I am looking for a way to believe in God?

[Philovitist]

Hi, I hope you can help me.

I'm a social liberal, much more sure of the legitimacy of my values than I ever will be about theistic matters, and very concerned with having justified true beliefs about the world around me. These two facts alone have kept me from regaining the faith in God I lost back in elementary school.

But I like Christianity, and its become increasingly clear to me that the inane fundamentalism that I've been raised with isn't the only approach to God in the market. I would like to think that there are more intellectually respectable approaches out there, and because of a few changes in my approach to life recently, I've become quite a bit more comfortable with the uncertainty that religious life entails. Many agnostic atheists abound, but agnostic theism seems just as good and promises much more to me in life than the other uncertain alternative.

What I need, though, is a theology that makes sense and is internally consistent, one that I can comfortably follow even as I approach God with a sense of suspicion and doubt. One that doesn't contradict anything I know to be true, including the moral basis of my values. I need a theism that I can be proud of asserting.

If you could provide sufficient guidance about this issue, or point me to a good book, I'd be very grateful.
I swear Yahoo needs a "let me respond to this bs button" -_-
Meh. I was really looking for a liberal theologian or something to come around and show me what's what. Meh.

[jupiter FIVE]

Easy. Schedule a lobotomy.

[jupiter FIVE]

Shrooms, son.

[Q J]

This book here will help you find the truth from the bible:

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/...-purposed/

For a more detailed answer to this question and many others , please go to https://www.jw.org/en/free-bible-study/

[oldandtired]

Perhaps viewing the Bible from a common sense perspective might help.

Taking control of another person’s life, freedom, or property is a perversion of the laws of nature, yet this is the profession of both criminals and authorities. An otherwise criminal act is called authority when it is approved and protected by laws created by those who want to force their will on others without receiving the repercussions they would receive without the laws they created. This is the fountain from which all corruption flows because a law cannot be created without a freedom being destroyed. Sadly, the men who create law have been misled by the clergy. Law is playing god with the opinions of good and evil, the “forbidden” knowledge that got Adam and Eve kicked out of Eden, or, as the clergy describes it, “was the downfall of man.” Common sense tells us that sin, sinners, crime, criminals, and evil are simply opinions defined by mans exercising the forbidden knowledge. Want to argue? At Genesis 1:31 God said everything He created was “very good.”

We have all been betrayed by the clergy, especially those who want to play god and take control of God’s children.

[NONAME]

Hi
It's nice to know that you are searching for the right path.
Try reading the Holy Books of several religions and see what suits you best
Good Luck x

[ManofEcstasy]

Pick a card, any card!:

)You cannot prove that God does not exist, so He does.(Burden of Proof Fallacy)
2)Science can not currently explain everything, so god did it (Argument from incredulity fallacy)
3)God exists, because the bible is the word of God/bible quotes (Circular Reasoning Fallacy)
4)Many people believe god exists so he does (Appeal to belief Fallacy)
5)The bible makes me feel good, so it is true (Appeal to Consequences of a belief Fallacy)
6)I had a personal encounter with god/angel/demon, so it is true (Anecdotal Evidence- Hindus and Muslims do as well)
7) I prayed to God and I was cured (Post hoc ergo raptor fallacy)
8) Ontological Argument (Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness)
9) *ignores argument *You don’t believe in God because you’re dumb, atheist! (Personal Attacks Fallacy)
10)This is all just lies and slander as expected from an atheist (Genetic Fallacy)

[Mortal Seeker]

Here are some books that can help you approach this issue:

Is God a Delusion? by Eric Reitan
Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt
Living the Questions by David Felten and Jeff Procter-Murphy
Between Faith and Doubt by John Hick

Definitely look into Process Theology:

http://processandfaith.org/about/what-process-theology
http://www.ctr4process.org/about/process...erse.shtml

[Tiny Tim]

Putting away religion and focusing on Christianity would be a good start. We tend to get angry and bitter at different religions and throw up our hands only to walk away from the whole deal not knowing who to trust. God did not create a religion in me but created me in His image or likeness. So if I follow man's tradition/religion, I am following man with blindness to the one who is full of grace and truth, Christ Jesus. A Christian is one who believes and is a follower of Christ. Believing in religion is believing man. Christianity is about having a personal relationship with Christ.

If you want the desire to believe, you will have to ask God to show you or move you in some way. It is helpful to have others pray for you. Doubting Thomas would not believe Jesus appeared unless he put his fingers in the holes in Christ's hands. Jesus was there and showed him even though he doubted. He loves us so much.

[Dave D]

Well, without knowing in detail what you "know" to be true that is sort of tough. I put the word know in quotes because I was where you are now, and thought that I knew a lot of things. But then I found out that I didn't even know what I thought I knew. My journey brought me from Catholicism to atheism to being an agnostic, a deist, a Christian, to Catholicism. There is a reason why Catholicism is the largest single faith in the world, and it is not because people are born into it. It is because people have found truth in it. Certainly even Catholicism has some things which I just cannot believe, but they are minor issues.

If your complaint is the constant evolution vs creation debate then know that even the Pope believes in evolution. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19956961/ns/...absurdity/ If one holds the believe that God is responsible for the creation of the universe (in whatever way He chose) then it also follows that He created the science by which it runs. Science therefore can never "disprove" God or religion. All it can do is tell us more about how He did what He did. This concept is not something new. It was argued as far back as over a thousand years ago.

Here is what some scientists have said. Please note that Hawking is an atheist and Jastrow is agnostic.

"The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.” -- Freeman Dyson

“The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron …. The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.” -- Stephen Hawking

"A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with the physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question." -- Sir Fred Hoyle

"For the scientist who has lived by faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." -- Robert Jastrow

Edit: In as far as good books to read "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis is a classic.
I also like "Beyond the Cosmos" by Hugh Ross.