Are You Religious?

[ManipulatorGeneral]

And now, I can't, and won't believe that God doesn't exist, because I know he does, and I've seen first hand things he's done, and it's been a blessing.

Something worth diving into, as it's immediately applicable and opens up further doors; this assuredly happened to me during the struggles I described in my introduction thread. I saw too many incidences of perfect timing, an inner and outward spiritual presence, and sheer jaw-dropping coincidence to entertain any doubts; the equivalent opposite moment is the concept defined in the Bible as permanent rejection of God. The difference in my life after this happened and I entirely committed my life to God, I would say, was the coming of complete peace, becoming worlds more patient, outgoing and optimistic, attaining a much clearer perception of reality and especially my understanding of events in a spiritual context (such as why X event happened, what I am supposed to take away from Y, etc.), and as Ben said, there was a certain moment where God's non-existence became incomprehensible to my mind; I even find further reasons to thusly believe each day.

Such conviction towards any type of belief is commonly detectable by mannerisms, attitude and depth of language; there is even a biblical guideline for this: "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." (1 Peter 2:12) I have witnessed this in action on multiple occasions. When I was interviewed for an autistics discussion group about who or what I have for support, Dr. Adams could have been blind and still detected that I meant it when I said I was never alone; Christian friends of all walks of life think I'm rather "special" among them for possessing such understanding (which I certainly hope I do, but then again, I really know so little of what can be known); even an atheist friend (and a reasonably strong one at that, but still a nice guy) was puzzled that, in the face of what he felt was the better judgment of reason, I possessed a conviction that was "apparently unshakeable." I believe this happens only when somebody is a true born-again Christian, and thus it is comforting to know that all religious categories alike recognize I truly mean mine.

This is certainly something worthy of objective study, as many of us, wherever we stand, have met people who seem firm in their beliefs, and perhaps the firmest category is religious belief. There exist unconvincable Christians and unconvincable atheists alike, and there could be multiple scientific, spiritual or psychological reasons why this is the case; as a Christian, I hold that the cause is inwardly spiritual. I definitely hope for an agnostic/atheist perspective on this, as they're generally the minority in most locations (though not in France, Sweden and other European countries in particular).

Ultimately, it should be said that I am heartily enjoying this discussion; thanks for starting it, Tom. My plan for opening up religion was a small thread where anybody could explain their choice of belief in 100 words or less, then discuss later on after some time; that would also work, but I'm happy to witness this one taking off. Fire away!