Quote Originally Posted by sport_122
True. Oh so very true.

I understand what you are saying. I will not argue with your experience.

But I will say this (it will sound strange to some, but these are my thoughts on why I believe that God is very real and very involved in human development)

I don't believe that the question of an existence of an eternal God is subjective. I think there are objective things in this world that point to God. Things that are not based on personal experience but can be viewed and understood universally even taking into consideration that everyone has different personal experience and still be agreed upon. Things like universal law (or moral codes), the methodology of advancement in knowledge and understanding, defining pain and joy, experiencing love.

I don't believe all of these things are immediately understood by us, but their very existence throughout time and throughout life is experienced the same and acknowledge the same regardless of age, race, nationality, career, religious preference, whether you are atheist, whether you are blind, smart, stupid, poor, or rich. I am not saying that these things are good or bad, but I am saying that when you write down on a piece of paper the words "I love you" or "I am hurting" any person can relate to those words. To me this proves that we are ALL tied together somehow because this language is not only human to human, its animal to human(our pets and the animal kingdom display hurt, and demonstrate love towards one another and us), its even plant to human(plants that whither or turn the wrong color at the wrong time can tell us that they are sick or in need of something). We can understand our world through some sort of universal language.

To me, this proves that there is a God. The very existence of universal emotion, and the very existence of the "ability" to reason and use logic (even though logic is experiential, the ability to understand and interpret it as a way of revelation of knowledge is universal) proves the existence of a greater power beyond what we want, experience, and feel. I believe this proves the very special nature of mankind in that we are the only ones to have the ability to use our understanding of this language to serve our planet and each other.

I believe in a constant revelation of the knowledge of God through reason and science. I believe that science and reason teach us that the universe is so vast that our growing knowledge of things demonstrates the eternal nature of knowledge in that we are beginning to realize that there is NO end to the questions that we ask when we begin to break things down. As said before every scientific study answers one questions and creates many more as science itself is only a subjective tool used to gain the understanding of the eternal concept of knowledge.

So my understanding of God is different from most. I don't take faith blindly because I do realize that men will twist the truth, some do it knowingly and some do it ignorantly, but there are always those things that are universal and can be understood to help us know the character of the eternal and live in obedience to that. I believe this is why the Bible is valid and truth to me. The book is not subjective. It teaches us the universal truths of our existence. Which is one of the reasons the writers could not take credit and would have given it to God. Because they believed what was written to be revelation, and they understood this as only having the possibility of coming from God. So he gets the credit. They were not crazy. They would have had to think really really hard about what they were going to say. And most of the things that are written were not written with the intent of being put with a collection and bound. Scripture is written as individual accounts of explaining those things that effect mankind universally.
There are plenty of non-religious philosophies that hold that you should treat others the way you want to be treated and value other people. Has nothing to do with "god" but has to do with it being a "universal truth." It is something that has allowed the human animal to continue to exist in a society.

Suggesting you have to be a Christian to have a sense of moral absolute, or that morality comes from the Christian God, is patently ridiculous. It absolutely ignores the majority of the world's population that manages to live a more peaceful and harmonious life than our Christian forebears and I maintain that's a superior "morality."