of my favorite people in this world.

But at times he felt that I had everything and so on and so forth. But nothing was farther from the truth, but he just didn't know that. Also, I went on to lose my home and many material things that I learned didn't matter at all. Or didn't teach me happiness.

So, projection. But also my tone was caring and not accusation which is what I think you read in my words.

I'm not trying to get you to agree with me, but I can see how you may have thought that upon reading my words. I feel strongly that, as you say, GOD carries us at times when we feel alone, but we only see two foot prints in the sand instead of four, as the saying goes.

Religion is deeply personal and I respect all views.

I'm sorry you were offended.

----------


## InvisibleGuy

^ No, not offended. I just don't expect anyone to understand my POV, and I don't expect anyone to agree with me. It's not a real popular view to have. It's easy for people (not you, just saying, people in general) to point a finger and say "you've obviously lost your faith, you've lost your way, you blame god for everything, blah, blah, blah".





> We just don't understand how he let's us suffer or why he let's us suffer.



I think everyone can agree that some people are allowed to suffer, some people seem to go through life never knowing what it's really like. Needless, meaningless suffering is what makes me believe there's a god that carries some of his children through their own hell, and abandons, turns his back on others. That's what I see irl, that's what I've seen over and over and over again ad nauseam. No one will ever convince me otherwise.

I didn't take what you posted as an accusation. But you did say you were triggered, and you did say the ideas I talked about were very offensive to you. Sorry if I triggered you, that wasn't my intention....but it doesn't change the way I feel, at all.

A lot of my religious views are not, not, not very popular and not received very well by my family, friends, by anyone lol. If I wanted to be some kind of religious conformist I guess I'd keep my views, my opinions to myself and pretend that god is there for everyone, that he never turns his back on any of his children, that he's always fair, that we should just never lose faith, that there is a meaning behind every form of suffering, we just don't see it right now. That's all total and complete bull**** to me. I don't believe a word of any of that. It's just what I've come to believe based on my life experience and from what I've lived through and seen over and over and over again.

Anyway I wasn't offended and I'm sorry you were. Wasn't my intention.

----------


## JamieWAgain

Well, I had no right to be offended, as you were simply expressing your beliefs. I'm going to reflect on why I was offended in the first place. It has nothing to do with you. 
It's all good. 
I hope you have a lovely and peaceful day.

----------


## InvisibleGuy

^ You, too Jamie.

----------


## CloudMaker

> I personally believe there _has got_ to be a higher power. I refuse to believe that we're just randomly floating around and everything is up to chance or fate or circumstance or a roll of the dice. I just don't think the gods give a flying fuq as to what happens to most of us. I think there is a very small percentage of the world's population that seems to be blessed. Like God is really and truly watching out for them, and their prayers never go unanswered. It's a really tiny percentage though. They're blessed with money and good looks and tons of friends and success and they just can't seem to help themselves, they run blindly into good luck at every fuqing turn. They step in a huge pile of good luck and fortune when they're not even looking where they're going.
> 
> My sister is one of those people. She's a kindergarten teacher, and she just got a huge promotion. She makes a lot of money and so does her husband. They just flew with their kids to Puerto Vallarta for summer vacation, and this year was sort of a let down cos they only stayed for one week. The worst thing to ever happen to my sister was a bad hair day. I'm dead serious. She does not know what it's like to truly struggle, and she doesn't know what real loss is.
> 
> I'm not jealous, not at all...she has her life and I have mine and I feel blessed with what I have. I feel blessed to have my kids in my life in whatever way I can right now. I feel blessed to have a roof over my head, and family that (mostly) loves me. But I know what it's like to struggle and to truly feel what real loss is. Not everyone does. Some people are blessed in ways most of us aren't. And that's always confused me, tbh. It's the big question....why are good people made to suffer and evil people led to success, over and over again. That's a part of the gods I will never, ever understand.



OMG I feel the same way. My brother has been handed everything in life while I have been constantly [BEEP] on.... I always think I must have been an evil person in a past life to deserve this!

----------


## InvisibleGuy

It's not that I feel I've been constantly [bleep] on, that's not it at all. I feel blessed in a lot of ways, like I said before. I just feel like I'm left alone to battle my demons by myself. I'm on my own, there is no higher power watching out for me, for the most part. And I see god working in other people's lives, I see other people struggle and it seems like they're being helped along the way (not everyone, but some).

Regardless of whether anyone agrees with me or not, no sane person can argue that all of us suffer equally. There are people who suffer much, much worse than me of course, in ways that I can't even imagine. And that's my point. My point is that there is needless suffering, and no one wins, no one is better off, no one is stronger for having gone through it, no one is closer to god for having gone through it....and yet it still happens. And for what? I don't see how anyone with two brain cells to rub together can look at the needless, pointless suffering and not see that god has turned their back on some of his children. How can anyone not see that....it boggles the mind.

----------


## Ironman

It's those who struggle who truly know what life is all about.

Jesus did not having things handed to Him.  He even knew He was going to die!  He stepped up and still changes the world.

----------

