How Do I Know If There's A God?

[Fidei Defensor]

Look at God (any God) and he will always reflect the people who created him. Even with, for example, the Hebrew God, he emerged out of a familiar pattern of religious purification from ritual, etc. (the so-called "axial age") and an emphasis on religion of the heart, etc. I think "God" is more or less just our way of navigating human questions. A man finds a "vocation" as a priest, for example, and that becomes his way of being in the world. Was he really called by a "God"? I don't think so, but there is something in his personality that makes him suited to stand in as a representative, to serve, etc. Other people relate to their god in other ways (as a benevolent father, as a bountiful provider, as an understanding friend). One of the things that makes Catholicism so flexible is that it lets people adapt themselves to their conception of the Catholic God, within limits...hence the historical syncretism of Latin American Catholicism, the Americanism of American Catholics, etc.

 

I think, if there is a God, the idea that he is completely transcendent is the only possibility, but in that case, it kind of makes life a big joke...we have all this life to live, hopping from one idea to another, grasping at straws, waiting for a final judgment. One of the beautiful things about the story of Christ is that he doesn't stand transcendent, but makes God very real, though Christianity also has other difficulties (Christ made God real in terms of serving others, but also pointed Christians radically away from earthly concerns, which was a problem for society and slowed down a lot of the progress that pagans had made intellectually, until society eventually just threw off Christianity and created modernity).

I constantly feel like life is a big joke, and it gets very tiresome and eats away at me.

[mortify ii]

I was wondering what happened to you Era, sorry to see you lost the Faith.

[southern california guy]

I constantly feel like life is a big joke, and it gets very tiresome and eats away at me.

Maybe it's a joke if you live your life planning for your death.

I've got a son on the way, and life feels pretty good. Maybe I will feel differently when I am hurting for sleep, but I don't know. Edited March 25, 2014 by southern california guy

[Anomaly]

I constantly feel like life is a big joke, and it gets very tiresome and eats away at me.

Regardless if you believe in a god or are atheist, your life only will have the meaning and purpose you give it. Both are, or should be a philosophy, a fundamental reasoning and logical framework that guides your choices and the direction you choose to direct your life. Neither makes all your choices clear and easy in every circumstance. The comfort of a personal god entity is the belief that suffering is shared and purposely useful in a greater context by a omniscient consciousness.

As Ezra said, the purpose is colored and limited by societal perspective of culture values of reason and shared mythology.

Either way, "free will", or the self directed consciousness is the individual's responsibility to deal with the present and anticipated future.

[Anomaly]

Maybe it's a joke if you live your life planning for your death.

I don't know if it's a joke, but life seems meaningless if you don't accept the reality that you have to live it now, pleasant or not.

[southern california guy]

I don't know if it's a joke, but life seems meaningless if you don't accept the reality that you have to live it now, pleasant or not.

Yes and considering the alternative -- not living -- it is pretty good to be alive. But I suppose I am a pretty happy person. I've got a sweet young wife and a son on the way. I've got my gardening hobby. I try to play a number of different sports. However.. to be honest I am probably no more religious than you are at this point -- other than to believe that life is better if we practice moderation and a little restraint. Ironically I'm a bit more conservative now than when I was more religious, but I view it more in terms of love of others and living a good life -- rather than seeking an after-life.

[Anomaly]

Yes and considering the alternative -- not living --

However.. to be honest I am probably no more religious than you are at this point

...but I view it more in terms of love of others and living a good life -- rather than seeking an after-life
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You would have to be anti-religious to be less religious than I am.

Live and Love. It's the best thing humans do. Whether you choose to do so because of a god or some philosophy, is besides the point. Edited March 25, 2014 by Anomaly

[Era Might]

I constantly feel like life is a big joke, and it gets very tiresome and eats away at me.

 

Read Marcus Aurelius and Antonio Machado. I think the big "disappointment" in life is that it involves change, in everything and always. We have to first come to terms with the fact that nothing lasts, not our lives, not our work, not our money, not our relationships. One can look at this as a long slide to death or one can look at is as just us participating in the changing of the seasons, passing from one thing to another. Or one could try to find some divine working in it. But however one finds meaning in it, they first have to accept it peacefully, because no matter how much you fret about it, it's still going to happen, so you mind as well accept it and then be surprised by the search for meaning in it.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Era Might

[Fidei Defensor]

Read Marcus Aurelius and Antonio Machado. I think the big "disappointment" in life is that it involves change, in everything and always. We have to first come to terms with the fact that nothing lasts, not our lives, not our work, not our money, not our relationships. One can look at this as a long slide to death or one can look at is as just us participating in the changing of the seasons, passing from one thing to another. Or one could try to find some divine working in it. But however one finds meaning in it, they first have to accept it peacefully, because no matter how much you fret about it, it's still going to happen, so you mind as well accept it and then be surprised by the search for meaning in it.

I don't so much mind change, just the thought that everything I do will end up being pointless in the end.

[mortify ii]

Tardis,

An existentialist's enlightenment is realizing it does not matter that it does not matter.

[Fidei Defensor]

Tardis,

An existentialist's enlightenment is realizing it does not matter that it does not matter.

I wish I could achieve that enlightenment.

[Anomaly]

I don't so much mind change, just the thought that everything I do will end up being pointless in the end.

That is a classic misconception. We exist in the present. What we do and how we live does matter now as it affects ourselves and others. No single person can guarantee "mattering" for eternity. Love and live NOW, and whatever will be, will be in the future. Even St Paul wrote he looked to the future with fear.
Since it's all a matter of chosen belief, choose one that promises what you want. Regardless, you will still only exist in the present.

[Golden Years]

Ironically I'm a bit more conservative now than when I was more religious, but I view it more in terms of love of others and living a good life -- rather than seeking an after-life.

 

And who or what defines a "good life"?  Where do we get our moral values?  Where did we get this idea that loving others should be a primary value?

[Anomaly]

And who or what defines a "good life"? Where do we get our moral values? Where did we get this idea that loving others should be a primary value?

You don't need a god for that. We don't recreate language each generation. We build and develop values and standards of behavior on what we are taught by parents and society, our own reason and intellect, and intelligent conjecture.
Religion is a product of human society that teaches and shares values and beliefs with the bonus of claiming divine inspiration to help quash unwarranted questioning from the intellectually lazy. Faith in religion and/ or any moral standard requires personal responsibility for your beliefs.

[reyb]

That is a classic misconception. We exist in the present. What we do and how we live does matter now as it affects ourselves and others. No single person can guarantee "mattering" for eternity. Love and live NOW, and whatever will be, will be in the future. Even St Paul wrote he looked to the future with fear.
Since it's all a matter of chosen belief, choose one that promises what you want. Regardless, you will still only exist in the present.

If life will be ended or (cease to exist) after you leave this world then, your principle is correct. Do you think nothing that is within you will not go on to live (after you die)?