Why you believe

[MartialArtHeart]

I am curious as to your stories about faith. Not necessarily faith in any particular religion or philosophy. Just personal stories that have strengthened your beliefs.
Please do not bash or demean anyone's beliefs... I know that we are all (mostly) mature martial artists and as such we can have peaceful and mature conversations.
I'll start us off with a short one...
Years ago my beloved cat ran away. I missed her so much that it drove me nearly insane... I turned to witchcraft to try to bring her back, but no matter what I tried, it didn't work.
A few months later, we moved. I still missed Iesha, and often found myself choking back tears at night when I thought of her and how she used to be my pillow. It was at this time that I was struggling with God and the question of whether he existed.
One angry night, I screamed up at the heavens... God, if you are there, please, give me proof. I'll even tell you what to do, so I know that you are there.
I know Iesha is gone, but tommorrow, if you're up there, send me a cat. Put her on my doorstep so I can pet her, and then maybe I can believe you're there.

It was a silly thing, but I was still thinking of her so often.

The next morning, as I got dressed, my parents opened the door and I heard my mom yell at me to come to the door. Next thing I knew, there was a cat in my room, rubbing itself against me. Of course, it had to be God's sense of humor, because there was a collar on the cat, but hey, I didn't specify, I suppose.

 

[Freestyler777]

I used to have a cat named Whiskers, he lived to 13 years old, weighed 16 pounds, and was king of the neighborhood. He died while I was away, and my brother buried him in the backyard. From time to time, I see him out of the corner of my eye, but when i turn to look, he's gone. I believe his spirit still roams around my house, while his bones are safely underground.

Didn't mean to turn this post into the realm of the supernatural. Your story just rekindled my memory.

 

[Sambone]

My Grandmother passed away a few years ago and I never felt peace with her death untill this year. It was a week after I was saved and after church, which is held on Friday nights, I went to a club I am a member of. Someone in the church had been talking about thier grandma and it had me upset. As I sat there a couple I didn't know began talking to me and the conversation between me and the gentleman, turned to grandparents. He said that they may be gone but as long as they are not forgoten they live on. I'll never forget that cause I know it was God telling me that he had my Grandma and was keeping her safe. It changed my whole outlook on life.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I believe what I believe due to my own experiences. Most are too personal to post some, but I feel their effect even today.

One I can share....
Year ago when I was a rugrat, I saw a woman in white walk down the hall and enter the kitchen. The hall was lit as if the kitchen light was on. Thinking it was my mother, I got up and followed her, only to find a dark kitchen, and a locked door. It wasn't my mother. Years later I would again encounter the Lady, and that encounter is a clear memory in my mind.

 

[kaizasosei]

i believe because when i look at the sky i cannot imagine even the most tiny part of it to be filled with the presence of a great divine being.
then i look again and think to myself that there is no greater thing in this world than the human being. There is nothing else.
me, very personally had a dream of having an older sister when i was around 7 that was felt tantamount to being visited by the sungoddess herself. at least at that time i was really amazed . still couldn't explain it to anyone.
but i believe above all things because i consider myself to be a witness to the wonders of nature- in the macrocosmos as well as in the microcosmos.

j

 

[kaizasosei]

sorry i meant to say i could not imagine any part of the universe that is Not constantly illuminated by the presence of a great divinity.

j

 

[bushidomartialarts]

live does a song that sums it up..

i don't need noone
to tell me 'bout heaven
i look at a sunset
and i believe

i don't need no church
to tell me 'bout god and truth
i look at my daughter
and i perceive


there's really not much else to add

 

[MartialArtHeart]

Just had something happen that gave my faith a boost, and I thought I'd share. I won't give you all of the details, because some of it, although important to the story, is very personal.
Let us just suffice it to say that I am going through a difficult time. I'm at the point where praying is impossible. A darker place I've never been in, and I was not sure I was going to make it out alive... needless to say unscathed.
Just as I hit a new low, I got an email from a friend who knows NOTHING about what has been going on. She told me that God has put me on her heart lately, and she wanted to know if something was wrong, and what she could do. She said some more things that were waaaaaaaayyy too specific to be coincidence, and I found it amazing...
Just thought I'd share... I know that to me, it was a fascinating experience, though perhaps my storytelling skills do not do it justice.

 

[KempoGuy06]

I dont have faith. I lost mine at the age of 15 (im 22 now). I lost it when I lost my grandfather died. Its hard to watch someone who gave you everything suffer as he did and still believe that the is some merciful being up there. Its slipped further and further away as Ive lost my friends, good people who have died in ways that no one should have to die in. Plus I was born and raised catholic, when to catholic schools for 12 years. After 12yrs of them beating it into my head. Eventually I took a step back and said this isnt me. Ive received a lot of flack for doing so but ...maybe one day Ill find my way back.

