Why does God want us to "believe" he exists instead of "know" he exists?
831196
Because God DOESN'T exist. Moses was a just deranged man with an invisible friend. When he wrote the Torah, there was absolutely zero evidence that his invisible friend existed. \n\nNow, some 6000 years later, there is still no evidence that God exists. People believe in God because they don't want to accept that when they die, there is nothing else. It is a foolish fantasy that keeps people from living their lives to the fullest. \n\nAll the God stories are so popular, because they appeal to everyone who is playing the Game of Life, and losing. \n\n"Oh, you may have a dull, unsatisfying life, but your AFTERLIFE is going to be spectacular." \n\n"Sure, you don't have any food or shelter now, but Just believe in my invisible friend, and when you shed these mortal coils, you'll never be hungry again!"\n\nThink about it... \n-SD-
844940
We already now know that the birth of our Universe may very well be a random quantum fluctuation, and that these quantum events are based on probability, not "cause and effect".\n\nBut the human drive to discover the "Ultimate Truth" is not contigent upon there being a sensible answer, or even an answer. It is simply not enough to just exist, or accept what has been given to us (as someone has suggested). If God exists, then God has given us the desire to seek knowledge, wisdom, and truth. To know the Universe is to know God.
1160529
The wise man has experienced so much, and in all his life he had never seen a god, however he has not lived forever.\n\nThe intelligent man can not logically prove that a god exists nor can he dispove the existence of a god.\n\nThe insightful man would ask, "there must be a greater purpose for everything, but I can't say what."\n\nThey would all answer... and rightfully so.\n\n"I don't know."\n\nBecause it takes an wise, intelligent, and/or insightful man to admit... He doesn't know.
371915
If and I mean If you believe in God, you would have what The believers in God have and that would be "Faith". Faith is believing something to be true,even thou you havent actually seen it with your own eyes. I know God to exist but in what religion,Im not sure but with Faith I know that all will be revealed when His perfect plan has been finished.  Read Deuteronomy 32:20  ;And He said(God), I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very froward generation (froward meaning -perverse), children in whom is no faith.  Bless You Friend.
6657
I know that, in my world, God exists. He, however, may not exist in someone else's world or, if he does, he exists different to him/her than me. I love God and hope that I am not led by blind faith.
170403
I will try to answer as practical as I can. I believe in him for many reasons. Number one is that I have a personal relationship with him, not some superficial crap. And that, my friend, is simply awesome. Also, he has given meaning to my life, I feel complete with him. \n\nFor a more scientific reason, I think the universe is too perfect to not be the product of an idea. There would be too much left unexplained if God didn’t exist. He’s just too evident for me, his presence is just there. \n\nFinally, I think it’s impossible with make an ABSOLUTE statement about God not existing. Even scientists have to admit we know very little. Read this…\n\nBear in mind that one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, Thomas Edison, said, "We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything." Let me repeat: Let's say that you have an incredible one percent of all the knowledge in the universe. Would it be possible, in the ninety-nine percent of the knowledge that you haven't yet come across, that there might be ample evidence to prove the existence of God? If you are reasonable, you will be forced to admit that it is possible. Somewhere, in the knowledge you haven't yet discovered, there could be enough evidence to prove that God does exist.
84706
I dont think people neccessarily need "God"... people just need "something" to believe in. When you think about it, people believe in God because they need a purpose in their life. They need to believe that there is a reason to live...something to look forward to, something to believe in. For some people, its God, for others its buddah, or the Sun.. and for me... its karma. I believe I exist because things happen for a reason... and good things will come to those who do good things. To me, all of those things are the same... its just how people conceptualize them and what they do with it. :)
1050874
God really exists. I find it so relieving that he can scoff at all our attempts to put limits on him simply because those limits apply, to some extent, to us.
94731
It takes more faith to believe that there is no GOD then it does to believe that there is a GOD... If someone is reasonable they must admit there are only two ways that the universe could have came into existance. Either it was all created by an all powerful, all knowing GOD, or it just created itself for nothing and by nothing... I'm no math wizard but I do know that nothing + nothing = nothing and GOD + nothing = everything...
