How Do I Know God Exists?

[Cloudwalker]

How do I know God exists?​


How do I know God Exists? I would answer with two words. Two names actually. Walter James Cloud and Caroline Elizabeth Harrison Robbins Cloud. The first was my dad. The second is my wife. I say is even though she has been dead for several years because she is as much a part of my life as she was when she was alive.

Both of these people were incredible gifts to me from a loving God who through them showed me how much He loved me. Dad and I were very close and when he died I didn’t know how I would get through it. But God lifted me up from the miry clay of grief, partly through the healing arms of my wife.

To understand the rest you have to know a bit about Caroline and me. To say that we were not a normal couple would be a gross understatement of monumental proportions. After all, how could we be “normal” considering when we got married I was 36 and she was 72? And right from the start we were so much a part of each other that we read each other’s minds, CONSTANTLY. Not a week went by, and hardly a day, when one of us didn’t say something that caused the other to respond “Get out of my mind.” Caroline was my partner in every sense of the word. A lot of married couples refer to their spouses as “my other half.” Caroline really was.

When Caroline died it was hell. How could it not be? And absolutely NOBODY could understand. How could they? They tried (and I’m glad they did). But I’ve never met anyone even close to our situation.

So how do I know God is real? Simple I’ve been through HELL!!! More than once, in fact. And when I had sunk to the lowest pit of hell, and it was threatening to bury me forever, I looked over and found I was not alone. Christ was there to pick me up, and lift me out, and place me in my loving Father's arms. And He held me in his arms, and cradled me to His chest. And He whispered in my ears that I was His child and He loved me more than I could possibly imagine.

How do I know God is real? HOW COULD I NOT?

David E. Cloud
(5/9/14)

[49ersALLS.F.]

I did spot the computerized note that this was an old post, but since it’s here, I still want to join in. So you cite people you know as evidence of God? I remember when I was a kid in about seventh grade, people started growing up to clever level and asking deep questions, to which the sabbath school teacher always answered, wait until you are mature and have life experience! It always interests me to compare believer’s arguments for and atheists arguments against the existence of God. Believers often cite salvation experiences from their real world lives, and sometimes second chances granted by others, church bodies, or even the state in business, love, and the law. Having gone through hell and come out of it like the footprints poem is a normal belief answer. Atheists by contrast seem to have stayed in seventh grade, and always post clever Trevor questions about how Cain found a wife, or who married who after the flood to repopulate the earth. Not many people cite inspiration as a reason for belief, if you say “I read the Bible as literature and it exhibits grammatical soundness in conjunction with rhetorical validity.” People cut you off as an isolationist and an ivory tower intellectual. If you say you believe because of direct divine inspiration, your a hopey dreamy Obama voter, and you wet your bed. It used to be that people graduated from “my parents said it was true” to “the book makes enough sense” to “I finished college and I can do all the two column proofs in ethical logic as well as formulate the astronomical timeline from the written records”. But belief on the testimony of reliable citizen testimony sounds socially aware too.

[Fenris]

But belief on the testimony of reliable citizen testimony sounds socially aware too.

I think there's something to this.

In different avenues of human endeavor, there are fields that require different kinds and levels of proof.

For example, in civil court, the measuring stick is "preponderance of the evidence", which means simply more evidence than it's true than not. So, 51%?

But in criminal court, for a conviction you need enough evidence to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt". Not "beyond all doubt" though. So maybe 90%?

In science, if a hypothesis is reproducible then it's considered valid. But in mathematics, even a single counterexample renders a theorem invalid. So in math we need 100% certainty.

Religion is a different scope. Part of the proof requires elements of faith. And that is anecdotal and personal. (And that's why it's so hard to convince someone of a different faith that they're wrong and you're right!)

[RabbiKnife]

Theological arguments are often very difficult to nuance and use for persuasion….

On the other hand, practical matters……

Bacon

BaaaaCONN

BAAAAAACCCCOOOOOONNNN

Not such a subtle theological nuance, nu?

Praying my friend is having a blessed 2025 up there in the big city…

[Fenris]

Theological arguments are often very difficult to nuance and use for persuasion….

On the other hand, practical matters……

Bacon

BaaaaCONN

BAAAAAACCCCOOOOOONNNN

Not such a subtle theological nuance, nu?

It's a theological argument made by scent alone!

Praying my friend is having a blessed 2025 up there in the big city…

Thanks! May the Almighty shower his blessings upon you as well.

