A Logical Explanation for God, Part 1
by Steve Elwart |
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Why is it so hard for some people to believe in God? the Answers would probably be linked to personal, social, and possibly some intellectual reasons. Let’s explore this in more detail…
What is the reasoning that leads to belief in God? When talking to an atheist, trying to prove the existence of God using the Bible will not be considered a valid argument. Sometimes, the only way to convince a person of God’s existence is through pure logic. How would one respond to an atheist’s claim that there is no God? A belief in God is a process based on three types of reasons.
1) Intellectual Reasons
This line of reasoning is based on a set of facts about God you believe to be true. If you investigate these facts and find the evidence compelling, you believe He exists. If the evidence is found wanting, you either disbelieve or take on an agnostic1 worldview.
2) Personal Reasons
A person does not come to a belief in God by purely intellectual reasoning. Such belief is also a very personal one and these reasons vary. Some people have bad experiences and tragedies in their life as well as difficulties and disappointments. Some people will take these experiences and say, “I really need God in my life. I can’t get through this alone and I need help beyond my own understanding.”
Others will take these same set of circumstances and say either “I don’t need a God who lets something like this happen,” or “If there really was a God, He wouldn’t have let this happen.” Belief in God is a very personal experience and that belief (or disbelief) is seen through the lens of one’s own experience.
3) Social Reasons
There is a field study called “The Sociology of Knowledge” popularized by Karl Mannheim (1893-1947), a professor of sociology and economics at the University of Frankfurt. Mannheim posited that one tends to believe in the same things as people whom you want to befriend. These are people that you need, are dependent on, or are in a group you want to be associated with. A simpler way to say it is “peer pressure.” The group’s beliefs seem to be more reasonable than those people with whom you do not want to be associated.
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