Quote:
Originally Posted by PsyOps  Not a short answer.
I’m not one of those that had this blinding moment in my life that transformed me. I can remember since I was very young looking around and wondering how all this life got here. My dad is avid about science and has no interest in a belief in God. So we spent a lot of time in my house reading and talking about people like Newton, Weinberg, Sagan, Einstein and Hawking. Here’s something you may find hard to believe, but the Nobel winner in physics in 2006 (John Mather) was our neighbor back in the late 70s early 80s. He would come over to our house and discuss what he was doing at NASA and his study of the Big Bang. Very interesting person and very interesting subjects. My dad was in… errrr… heaven. Strange bit of trivia about Mather and Hawking and the rest of that scientific community… many of them got involved in (what became a bit of a cult) a practice called EST (Erhard Seminar Training). Read about it. Strange stuff.
Anyway, I got to ask Mather some basic questions about the Big Bang… “What came before it?” “How did it all get there?” “Can matter have appeared out of nothing?” Of course he admitted science can only go so far then the rest is left to some sort of belief. He said even Einstein had a certain belief in a God. I already felt there was a higher being that created everything.
I had a couple of pivotal moments in my life. I was praying to God to help me get my spiritual life in order before I joined the military. I wasn’t completely sure about who God was, or which it was. I was working at a clothing store and this customer came in to buy a suit and we started talking about playing the guitar (I play). Then he asked me if I knew who Phil Keaggy (a Christian guitar player) was. Through my brother I knew who he was and thought “could this be how God answers prayers?” Anyway I got involved in their church up until I joined the AF. Then I prayed again that once I got stationed somewhere (after all my training was over) that God would help me find a Christian organization called The Navigators. When I got to my first base I moved into the dorms on base and after about 3 or 4 days I ran into this guy, while doing laundry, and we started talking about playing guitar. And, you guessed it, he asked me if I knew Phil Keaggy. All I could think was how God answers prayers in ways you never expect and He has a sense of humor. Then I asked this guy if he knew of any Navigator groups in the area and he told me he was a member. So I didn’t have to go looking for it, God handed it to me.
I know these sound pretty incredible and typical for Christians to talk about such “miracles” and such. These are absolutely true. And they changed my whole outlook on who God is. So the basis for my belief is 1) After all my studies in science, he explains that unanswered question about how everything got here. Answers that even the greatest scientific minds know they can’t answer and 2) This God does answer prayers. They may not always be the answer you’re looking for; sometime the answer is “no”, but He does answer. This is what God means to me more than the mysterious questions we have about our universe. God (despite what Einstein believed) IS a personal God that wants good for us. But this comes in a spiritual sense and not always in a physical sense. Things that cannot be explained through science. God defies science. All things that we know through science came from him, including the science He blessed our brains to strive to understand.
Sorry for such a long explanation. |
hmmm I must say you are the first person on here, myself inlcuded that could actually explain why they believe in God and I can only assume that you are a born again christian?
I know why I beleive in Him, and it is because God answered my prayer when I was maybe 3 or 4 years old. I knew He could heal me, I had Perthe's Disease, it is a disease that cause loss of bone in the ball of the hip, flattens to the size of a silver dollar. I couldnt walk and didnt walk for many many months my Parents carried me everywhere, Childrens Hospital said I needed total hip replacements but first i would need to be in a body cast to see if that would fix it. Well I never made it to the body cast part. Was in church with my parents and the Pastor asked if anyone wanted to get prayed for I said and I remember everything word for word "Mommy Jesus can heal me" Not thinking anything of it she carried me up to get prayed for, after being prayed for I told my Mom it was ok to put me down that Jesus had healed me. She hesitated then put me down, and off I went running around the church, and of course everyone followed me. Went back to Childrens Hospital and next visit and they did x-rays, I told them (only cuz I hated just being there in my underwear) I didnt need x-rays I was fine, they did them anyway what does a 3 yo know? They came back and told us that the ball of my hip had grown back, no explanation juswt grew back..I told them Jesus did it...they wrote on my file MIRACLE and filed it away. I still to this day have before and after x-rays of that. I know I am not perfect and yes I do things that are not right in God's eyes but I also ask for forgiveness, I try to live the way I should, because I know that God is there all the time always watching and always taking care of me and my Family...