Some don't think that's rational. There are those that think I'm deluded or superstitious. Bill Maher thinks I'm a crazy fool and Richard Dawkins thinks I'm stupid and uneducated. They think that if you believe in God, you're defying science and reason and logic.
I disagree. I think believing in God is perfectly reasonable and that once science has uncovered all of the secrets and systems of the universe, believing in God will be indisputable and will be possible logically and scientifically. Until then, my belief is based on faith and a few other things.
I believe in God because:
--It isn't reasonable to me that the complexities of the universe just "happened." Every tree, every flower, the seasons, the stars, the rotations of the planets, and more is too orderly, too beautiful, too wonderful to have happened by accident. Running into an old friend at the grocery store is a happy accident. The creation of the earth is not.
--The structure of the family is too perfect, in spite of its imperfections. What I mean is that despite human nature and imperfect people, the family is in almost every instance the best place for nurturing, loving, and teaching our young to be good adults. Only a loving Heavenly Father could come up with a core societal structure as wonderful as a good family.
--He gives us his word in scriptures and messages from prophets. In so many ways, he guides and teaches and nudges us. Last weekend, as the prophet and apostles spoke, I knew. I knew I was learning truth and that truth comes from my Father in Heaven.
--Because of his ability to let us choose. He knows some won't choose his way, and yet he has total confidence in the decision to let us choose. Anything less than God would struggle with the principle of agency. Most of us have a tendency to want to force good choices on others, to manipulate or step in so that others make the right choice. We especially have that desire with regard to our children. But Heavenly Father (whose children we are) lets us choose and even though it's probably heartbreaking to see the children he loves make bad choices, he's confident and secure enough in his ultimate plan (the big picture) that he gives us the privilege of making our own choices.
--To me, just about everything around me proves there is a God. Piece by piece, flower by flower, person by person, emotion by emotion, line by line, I'm convinced that God exists and that he loves us.
In The Book of Mormon, Korihor was an anti-Christ. I'm not sure if today he would call himself an atheist or an agnostic, but he didn't believe in God and he tried to convince those that did believe that they were fools. He told Alma, the prophet, that if God would show him a sign, he'd believe.
"But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." Alma: 30:44
If we feel we need a sign to believe, all we have to do is open our eyes and our hearts. The signs are everywhere.
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i read an article in the Ensign while i was on my mission. i don't remember what it was called, but it was talking about korihor from the Book of Mormon.
it talked about how in order to prove that there is NOT a God, a person would have to be EVERYWHERE in the universe simultaneously to see that there is no God. and that is just not possible. so the fact that there is no way to prove there is NO God, and there are SO many evidences that there IS a God... i do not understand the mentality of someone who chooses to believe any other way.
good posting.