Welcome to Gaia! ::

This is an experiment. I have a hypothesis that I would like to test, but before I present it, allow me to explain myself.

I grew up in a Christian home, and from the moment I understood my parents' speech, I believed in the Christian worldview which they taught to me. I adopted certain beliefs about God and the Bible that I never questioned, until recently. I never applied my skills of critical thinking to the basic doctrines of Christianity in quite the same way as I did to everything else I believed. I believed because I was raised that way.

I have recently tried to find a more logical method of arriving at Christian beliefs. I have researched apologetics (the study of reasons to believe), but I have never found apologetics to be convincing. And frankly, I have to be honest with myself... None of the philosophy or evidence presented by apologists had anything to do with my original choice to believe. I simply believed because I was raised that way.

Now, for my hypothesis. I am convinced that there is (nearly) nobody who believes in the Christian faith as the result of philosophy, evidence, or other apologetics. It seems to me that all the Christians I know chose to believe as the result of one of the following two cases:

1. They were raised to believe in a Christian worldview.
2. They turned to Christianity in a difficult emotional time, because it was a comfort to them.

I wonder if this is true in general. So, I want to hear from all of you.

Christians: Why do you believe?

Please post your "faith story," explaining why you chose to believe in the Christian faith. Also, choose the most relevant answer from the poll above. Thanks!

P. S. Please do not make derogatory remarks about the faith stories of others. This is not the place for it.

(NOTE: This experiment was originally started in M&R; however, I thought that I might get better results within a Christian guild, so I recreated it here.)

Kinda funny this should come up now. I was raised in a Christian church since the age of 3. The Christian beliefs were and are my absolutes in life, but recently i've been trying to find out why I really believe it. I haven't come up with anything good yet though, so your hypothesis may be right!

I was raised going to church, but my parents weren't believers, just continuing family rituals. When I was 15, I decided to read every book in the library until I found something to help me understand life. I found a book by Billy Graham that explained the good news simply, and I believed. Later, in college, the classes I was taking challenged my beliefs, and I had to question them. I found satisfying answers in books like Josh McDowell's "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" and films on the book, "How Shall We Then Live" by Francis Schaeffer. In the last few years, I have been teaching my own children the things I understand, and we have found information on creationism by Dr. Kent Hovind (drdino.com), Ken Ham (answersingenesis.com) and others to support our beliefs. After saying all that, you can only go so far in supporting your faith. There is plenty of evidence for the Bible and Christianity out there if you're really willing to explore it, but it comes down to faith, or trust, that we are limited beings who have to just trust what God says is true. He gives us some evidence, but we have to trust after that.

first of all, i WASNT raised in a christian household. as a matter of fact, both my parents are still to this day non-believers.

my religion is just something i believed in. nothing could change that. i just needed some higher being that i could rely on from time to time. that could explain some things to me when i needed it. its just all faith.

what is religion without faith ? its all it just is.

but God has helped me through many things, good and bad. and i will keep praising Him till the end of my days.

Well, I was raised to believe in God by my parents, but they never really told me what religion I was. At the age of about twelve, my family started going to a Christian Church, so l think that may have been when I knew/decided what my religion was. Ever since, I had gradually started getting into Christianity, until just recently, it has really hit me and I am a big Christian. The main reason why I am here in Firefall is to help me get into Christianity more and strengthen my knowledge of Christianity, because in all honesty, I don't know much about my religion.

Ever since this happening, I have gotten more and more into Christianity and strengthening my beliefs. I have also started to pray A LOT more than what I ever used to. I even pray for all of my friends and family right before I go to bed.



I had recently posted this on one of my latest journals (blog) entries over on Red vs Blue. I also posted it in another topic here in Firefall. I got a lot of positive feedback about this. Why? Because it is entirely true. I pray for each and every one of my friends and family, even the people here in Firefall, even you. Why do I do this? Because I know God will protect us from the evil's of this world if we ask for it and some people don't ask for it, therefore ask for it for them.

Hmm...
well when I was still a little person my mother gave me and my sister back to God and raised us in his word. My father left us when I was still a toddler and I never speak to him; let alone see him. So God has always been the best Father figure in my life and I look up to and respect him like you might with your fathers. God has blessed me throughout my small, inconvenient life and I love him, truely and deeply, for it. He is my strength and shield. He's my protector, savior, father, and friend. He's always there for me when I need him and he has never forsaken me...
It makes me sad when people ask me why I bother believeing in a God who lets me go through the suffering I've gone through. They just don't understand that despite all I've been through, things could've been a lot worse for me and my family.

"For every bad thing in my life, five blessings have come out of them." that's what I always tell my friends. God has blessed me, and I plan to give my own child/ children back to him someday.

Well, my grandfather is a Christian preacher. My father pretty much believes the Bible, while my mother and older brother is pretty much indifferent about it other than the mainstream views of Christianity.

But here is what really got me believing in the Bible: When I was about 15 years old; I astral projected sometimes early in the mornings (I sleep on my back) without realizing what I was even really doing, until I read a book in a store about five years later when I was 20 and it was surprisingly describing the exact same experiences I had (and how to achieve it, etc..). It kind of surprised me when I realized, likely, I had out of body experiences.

From then on; I have been attracted to the Bible. I particularly like reading the chapters: Creation, Galatians and Romans. I like reading how the "Spirit is against the flesh, and the flesh is against the Spirit." I also like reading how "to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritual minded is life and peace." That is totally true.

Additionally, I read psychic medium books and study Edgar Cayce articles. I definitely believe that most of what Edgar Cayce said is true and reasonable; because if he is right about a lot of things I personally experienced then surely he is probably right about the other things he said. So I mesh his articles with my beliefs in Christianity.

All in all, I believe because of the above.

I was like you. I grew up in the Church ran by my aunt and uncle. I barely ever missed a Sunday preaching. I believed only becuase I was taught to believe. But, once I turned 12, I had doubts. None of it made any sense. Still, I felt that my rolemodels were not leading me astray, so I FORCED myself for over 5 years to believe in something that I just didn't believe in. My mother became the youth leader, I became the lead for the youths praise and worship team. I started singing for the Sunday church band. I was expected to speak before songs (that is, to say how great God is or whatever). I faked it. My anological mind never once proved Christ's existance or denounced it. I found no peace. I continually searched for a good reason, other than the textual resonings of the Bible, to believe.

There was a woman who has been a family friend for years. She is in her 40s and has done the most weirdest things ever. She never was a Christian until she came to my church. Then, she became a radical, on fire Christian. She placed a book in my hands and told me "My anolistical mind never gave me any peace. As soon as I gave up trying to place a reason for God, I became joyful."

My major point is this. Science cannot disprove God, so why use science to denounce Him? You can't. So, you will always be searching for more proof not to believe.

The book this woman gave me is called "The Case for Christ: A journalist's Personal Investigation of the evidence of Christ" by Lee Strobel. I urge you to go pick up a copy. This book is the real life accounts of an athiest who set out to disprove God, but becoause of the compelling EVIDENCE, came to believe. This book sparked my intrest. I am currently reading it and studying all I can. There is so much factual evidence for God, Christ, and everything else you ever doubted. I would never believe anything without good reason. And there is good reason out there.