Why do you believe? Part 1

Greetings nimrod,

Wow, first of all, what an interesting post. I took my time to read it and I got that kind of feeling like "I won't be able to answe his question with "great/big words" or be very objective, but I will try".
But I must say, my post answers your question "Why do you believe?" and I am afraid I may not be so "objective", so please, forgive me.

Answer:

First of all, I think I can't exactly be categorized to any of your 4 groups.
Yes, I am born in a Muslim family, yet I can state that it's not the only reason why I believe in Islam and Allah.

Since I can remember I have believed. In what? In something, and now I know in what. I think that children can feel something very special, that they have a some kind of "gift" that tells them of something greater.. this "gift" may or may not, disapear by the time they get older. But this is just something I think, not believe in, but think that children posses.

When I was little, I as the kid I was, never really understood what "God" meant, but what I understood was that God was my friend.
I may sound dramatic now, so don't roll your eyes or sigh or anything. XD

I have a blury memory of when my parents said Allah for the first time when I was around and I just got this "feeling". A feeling of "knowing" Allah... Like Allah was my old old friend or more like someone like me, yet so much greater... Someone veery special. This, when I was 6, a kid who had begun to "think on her own".

I didn't take me long to then learn more about Islam and Allah.
I had no doubt in my heart, this is my faith and Allah is the Creator of the Universe and everything in it. For the first time ever, I finally had "met" someone who understood me better than anyone else in this whole life.

I have maybe a "perfect" relationship with my parents and sisters, alhamdulillah, and of I know I can trust my parents and they love me and I love them... But.
Allah is my best friend and my Lord. I'm his slave and friend. And only Allah loves me more than my parents... And Allah is the one I know will ALWAYS be there, never go away and that Allah will be the one I should trust in moments of fear and saddness, the one I should remeber when I am happy and healthy.

I feel like being a slave of Allah, is being his friend.

I don't actually need to question my faith, so many have already done that job, and sometimes people come up with more questions. I seek answers from the Qur'an, Islam and Allah (swt). This gives me an opportunity to learn something new every day and my faith has, alhamdulillah, not been weak in any form. I have a strong faith and thank Allah for this faith and the strenght Allah always gives me.


I hope you "liked" my answer or something.



Peace!

format_quote Originally Posted by 4-Christ-Alone

Great thread nimrod,

I tried for a long time to feel the same feeling my mum had but never did, i then started to fill my life with drink and drugs. I also got involved in crime. So my life was in abit of a mess.

My mum got me out of the area we were living in, and one night i decided to go to her church (penticostal) and i walked out a dfferent person than i walked in. I know alot of people say they were touched through a sermon, but i was in Gods house and thats where his spirit was, and he called me, i responded. ( 7 months ago now)

So started to develop a relationship with God and Christ, but until a few months ago i hadnt really thought about, hmmm, an atheists view on how life began, or an evolutionists, or an islamics view.

but does this make sense....

God bless brothers and sisters

Sean :-)

Great testimony, Sean!
Thanks for sharing it.

God Bless.

format_quote Originally Posted by Aafreen

Answer:

First of all, I think I can't exactly be categorized to any of your 4 groups.
Yes, I am born in a Muslim family, yet I can state that it's not the only reason why I believe in Islam and Allah.

Since I can remember I have believed. In what? In something, and now I know in what. I think that children can feel something very special, that they have a some kind of "gift" that tells them of something greater.. this "gift" may or may not, disapear by the time they get older. But this is just something I think, not believe in, but think that children posses.

When I was little, I as the kid I was, never really understood what "God" meant, but what I understood was that God was my friend.
I may sound dramatic now, so don't roll your eyes or sigh or anything. XD

I have a blury memory of when my parents said Allah for the first time when I was around and I just got this "feeling". A feeling of "knowing" Allah... Like Allah was my old old friend or more like someone like me, yet so much greater... Someone veery special. This, when I was 6, a kid who had begun to "think on her own".

I didn't take me long to then learn more about Islam and Allah.
I had no doubt in my heart, this is my faith and Allah is the Creator of the Universe and everything in it. For the first time ever, I finally had "met" someone who understood me better than anyone else in this whole life.

I have maybe a "perfect" relationship with my parents and sisters, alhamdulillah, and of I know I can trust my parents and they love me and I love them... But.
Allah is my best friend and my Lord. I'm his slave and friend. And only Allah loves me more than my parents... And Allah is the one I know will ALWAYS be there, never go away and that Allah will be the one I should trust in moments of fear and saddness, the one I should remeber when I am happy and healthy.

I feel like being a slave of Allah, is being his friend.

I don't actually need to question my faith, so many have already done that job, and sometimes people come up with more questions. I seek answers from the Qur'an, Islam and Allah (swt). This gives me an opportunity to learn something new every day and my faith has, alhamdulillah, not been weak in any form. I have a strong faith and thank Allah for this faith and the strenght Allah always gives me.


I hope you "liked" my answer or something.



Peace!

