Sounds logical.

That's not a story that would demonstrate that you chose to believe. It happened to you, would be the more accurate description. The question you asked yourself is somewhat strange, too. If God was real, and you knew that, not believing in him would be a denial of reality. It would be a bit like not believing in gravity. The life dedication thing is distinct from that. I don't get why you'd want to do that, even if you knew him to be real. Wouldn't that presuppose that you believe in all that extra nonsense like heaven, hell, eternal punishment, redemption, resurrection, sacrifice and so on that Christianity tries to spin our heads with? Why?

@@stefanheinzmann7319 I think I didn’t express it clearly. When I asked that question I didn’t believe in gods existence at that point. I thought to myself, if god was real, hypothetically, would I want to believe in him? Basically I thought do I want god to be real? And yes I did. But it didn’t change anything at the moment. Faith came gradually and it only started growing months after that. Why would I want that, and why would I want to dedicate my life to god? Because it gives life meaning. God created man for a reason, a purpose. Ultimately its love. God wanted to be in communion with man. Jesus used the image of husband and wife. Its about enjoying each others company.

@@misch221 OK, so you wanted it to be true, and gradually drifted into actually believing it was true. I appreciate your honesty, but forgive me when I say that this sounds like wishful thinking to me. I fully get how one can gradually convince oneself of the reality of what one wishes to be real, but it is a different matter altogether whether it IS real. I'm curious, btw., what you think your life's meaning is, now that you believe in God. I frequently hear people say that their belief gives their life meaning, but I don't seem to be able to get anything coherent out of them regarding what that actually is. Perhaps I'm lucky with you!

@@stefanheinzmann7319 Yes, I see how it looks like its just wishful thinking. Maybe it is, I can’t prove gods existence. Nobody can for that matter. Its not something that can be rationally concluded. The bible also talks about that, that to nonbelievers faith is just foolish. Also it would be unfair if you could „think“ yourself to faith. It would mean that you‘d need a high IQ to get faith. I know that sounds cliche but you have to experience god on a very personal level. For me getting faith itself was kinda a miracle, because I was so convinced of gods nonexistence the thought of being a believer was just impossible to me. But there were many little personal miracles I experienced that strengthened my faith. For one I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was clinically depressed pretty much since I was a teenager. I know people might say, „of course a schizophrenic will believe in that nonsense“, but actually my mental ilnesses gradually disappeared, although my doctors said I will have to take medication for pretty much all my life. Ive been off meds for 10 years now and I hadn’t had any episodes in between. I was able to go to university and got my degree in physics, which was totally unthinkable before. I know people can find all kinds of explanations for my better health, but I cant. What is my lifes meaning? Like I said, I see myself as creation and god as my creator. The bible talks about, that god put eternity into mans heart and thats whats most important to me. The hope of being eternally with god. Whats my purpose on earth? Jesus says the two most important rules are „love god with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength and all your soul“ and „love thy neighbor like yourself“. Spending time with god in prayer and reading the bible gives me such joy, its indescribable. Of course its not the case that Im feeling super happy whenever I open the bible, Im still human, I have problems in life I think about and I suffer. But at the right time I will feel gods presence and be at total peace. The other thing that gives me meaning is loving others. Its not always easy, but I try and being kind to others, help others and most importantly forgive others (as god forgave me) just feels like the right thing and when done right gives me joy and happiness. But like I said, im still an imperfect human and I often dont succeed. But I can count on gods forgiveness and his help.

