God and the human mind

I would like to ask of those people who profess to believe in God a few simple questions. What event or state of mind convinced you of the existence of God and if you questioned this event/state of mind what eventually convinced you of the validity of the experience?
Did you in anyway investigate into the possibilty of self-deception and other means of fooling yourself such as confirmation bias,wishful thinking,selective thinking,post hoc reasoning etc..?If you did investigate perhaps you could share with us what you did to eliminate any of these or if you did not why not?

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What event or state of mind convinced you of the existence of God

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I found truth in not only the Bible, but in what I noticed in the world around me...

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and if you questioned this event/state of mind what eventually convinced you of the validity of the experience?

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Not only did I have a renewed cause, I felt total bliss while praying, and was excited to live. I was truly a "sleeper" before this.

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Did you in anyway investigate into the possibilty of self-deception and other means of fooling yourself such as confirmation bias,wishful thinking,selective thinking,post hoc reasoning etc..?

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Actually I have not stopped doing this, a man of wee faith I guess, I have not found anything particularly "wrong" with what I believe in to date, I have come to the conclusion that I will never...Living "outside of the box" contrary to what many of you might believe was only possible through me becoming a true follower of God. I went with the flow before this you might say, I was a sleeper, an idiot. But this forum has done a lot and I am truly grateful, I have become so much more knowledgeable from simply watching and debating here.This message has been edited by prophex, 09-02-2004 10:17 PM

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"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."Ephesians 5:14

prophex Ok so could you give us some idea as to how you determined that errors such as confirmation bias,wishful thinking,etc..were addressed by you that you might rule them out?

Well, I was born into a very religious family so religion, God and Christianity was simply a given during my early years.I think one strong influence was the relations with the various ministers I knew as a youth. They were a great example, friends and mentors rather than teachers or priests. They introduced me to a friend of theirs named Jesus. And placed the friendship in a reasonable position.I remember once when the Bishop was there for Confirmation. A lot of the little kids had questions so the minister stopped the service and called all the kids up beyond the rail. He lifted the smallest up onto the altar, the others sat around the base, while he sat on the floor explaining the service, the part the Bishop played and what was the part that parents, kids, priests and family played.Like most kids, I most certainly did question my beliefs, both personally and formally. I was lucky enough to attend a Church sponsored school that actually encouraged questioning your faiths and beliefs. They ecouraged exploring other faith systems, eastern religions, early moral systems from the Greeks to the Egyptians, from East and West. They encouraged examining as many philosophies as possible, Kant, Kierkegaard, Hume, Nietzsche, Machiavelli, Leibniz, Descartes, Sartre and others. We spent years studying Confucius, Mencius, Buddha, Islam, Judaism and Christianity.By around the 9th grade I remember writing a sound paper proving there was no God, at that age you can prove most anything. But I saw, and still see, so much evidence that there is a GOD. There are things we can measure, like the awsome rules we've found that seem to regulate the world, and things we cannot measure like beauty and love.I know there are many that do not believe in GOD, and that's fine. GOD does not depend on belief. And he loves even those who do not believe in him.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

jarThanks for the reply but I am more interested ,not in the belief,but, on how well you may have investigated the possibilty of errors in your thinking that could trip you up into giving creedence to something that is possibly just a construct of your mind?

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Ok so could you give us some idea as to how you determined that errors such as confirmation bias,wishful thinking,etc..were addressed by you that you might rule them out?

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By the support of others, especially my brother, messenjah.Realization, realizing that my doubts were wrong, and most of the time mistakes. Making sure that the bliss I had first achieved by believing in God remained. That it does.

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"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."Ephesians 5:14

prophex And please explain how they/he answered issues concerning confirmation bias,wishful thinking,etc..This message has been edited by sidelined, 09-03-2004 12:14 AM

Jar,If you are comfortable with answering this here, I would like to know the denomination of your childhood church?Sounds something like the Episcopal church I attended and was confirmed in. Would you believe I was an acolyte?lfen

They varied considerably over the years. Most were Whiskeypalians but my Grandfather on my Mothers side was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church and so there was some influence from that side. Then, about when I was in my early teens, there was this little brown eyed girl that convinced me that GOD was hiding in with the Royal Ambassadors. She lasted longer than I did in the RAs.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

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And please explain how they/he answered issues concerning confirmation bias,wishful thinking,etc..

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Being themselves, having stronger faith.

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"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."Ephesians 5:14

Get to the point, sidelined.

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"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."Ephesians 5:14

Jesus Christ. If there was no Jesus Christ, I'd probably believe something similar to Einstein. I feel, yes feel, a religiosity towards certain things. I don't remember a time when I didn't believe there is God, but I guess I was a very "weak" believer till about age 18. But I think that it's reasonable to deduce that I am a natural believer. (I see God as a given, and nothing could change that). I evn get more offended for God than me. I guess you could call me a religious bloke despite my lack of religious living. (no rituals, church going etc). There's no point, I'd still believe if I had nothing. That's the way I am. I think you could even call it an evolutionary religious trait if you want. I don't know.This message has been edited by mike the wiz, 09-03-2004 01:04 PM

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I would like to ask of those people who profess to believe in God a few simple questions. What event or state of mind convinced you of the existence of God and if you questioned this event/state of mind what eventually convinced you of the validity of the experience?
Did you in anyway investigate into the possibilty of self-deception and other means of fooling yourself such as confirmation bias,wishful thinking,selective thinking,post hoc reasoning etc..?
If you did investigate perhaps you could share with us what you did to eliminate any of these or if you did not why not?

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Ever since I can remember I had a belief in God, my family is Roman Catholic, I went to church every Sunday. I can remember praying to God to tell Santa Claus about the Batman I had imagined in my mind. I got the exact Batman I thought of.I have gone days without talking with Him but not doubting his existence. More like not being grateful. I have thought about it. Said to myself there is no God. But I could never believe that. It's just a fact for me that he exists. He's my best friend and I can't shake him. It's like I know he's there and I can't convince myself he's not. I take a wiz in the morning and as I go I try to change mindsets, can't do it. I would be living in denial. Like seeing a chair in front of you and not acknowledging it's there. It's hard to explain. But that's why I could never be convinced there is no God because he's right there to me.I can't say there was a beginning to this relationship because I can't remember recognizing his existence. To me he has always been there.

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-porcelain

prophexMy point,my point...Oh yes I need you to tell me if you applied critical thinking to the belief system you accepted. For instance The law of Truly Large Numbers.Confirmation bias.Begging the question.Selective thinking.I do not believe this part of my query has been addressed.This message has been edited by sidelined, 09-04-2004 12:46 PM