B

Note: Im in no way bashing Cathlics, I have the utmost respect for all religions, this is just me being...me

 

[tellner]

The evidence is sufficient for me. But since it's almost entirely personal and subjective I wouldn't dream of using it to convince anyone else.

 

[JBrainard]

I dont have faith. I lost mine at the age of 15 (im 22 now). I lost it when I lost my grandfather died. Its hard to watch someone who gave you everything suffer as he did and still believe that the is some merciful being up there. Its slipped further and further away as Ive lost my friends, good people who have died in ways that no one should have to die in. Plus I was born and raised catholic, when to catholic schools for 12 years. After 12yrs of them beating it into my head. Eventually I took a step back and said this isnt me. Ive received a lot of flack for doing so but ...maybe one day Ill find my way back.
B
Note: Im in no way bashing Cathlics, I have the utmost respect for all religions, this is just me being...me

I feel you, man. I was raised Catholic as well, went to the Catholic schools just as you did, and when I moved out of my parents house I completely rejected all religion. When I was your age, I had a huge grudge against Catholisim and Christianity in general.
Here is where things started to change: I was driving to California with my wife one night and we heard a religious song on the radio. After listening, I realized that even though I had no faith in Catholisism, my rejection of ALL religion left a hole deep inside me. Since then I have studied Zen Buddhism, some of the more meditative principles of Christian practice, Taoism, and even Satanism. I can't say that I belong to any specific religion, but I have developed my own personal faith based on taking the positive and what makes sense to me from what I have learned in my search.
Unconventional maybe, but it works for me. And as spirituality is a very personal thing, that's all that matters in the end

 

[Kennedy_Shogen_Ryu]

From a time before I can remember I was raised to be Christian. I was taught that if you didn't go to church at least once a week, if you didn't read the bible every night etc etc, it was the firey pits for you for all eternity. Around the age of 10 or so I realised that it didn't make any sense to me that an all powerful being who was supposed to have nothing but love and compassion for his children could allow them to suffer for all eternity. So I totally turned away from religion.
About a year ago I got my first degree in Reiki, and was introduced to a whole new way of believing and faith. Things happened to me that day, that I still can't explain in words because it was so wonderful. Since then I've had no problem believing that there is a power greater than all of us and that it is watching over us at all times!
​

 

[Drac]

I've come out alive from some bad situations in my personal life and while on duty for me NOT to believe, and I don't believe in dumb luck...

 

[tellner]

With respect Drac, how do you explain the ones who didn't make it?

 

[KempoGuy06]

I've come out alive from some bad situations in my personal life and while on duty for me NOT to believe, and I don't believe in dumb luck...

I should be the same way. Ive come out of four terrible car wrecks that have left me with nothing but a little pain in my back every now and then. 2 of them should have killed me, I still see the cops that came the scene and they tell me almost every time how amazed they are that I lived through them.

My main problem is breaching the gap between faith and science. Which is an entirely different thread in itself.

B

 

[Drac]

With respect Drac, how do you explain the ones who didn't make it?

Sorry tellner but I can't other that the old worn out response of "It was their time"...

 

[MA-Caver]

Like Bob, I've had many spiritual experiences and too many and some too personal to list. But I believe in what I believe because there's no other logical explaination for me... for me okay? Some folks just don't want to account for burning (spiritual) sensations in their chests to know that there is a higher being and take that sensation as a confirmation of the truth of what you know/learned of that higher being (for me it's God, the Christian God and his son JC and the Holy Spirit/Ghost). I've studied many other religions/faiths and never gotten anything akin to the confirmation of the former. Though through my studies of other faiths/beliefs/religions I've been able to adapt/adopt many select doctrines from each to form my own personal beliefs and knowledge, i.e. the human spirit being in harmony with nature (or supposed to be anyway ) and how all living things are tied together, from the Buddhist and American Indian faiths.

Supernatural experiences I've had as well and through my faith/beliefs I do not fear them. I'd get creeped out for sure but fear? No.
As it's been said: "...we fear what we don't understand..."
Ghosts, spirits (good/bad) I've encountered throughout my life (so far) and still get that "out of the corner of my eye" experiences or that sensation of something else other than myself present kind of thing... not often but during the proverbial blue moons.

I find it sad sometimes in thinking that folks get all bent out of shape over faiths that teach love and tolerances. Even within the same groups.

Sigh, Rodney King said it best.

 

[newGuy12]

I've come out alive from some bad situations in my personal life and while on duty for me NOT to believe, and I don't believe in dumb luck...

Right. Me too. And, I have no aversion to believing. I don't care if people consider me to be foolish for believing in God, I am not a big shot anyway.

I many times get mad at God for not just aborting this world for good (and then maybe remaking it better), but, that has nothing to do with my believing.

To MartialAtHeart: The cat is my favorite animal.