[Oscar_Kipling]

I did spot the computerized note that this was an old post, but since it’s here, I still want to join in. So you cite people you know as evidence of God? I remember when I was a kid in about seventh grade, people started growing up to clever level and asking deep questions, to which the sabbath school teacher always answered, wait until you are mature and have life experience! It always interests me to compare believer’s arguments for and atheists arguments against the existence of God. Believers often cite salvation experiences from their real world lives, and sometimes second chances granted by others, church bodies, or even the state in business, love, and the law. Having gone through hell and come out of it like the footprints poem is a normal belief answer. Atheists by contrast seem to have stayed in seventh grade, and always post clever Trevor questions about how Cain found a wife, or who married who after the flood to repopulate the earth. Not many people cite inspiration as a reason for belief, if you say “I read the Bible as literature and it exhibits grammatical soundness in conjunction with rhetorical validity.” People cut you off as an isolationist and an ivory tower intellectual. If you say you believe because of direct divine inspiration, your a hopey dreamy Obama voter, and you wet your bed. It used to be that people graduated from “my parents said it was true” to “the book makes enough sense” to “I finished college and I can do all the two column proofs in ethical logic as well as formulate the astronomical timeline from the written records”. But belief on the testimony of reliable citizen testimony sounds socially aware too.

What do you mean by 'socially aware' , I thought that I was following you up to that point. Would you mind explaining it to me in a different way?

[49ersALLS.F.]

Socially speaking, how do you know the other guy’s a reliable witness? This is an abstract rather than an immediate question. Anyone can order an FBI background check online, so “socially”, as a casual use of a word, you can always find out if the other person is good to testify. Social also means something else in Greek, but you already speak all the Greek, and my keyboard is in English anyway. Social is a word that has more nuances than people think it sounds like these years, it’s been over used by the extreme left.

Saying that something is social, strictly speaking, is stating that it pertains to Socrates, which in the casual non Greek speaking world or outside of the bar association means that it’s got something to do with the king of Greece. The “King of Greece” is termed “Zeus” in the Peloponnese.

If you’re interested in what this has to do with you, Plato, Zeus’ Prime Minister, wrote a book called “The Republic”, which has been translated into English for a long time. I always have to point this out, since San Diego is in the Republic of California. That’s probably just me being sensitive, since I live next to the Mexican border without being overtly Savoyard.

[Oscar_Kipling]

Socially speaking, how do you know the other guy’s a reliable witness? This is an abstract rather than an immediate question. Anyone can order an FBI background check online, so “socially”, as a casual use of a word, you can always find out if the other person is good to testify. Social also means something else in Greek, but you already speak all the Greek, and my keyboard is in English anyway. Social is a word that has more nuances than people think it sounds like these years, it’s been over used by the extreme left.

Saying that something is social, strictly speaking, is stating that it pertains to Socrates, which in the casual non Greek speaking world or outside of the bar association means that it’s got something to do with the king of Greece. The “King of Greece” is termed “Zeus” in the Peloponnese.

If you’re interested in what this has to do with you, Plato, Zeus’ Prime Minister, wrote a book called “The Republic”, which has been translated into English for a long time. I always have to point this out, since San Diego is in the Republic of California. That’s probably just me being sensitive, since I live next to the Mexican border without being overtly Savoyard.

oh, alright, that cleared it up. thank you.

[Fenris]

The “King of Greece” is termed “Zeus” in the Peloponnese.

Zeus means "sky father", not "king of Greece. "

Plato, Zeus’ Prime Minister

Plato was a philosopher, not a prime minister.

I can't figure out of you're trolling, smoking the wacky weed, or just a benign nut.

[RabbiKnife]

Maybe he and Oscar and Siamese twins from different mothers..

[Oscar_Kipling]

Maybe he and Oscar and Siamese twins from different mothers..

ha...that isn't an entirely unfair jape.

[IMINXTC]

As an aside: From my youth, in the faith, I've never understood the seeming discrepency between what seems a large contigent of believers and clearly established revelations in both Testaments, which place the onus on the human conscience.

The beautiful and eloquent OP notwithstanding, in which I agree, this is one topic that generally devolves into exercises of rationality.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Ps 19:1

"For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has shewed it unto them.
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Rm 1:18-29

Seems once the darkness has set into the human heart, no rational argument, no science, no philosophy, can suffice to remove it.

"The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Ps 14:1