Q&A for How to Believe in God

The Bible does not instruct a Christian to pray every day. Prayer is talking to God. A Christian should “pray without ceasing.” You should begin your day with focused prayer, continue to pray in your heart as you perform your activities of the day, take breaks throughout the day to speak directly to God in prayer, and retire to bed with another time of prayer. A conversation with God never ends. While you are conscious, it is always in your heart or on your tongue.

Yes. He certainly does! John 3:16: "For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His ONLY begotten son, so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life!"

Definitely not. The Bible tells us about God, and we need to read it to draw closer to him and line up our thinking with what He says is true. But everyone starts somewhere. The key, now that you believe, is to draw closer to God through prayer and reading His Word (the Bible). The more you read and pray, the stronger your faith will grow.

Fearing death is natural, it's unknown, and the unknown can be terrifying. It's important to know that without faith (complete trust in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and everlasting life) the relief from that fear will never end. Faith in God means trusting in Him; his promise of heaven comes with that trust. Ask yourself the tough questions. Consult with priests/believers. Do services. Connect with others, because you can't travel this road alone. If you learn to rely on others and learn from them, the journey to faith is possible. Find others and it will get better.

Remember that although science and knowledge have advanced tremendously, there is still so much we do not know and possibly things we cannot ever know. That's where faith comes in.

Confess your sin to the Lord and repent of whatever you did wrong. No one is born perfect and God will always love you.

Establish regular prayer in your life, which means daily talk to God and pour out your worries and praise for all he provides. This can be done anywhere you can find a quiet place. Understand that Abraham had to undergo this trial when his own father refused to accept faith in God. Know that a relationship with God is personal and with him as your friend you are never alone in this world. God is our creator, protector, sustainer, provider, and guardian. Only he can do these things, and only he hears and answers our prayers and deserves our praise.

Yes. Ritual may help you get into a mental state where you can more easily connect with the divine, but the trappings are not necessary and your faith is not any better or worse than that of someone who does all of the "right" steps. Your love and curiosity is all you need to bring.

Yes, of course! God tells us in the Bible that it's not our position to judge, so loving the LGBT community is a truly Christian thing to do.

You just have to pray and during that time of prayer, ask what God wants you to do and listen to God's voice. You could feel a tugging in your heart or a powerful urge to do something during that time. Follow that urge and it should lead you in the right direction. Also, if you believe in God, desire to do good, have a personal relationship with God, and are willing to fill yourself up with God, then the Holy Spirit will be always be there to guide you. Don't ever lose hope or patience. Another good way to find what God wants you to do is to participate in your church's ministries and volunteer for charity groups.

By trying to live up the 7 lively virtues as much as possible: Chastity, Humility, Abstinence, Patience, Diligence, and Charity. Keep praying to God for these virtues.

Your statements are not entirely accurate, but regardless, faith and metaphysical beliefs have nothing to do with science or evidence/proof. Something like God is almost by definition above and beyond the physical realm that's detectable and measurable by science. Science doesn't and can't disprove the existence of something beyond the physical. You can accept all science and still believe that there is something greater behind it all.

It's up to you. This is a how-to article for those who already have the desire to do it, not a why-to article. If you see no reason to believe in God, don't. If you'd like to be given some reasons, ask some religious people or read some religious texts. Generally, religious people think people should believe in God because a) they're convinced God is real and want everyone to accept 'the truth' or b) they believe there are negative consequences, like going to hell, if you don't believe. But the specifics vary from religion to religion and person to person.

Well, it depends on the person. While some people can believe without reservation, it's also possible to have faith and learn to live with your doubts. Self-reflection is an important tool for refining your beliefs. Think about what you believe, think about why you believe it, and think about how you live those beliefs in your day-to-day life. Give it time and hopefully you'll find a belief structure that you can commit to. This could be without doubts, or it could involve making peace with your doubts. The important thing is not ignoring your thoughts and taking an active role in your beliefs.

When you are in a moment of crisis, it often helps to remind yourself of your faith and why you believe, and question if your current actions are consistent with your beliefs. It's also imperative to not give up when you fail. We're only human and God forgives those who make mistakes and repent. Look at why you wavered in your convictions, and consider how you can avoid doing so in the future. Learning from your mistakes and not giving up is nearly as important as not making those mistakes in the first place.

No, you do not have to go to Church to have a strong relationship with God. However, it could help since the people at Church can help to strengthen your beliefs.

Everything happens for a reason. Maybe God wants us to have patience with him. You can’t expect God to solve all of your problems, but he can help with some. My advice is to be patient and continue to have faith.

St. Thomas Aquinas said that things are "contingent." This means that things are dependent on other things to make them. For example, the chicken comes from the egg, the egg comes from the chicken. St. Thomas Aquinas said that this does not make sense for things to go on like this for eternity. There must be a being more powerful to not have been created, which is God, the uncaused cause. Look around you, the world is beautiful. There is order. Do you think humans just popped out into the world by chance? Do you think the big bang theory went bang and everything was created? God created us and he continues to look after us.

It can be difficult to know how to translate one's faith from beliefs to actions. A simple guideline to follow is that God loves humanity, so you should do what you can to help others. Volunteering for charity, buying food for the homeless, or even simply saying a kind word can have huge impacts on the lives of other people. These things, done selflessly and with respect, definitely fall into the category of pious actions.

God uses all things for his glory. In Job 1:12, Satan asks for permission to tempt Job and God accepts the devil’s proposal. Many would call this an evil action and/or uncharacteristic of God’s nature. One thing you have to understand is that God lets bad things happen, not because he wants to punish those who have faith in him, but because he uses these times to both build up the believer and to give future ministry opportunities from those experiences. God does not hear the prayers of unbelievers because Jesus only intercedes for believers. Worldly things and things outside of his will for your life will not be answered conventionally. Have faith and God will lead you through any situation.

Yes. However, depending on the tradition that you've chosen, some would argue that you can't be obedient to God and practicing as a homosexual (Biblical Christian faith prohibits it, for example).

That's okay. You can come to your own conclusions about these things. Many people don't believe in God, and they just live their lives normally like everyone else, minus the religious components.

Of course! Muslims believe in one God, Allah, who is Creator of the Universe.

You must pray and believe, but don't beg. Just say you will accomplish it, and at unexpected times, great things could happen.

Of course! Just don't become so obsessed that it gets in the way of your relationship with God.

Almost everyone has questions about God. This is perfectly natural and it doesn't mean you won't get into heaven. Consider talking about your questions with a spiritual adviser, like a priest, pastor, etc.

Well, you can let her know that the Christian religion explains this as a human problem, not a God problem. God gave humans free will, and since Adam and Eve, humans have sinned. All of us sin, with no exception. 90% of human misery is the result of human behavior, not God punishing us or refusing to intervene in things that hurt us.

In the Christian faith, baptism is an act of obedience that symbolizes the believer's death to (i. e. renunciation of) sin and desire to live in the newness of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. While it is not a requisite of salvation, many denominations require baptism to become a member of the church.

He is with you. You might not feel it but he is right there with you. Listening and he has everything under control including the future. He is always with you and will never leave your side though sometimes it seems lonely he’s been by your side the whole time. He has a plan for you.

Yes, He will. Church is a place of worship but you can still worship God in your home, church isn't mandatory to have a good relationship with God. On the other hand if you feel like God isn't answering your prayer, then either: A. What you are asking for might be a sin. An example is if you wanted to look more attractive, vanity is a sin and God won't assist you in sin. B. You aren't tuned in well enough, God's answers are often unclear and you have to be in the right frame of mind to hear Him and His wonderful word.