@@misch221 Thanks for being so open! I haven't had an experience that would compel me into faith in a way that resembles what you say. However, what I have learnt is that such experiences aren't uncommon, across pretty much all religions. William James wrote about this more than a hundred years ago in a famous book "The varieties of religious experience", and lots of people have looked into this scientifically ever since, trying to figure out what it is about. I am not an expert, but the gist of this seems to be that it is a psychological effect rooted in the way the human mind works. I personally can't bring myself to assume that anything supernatural is involved. It would be rather odd if the supernatural selected the particular religious imagery and tenets prevalent in the society the believer grew up in, if it had anything to do with the truth. It rather looks as if it had a lot to do with what you know about religion from the environment you grew up in. But whatever, it transpires that you reconciled yourself with your subconscious wishes, and thereby removed the origin of a mental illness. That's of course a good thing. It solves a cognitive dissonance and allows you to live in harmony with your wishes. Regarding the meaning of life, it seems to me that you like to live forever in the presence of God. In some sense you seem to see the present life as a kind of warmup period. There's a lot I don't get here. I try to go through it point by point. 1. You claim to experience God on a personal level. Is that the same what you also expect for eternity? Or do you expect a quite different form of being with God, and how do you picture that? 2. Why do you think you didn't get born into this eternal condition directly? What is the point and purpose of the warmup period? 3. Why does eternity appeal to you? Do you not fear to get terminally bored? I mean, I have been thinking about this. I am a curious person with many interests, and I could picture myself remaining busy and interested for a few hundreds of years, perhaps a couple of thousand years. But eternity is a lot longer than that, and I fear terminal boredom is going to be inevitable. Unless, of course, it isn't going to be my real me that enters the afterlife, but something that is unlike me in this respect. A form of me that can be eternally in awe without getting bored. That would be spooky to me, like being drugged. Is that a train of thought you've ever followed? 4. Regarding the time before the afterlife, you sound a little like the meaning of life is in obeying Jesus' rules, and in worshiping God. To be honest, I wouldn't be happy if I learned that this is what I'm here for. I don't like to see myself as part of an acclamation army for the ruler. Even less for my creator. I picture a creator who creates beings specifically for worshiping him. I write software, and it would be easy for me to write software that praises me each time it is started up. But I would regard it as bonkers to do that. It would be a sign of a mental problem if I did that. So why would a God want that? If I created sentient beings with a free will and a critical mind, I would be proud to see them question me, and pushing back. What people regard as blasphemy would make me proud of my creation. Because, honestly, I am under no threat from that, so why should I be annoyed? On the contrary, it shows that my creation works! Their mind works! Have you ever thought about that? 5. I agree with you regarding loving others, provided we're having the same notion of love, which I'm not sure of. I just don't see the role of God in that. We are social animals, so we should have a built-in capacity for social behavior, and the corresponding feelings and motives. Living in harmony with our "construction", so to say, is going to make us happy. Sometimes so much so that the supernatural may seem to be involved, but I find it totally satisfying without. For me, this aspect just means that the meaning of life is to live according to our nature. Would that seem too scant to you? 6. Would you agree that my life as an atheist can have meaning, too? A meaning that derives in no way from a God, or the supernatural in general? And if so, why doesn't it work for you?

You feel really sorry for Jesus, don't you?

Dude, she isn't going to date you, no matter how much bullshit you say about her. ;-)

I don't use the word "morality" under an objective understanding, either. There's nothing ironic about it, I do it in full conscience, and with the conviction that there's nothing wrong with that.

@@stefanheinzmann7319 just for clarity, there’s nothing “wrong” or “right” about it under that paradigm.

My morality is far more objective than yours. You fully believe that if god commands you to put a puppy in a blender then that is a moral action. What would possibly be more morally relative than that?

@@xXEGPXx Respectfully, neither of those statements follows. Objective would be determined by something outside of our human opinions and be grounded in something deeper. Your morality being far more objective is your opinion so therefore, that statement is self-defeating. God demanding to put a puppy in a blender would not be consistent with his prescriptive word, so therefore, that would also not be a thing in true Christianity. Again, a basic understanding of Christian ethics would be beneficial. I am guessing that you have been hurt by certain "fundamentalist types" in the past and I am sorry for that.

@@uppercumberlandrams9824 How is a belief in a God objective?

Your first paragraph reeks of whataboutism.

@@stefanheinzmann7319 4 million pigs died today. 136 million chickens also died today. Their lives were terrible. It is worth talking about, especially if there's any discussion of moral goodness happening.

@@jasonkaufman6186 That's the principle of whataboutism: "There's this topic that needs to be talked about everywhere, even when the topic is another."

@@stefanheinzmann7319 Then there's a fine line between whataboutism and hypocrisy. However, my point was to inspire a thought and not to condemn or castigate. I hope that didn't come through.

@@jasonkaufman6186 There is such a line, yes. But it must remain possible to discuss issues of lesser importance in the presence of issues of higher importance, even when people agree about the relative importance (which they don't, of course).