Thank you for sharing that, sis!
What strikes me is that real faith is based on an active step by the believer. Faith doesn't seem to come, unless we seek God - even for those people who grew up in a particular religion.

When God calls, you either follow ... or walk to other way.

Blessings.

Why do you believe? That's an extremely dificult question. I was born in a christian enviroment and used to be atheistic the largest part of my life but reverted to Islam about a year ago. I'm writing a book, simply to answer the question you have just asked. And so far I'm at 70+ pages. So I'll try to summerise, but it'll take a while. First of all, (most) People don't believe for something but rather because of something. Believing is a question of being convinced. And you cannot choose to be convinced. You either are or you aren't. However. This being convinced does depends on factors within your own control.

The truth.
When it comes to obvious truths such as: “Objects fall when left in mid air.” it is quite easy to test them and see for yourself. But dealing with less obvious truths out of the fields of sociology, religion, psychology, ethics, etc …; we suddenly find their testability a bit more challenging. And even if such a given theory is testable, it is still easy to reach the wrong conclusions from the results of a test. Another method is to look at the usability of a theory to validate truth over falsehood. The most useful city map will most likely be the most true. After sending a rocket to the moon using nothing more then Newtonian physics it seems absurd to still question its validity. It is useful, therefore it must be true. It is often forgotten in debate that this theory only works in one way. The theory fails to show something is not true. One can’t assume falseness simply because a theory does not serve an immediate or observable purpose, nor enables us to make a prediction of its applicability. For this very reason people are careful with string theory and other aspects of quantum science, calling it philosophical theories rather then scientific ones. As right as they linguistically might be in doing so; one mustn’t forget that although the simplified city map might be easier to read; the detailed map might nevertheless still be the closest resemblance to the actual street grid. Newtonian physics might be sufficient to land a rocket on the moon. When we start examining the world of the very small however; we notice that it doesn’t suffice. There we need a whole new theory -quantum physics- to describe what’s going. How can we use gravity to examine the world of the very large and quantum physics to describe the rules of the very small when both are in the same universe! When we study black holes, where both the rules of the very large apply due to the great mass of these stars , as well as the rules of the very small because of the small volume in space these stars take up; which one do we choose? Using both give us nonsensical results. So although both are correct, at least one of the two is obviously inaccurate.

Let's talk about paradigms.
Our most basic way of verifying truths -our own logic- is fallible. We cannot test the logic of something without making assumptions. It would be like building up mathematical laws without using axioms . We call the sum of these assumed truths, on which we base our logical reasoning on, a paradigm. A paradigm isn’t a certainty. Not even in the way a theory is certain. A theory is an explanation of certain events, like Newton’s theory of gravity which describes the relation between different objects with mass. A paradigm is a set of assumptions; that aren’t meant to be tested. Most of them are made on an unconscious level. They are a necessary evil used by individuals, scientists and even societies on a daily basis. It’s like a simplified map of reality, which allows you to find your way in the chaos of our daily life. The danger within these assumptions lies in the fact that they trigger opinions and theories. These will on their turn serve as proof for the original assumption since those assumptions are build into it. This will eventually build up an impenetrable network of tainted views.
Thes are inevitable. Every single person makes them. Such a paradigm is a home. It is a safe haven whenever a thought comes along that looks threatening. It is a reliable friend by whom’s terms you like to discuss. It is a rope when the unknown feels like a black abyss. But quite frankly; it’s a fantasy build to protect you from the chaotic world in your daily life. It is the simplified map which is easy to read but unrepresentative.

Personal preforance.
If you don't "want" to believe you will be able to come up with more then enough reasons not to do so, and if you "want" to believe you will be able to come up with enough reasons to do so to. Usually this wanting is not a constant factor. It can be on a subconscient level, it can be a decision from within your yought wich trigered an (apearently) out fo control chain of reasoning that has you stuck.

Pesonal expieriance.
then finally the most important creterion is personal expieriance. (As you said, those who base their religion on events in their life seem to have the strongest faith.) Person expieriance goes a long way. If in theory, a religion sounds perfect to you, but your life expieriance tells you difrently you will have troubles accepting it and the other way around, If in theorry it seemes flawwed but your expieriance tells you it's the real thing, again the theory won't matter much. I don't know what makes an expieriance religiously inspiring, why some people have them and other not. My guess is that -simular to chosing paradigms- personal preferance plays a big role again. Because an event isn't really that special. It's the thoughts that go along with it, the feelnig you have that really matters.

So in conclusion, to answer your question: why do I believe?
=> Because I am convinced.
=> Because I read the Qur'an and recognised it. Not recognised as in I read it before, but rather recognised it, as this cannot be anything else then the words of Allah.

This explenation is far from complete, there are a lot of other things that play a role. But in my opinion this is what it comes down to.

format_quote Originally Posted by Fishman

Steve's posts=Uber complicated!

LOL
I don't know if that's an insult or a compliment.

If there's anything that requires further explenation, just ask.

How did you become convinced?

By reading the qur'an

Of course there's a whole series of events that preceded me reading it and which might have influenced the way I interpreted my reading.