Why be a Christian

daveirl

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Excelsior

Dave, you kind of are throwing the whole thing at us at once and saying: explain that!

Firstly, Christianity is not a birthmark, it is a choice. You need not refer to yourself as a Christian if you are agnostic simply because you were born in Ireland.

About four years ago I would have wrote the same things as you except I would have called myself atheist not agnostic. But once I actually met Christians I saw that they actually were different from my secular friends. They still messed up and they still had trouble in their life, but the way they went about their life was very different.

I started reading about Christianity and I was amazed. It makes sense. It is philosophically rigourous. It is in short, believeable.

But it isn't conclusively provable at all. It may be believable but I can't lay the proof out in pleasant numbers for you, like a geometry theorem. If that were the case there would be no need for faith.

The thing that made me actually believe was prayer. I prayed to God working on the assumption that he was there, as an interesting excercise in how open-minded I was. There is nothing as scary as finding God standing where you thought nothing was. He answered my prayers. And as I kept praying, He kept answering.

Now a two way dialogue doesn't take place. He doesn't sit down beside me on the bus with a copy of the newspaper and a moro bar for me while we have a chat. But I feel a sense of Him. Thoughts generate inside me that I can't explain. When I act those thoughts and ideas out, when I follow these urgings, I come out ok.

This is why I believe. Because God makes Himself present to me when I allow Him. Now in the intervening four years I have learnt alot about philosophy, about the nature of experience and knowledge and about other world views. Christianity and my experience of it still stands up to all the other viewpoints.

This might be very waffley or the language might be a bit "charismatic" but this is what I believe. I feel quite certain that God is real and that He is revealed in the Old and New Testament.

daveirl

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Saruman

I think Dave is hitting on something here. You are praying to yourself, it has the same effect as if it were some omnipotent entity helping you out. Sort of like the Placebo effect. You just have a nice talk to yourself, whats important is you "believe" something will come of it and it usually does. For personal stuff yes... you cant pray to God to end world hunger or stop pointless wars.. the only way that could happen is for the whole world to do so.. and eventually it would happen because its what the whole world wants!

JustHalf

I certainly see value in personal reflection, for the Christian and non-Christian alike. However, prayer is not always like that at all.

If I pray to God for something that I could not possibly acheive myself, and it is acheived, how can this be put down to "personal reflection"?

The scary thing about prayer is that sometimes God answers in an extremely obvious way. I know of several Christians (including myself) that have "heard" a reply.

Being a Christian is, at its most basic, having a relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Saruman

Could you elaborate Justhalf? Im not looking for sordid details here but thats very interesting...

What did/could you pray for that you cant possibly do yourself?

I am of the personal belief that we can do almost anything we put our minds to. Impossible stuff like flying like superman we cant.. at least not right now at this stage of evolution (yes evolution i say ) But some people might think its impossible to say... become President and make the country a better place... If someone sets their mind to it and goes about it the right way.. its not impossible at all!!

Beëlzebooze

Excelsior:

He answered my prayers. And as I kept praying, He kept answering.

JustHalf:

I know of several Christians (including myself) that have "heard" a reply.

I would love to know how you know he is answering you, describe how you know is is him, how do you know it's an answer in the first place?

I havn't prayed once in my life, as I believe I, and I alone am responsible to what happens to me, and the course my life will take, so I am extremely curious as to what you feel, and how you contribute it to being an answer/reply from god.

popinfresh

There is a devil, therefore there is a god, that's how I see it. I know people and possibly myself to a tiny unprovable extent who have had clashes with supernatural stuff. I don't want to start a big argument here but for those of you who say it is just a person going crazy, what if two people see something weird at the same time. And if you say it was just their imagination (eg thinking a plastic bag is a ghost in the dark) Well getting a cup milled at you're head while you're on your own in the kitchen is not a misunderstanding.. And as for why be a christian, there are a few little bits and pieces of information throughout the bible that would make you think . I'll try to dig them up if anybody REALLY wants

JustHalf

I too have experienced some pretty crazy stuff. However, I believe this is a matter for another thread (which you are, of course, welcome to start). I'd like this thread to be kept on topic.

smiles

I'm a Christian because it makes sense to me.

For me Christianity if my faith.... something intensely personal and private. It's something which I fundamentally believe in, I have no scientific reasonings because I just _know_ there's a God.

The public part of faith, in the form of organised religion is different for me.... I agree with the general concepts, Jesus, etc. But there are still somethings which I think have been lost over the years, I think the church is fallible and so everything they declare are holy and true is not necessarily.

<< Fio >>

JustHalf

On the point of "the church is fallible"... trust in the authority of God (pray about things you are uncertain about), and the authority of the words he inspired in Scripture (read the Bible).

jesus_freak

I am a Christian, because I believe that Jesus Christ, who is God, was born in Bethlehem around about 2000 years ago. And that He chose to die so that I could live forever.

It's not a matter of habit, and it's not a matter of culture.

I was born into a Catholic family, but I believe that the Catholic church is in serious error about several fundamental things. The Holy Roman Church is fallible, men are fallible, but God is not. I go to a Presbyterian church, but I'm not a Presbyterian, I'm a Christian. When I come across something difficult in my life or my faith, I pray about it, and I read the Bible. I read other Christian's opinions, and I talk to my Christian friends, but ultimately I try to find out what God wants me to do, or believe.

I have 'heard' God's voice in prayer, though it's a very difficult experience to explain. And He has answered prayers for me in the most surprising ways. Prayer is not navel-gazing. When I pray I talk to God, and He answers.

I'll give you an example. Just after I became a Christian, I started a thread on an internet newsgroup about Christianity. This particular newsgroup is no stranger to threads about religion, but this thread was different. I prayed before every single post, and I have never expressed myself more articulatly. Not only that, but I have never seen a thread go so amicably. Not only was *I* affected, (as could possibly be explained by your placebo effect), other people responded differently than they normally did.

As for praying to God to end world hunger, absolutely you can. But you should do your best to bring an end to it yourself.

Let me quote from http://www.ifesworld.org/specialreport/1_2003.htm

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MALI: THE RAINS CAME
Bamako, capital city of Mali, hosted the 12th triennial conference for students from Francophone Africa under the theme: ‘Jesus Christ, Hope of Africa in the Third Millennium’. The opening ceremony, held in the city’s largest congress centre, became a national event, with TV and radio journalists reporting. Among the dignitaries were two government ministers, the mayor of Bamako, and high-ranking officials from various other countries.

As the IFES Regional Secretary Daniel Bourdanné spoke, he suddenly paused, feeling prompted to pray for rain, as the country was facing drought. Many present were not Christian, given the tiny minority of believers in Mali. Praying for such a public need in the glare of national media felt like a high-risk strategy. Would God vindicate himself in front of this gathering? People left the meeting under a torrential downpour.

****

JF