how do i know god is real?

[treeschanna510]

why cant god reveal himself to me i asked last night and ihad faith and everything why didnt it happen?

[BavarianWheels]

.
.
Revelation may not be as you want it to be. It can take many "forms", none of which may necessarily be physical.

John 20:28,29
.
.

[jlay]

[quote][/quote]
Let me be blunt.

First, you already started three previous threads about this a matter of days ago. There has been plenty of conversation regarding this question on those threads. Two of which were merged.
2ndly. How did you arrive at the conclusion that experiencing God would be obtained by this method you tried?

[treeschanna510]

no i dint i said how do i love and live for god those were totally different this one is about experiencing god and seeing him and my friend asked god to be revealed to him and god did reveal himself it turned from night to day in 10 seconds and kept switching and thats how god revealed himself to him so i tried it for me

[jlay]

Tree,

Totally different? we'll have to disagree. The questions are similar. And there is another active thread about experiencing God going right now.

Anyway. I'd be interested to learn more about your friends experience. Sounds very strange too me.
If you come into this thinking that there is some magic formula, or words, then you WILL be greatly dissapointed.

[treeschanna510]

well youre assuming that i thought there would be a magic formula but i have heard people asking god to reveal himself to them and imopen minded to it and yeah those other threads are idfferent i dont know if youre referring to the ones i made but the way this one is different is in the fact that i just wanna see him or hear him the other one was talking more about that in a different context and i think that you should be more open minded to the fact that god does reveal himself to people and i don't know what you are but as a christian i believe that god is the same as when he revealed himself to moses and he does have the power to reveal himself to modern man the other post was talking about experiencing god as a christian this one is talking about experiencing him as an athiest and thats what makes this one different its not the outcome the outcome of both posts are the same but its the context

[DannyM]

...as a christian i believe that god is the same as when he revealed himself to moses and he does have the power to reveal himself to modern man the other post was talking about experiencing god as a christian this one is talking about experiencing him as an athiest and thats what makes this one different its not the outcome the outcome of both posts are the same but its the context

Trees, there's a philosophical argument that says a good God would choose to make his existence and character less than certain for human beings, for the sake of their freedom. (He will do so at least for a period of time in which human beings participate in their own character formation.) If it is a good thing for human beings that they freely choose to respond in love to God and to act in obedience to his will, then God must maintain an 'epistemic distance' from them, lest they be overwhelmed by his goodness and respond out of necessity, rather than freedom. Hence, if God revealed himself to you, you would be so overwhelmed and obedient to his will out of necessity, and your freedom to discover God for yourself has, at that very moment, been banished forever. God wants you to find him and love him like as he loves you. He would not wish to force his presence and existence upon you.

God bless

[Dogger]

It sounds to me that if God doesnt "reveal" Himself to you in physical form, or perform a miracle right before your very eyes, then you won't believe He exists. So your friend had night turn into day in 10 seconds? Well, that may be a miracle, yes. But, God doesn't have to do those things if He chooses not to. I'd be willing to bet that 99% of the believers and true Christians have NOT "seen" God literally or have witnessed a true miracle before in order to believe

I do want to clarify that I'm not trying to, how do I say, get you down. But rather, I think it's great that you are seeking Him! If you are truly seeking Him, which I believe you are, then you WILL find Him. God is not going to hide on you if you are trying to find Him. He doesn't play that game. And when you do find Him, which you will if you ernestly seek Him, then you will better understand how He works and "reveals" Himself to you

Lastly, I just want to point out that I used to not believe in God what-so-ever. I at one point started to question things about life, God, etc. I finally decided to ask Him to come into my heart, mind, body, and soul, and I asked Him to save me and forgive my sins. He did all the things I asked Him for. I hope this helps you out

[sevnup]

I must say that everyone first experiences God's presence in different ways. Even in the Bible, God revealed himself to many people in different and mysterious ways. If this helps, I experienced the Spirit with the help of another person. She randomly confronted me and told me God wants her to pray for me. I don't know if I'd still believe in God without her.

[TallMan]

why cant god reveal himself to me i asked last night and ihad faith and everything why didnt it happen?

When you are whole-hearted, he will!
Jesus teachs that he wants to share His Life, his nature, his love, joy, peace etc.. but you NEED to receive His Spirit.
The disciples didn't receive Him until Pentecost:

"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him... he shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you ...
At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." (John 14:17-20)

"they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance ... the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:4, 39)

Many people don't receive the first time they pray, I dodn't. Jesus taught about being persistent, you have to acknowledge that you have nothing to offer people spiritually until you do (Luke 11:5-13).
Many people are half-hearted because they think they are OK without the above (they are not).

Here's one of many testimonies I could share:
I was on chat and spoke to Josh, 15 from America.
He had seen TV-evangelists speak in tongues in front of the camera which is wrong and he saw no
purpose to it, but he was intreagued.
I told Him it's God leading a person in prayer (God knows best), he asked how he goes about this,
I told him to close his eyes (to stop distractions) and *expect* God to *do* what Acts describes.
He said:-
"ok I'll give it a go, can you wait 5 minutes ?"
I said "Ok"

15 seconds later he typed "wow!"
and described the strange words coming from him.... he was amazed how
easy it was...
well of course he did as Jesus says:- "enter as a little child" !

He asked me to stay takling & answering questions, so I did. I mentioned:-
John:7:37: In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
:38: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water.

He said hed read that before, but NOW he appreciated it!

24 hours later I chat with him again:-
He's already been busy - prayed for a friend with a problem that went 10mins later, and started
talking to his dad, they had not spoken in 2 years because dad is a "conservative" and Josh was
rebelling against society, he was punk with green hair . . .now he is beginning to see he has a
better message to give society.

* * * * *
Best thing is to meet people like us.

[N4SC]

There's a definite reason that Moses had to hide his face when God passed by on the mountain.
All throughout the Bible, people's reaction to "seeing" God is death. If you were to physically see God in all of His glory, you'd be dead. Which is why you'll see Him when you die, so that you won't have anything to worry about (if you're a Christian)