503041
"Think about it, you have to acknowledge that there is a god (higher power) for you not to believe in, right? In that case, wouldn't you be agnostic?"\nTHAT MAKES NO SENSE, SHOULD I SAY: I DON'T BELIEVE THAT GOD EXISTS, IS THAT BETTER?
403599
I believe in God but not in the traditional sense. To be honest, I've asked your very same question many times before. To understand it, I looked around me to see the natural order of life; how things worked and the cycles there are. Personally, I don't believe we were created in God's image. I don't believe that we are his only creation or his/her greatest creation, for that matter. The way I choose to view creation is simple; every thing is purpose oriented. Like a sports team, every player/ component/ creature, is an equally important part. Our lives however grand or simple, are part of an incomprehensible mass of life called creation. Creation being every thing from the stars to the microscopic germs on our hands. All things are of different masses and scales. The only thing that all things share is that, they exist. Think of it this way; solar systems are comprised of planets, galaxies comprised of solar systems, a universe comprised of galaxies. We and the world we live in are a small piece of possibly an infinite space. I don't know what our purpose is in life but all I know is, we are supposed to be alive. Every piece of all creation, is like a gear in a machine; each gear turning the other to make some thing move or react. It would be very egotistical and narrow-minded to believe that we are all that there is. Especially considering there is evidence to support the contrary. Every time you see a dog, bird, cat, cow, worm, what ever, that tells you that we're not all that there is. Heck, every time more dinosaur fossils are dug-up, that proves there was life, long before we existed. So we are just another in a long line of creatures. No more or no less special than our predecessors or our future successors. I view our lives as part of an experiment. God wants to know what we'll do; what things we will discover; what horrors we will create, how long we will last, how far we will take our selves. To what end? I don't know. But we, like every thing else, exists to simply live. We do what we want with our life. In my opinion, God does not feel good or bad about the things we do. He/she wants to know how things pan out. We're important to he/she because we are a part of him/her. God is some thing we cannot really understand. God is our creator but beyond that, that's all we know. What is the use of God, you ask? What is the use of anything? To me, to be alive is use enough. We have the ability to do great things. Our lives are what we make of them. God or the idea of God, perhaps is a constant reminder that there is always some thing beyond what we know. In a way, that guides us to the answers to our questions. Well, that's not a diffinitive answer in the least but I'll say this; if I did have the answer, I'd be a very rich man!
409535
i love your question!\nbut You are going to go round and round in circles forever because you are not accepting the fact that God is "I AM". He said that about Himself and it means that He exists within Himself and is eternally sustained by Himself. \nHe exists totally without any need of anything else. \nThat is because he's God and we are not.  He's the Beginning and the End.\nWorship Him as the creator and end- all and be- all of everything. \nHow awesome and mind- blowing!! \nPraise His name, all you ends of the earth!!
433543
I believe God wants us to know specifically who he is and how to get to him.  Therefore, he provides us Scriptures. I just can't believe we can make up a god of our own imagining and have it be the right one. Only one can be right, otherwise he would be contradicting himself.
412008
No - because belief in God is different from proving His existence - Faith allows and encourages belief in the creator without physically dragging God into a room and shouting - Here He is!.\n\nAs a christian, we believe we face evil everyday. It is either natural evil (Natural catastrophes) or evil inflicted on others by man.\n\nEvil exists - we can clearly see it, however this does not necessarily make it necessary to "believe" that there is an entity called "the devil" - however it's easier to believe that he exists than it is to believe that God exists.\n\nChristians believe that God is the Creator -look what he created - this wonderful and beautiful planet, He is the Saviour(and I use this not in the evangelical sense as I am a Catholic - and don't believe that God the Father willed his son to die in an atoning sacrifice.  I don't believe that his blood "had" to be shed for people's redemption - however it was a fact that it did take place - and it allowed the Christian community to accept the validity of Christs death on the cross.\n\nJesus preached forgiveness which was unconditional - the same applies with redemption -I dont believe that God the Father "willed" this to be the way of salvation.  God, being God could have chose another way.  If the forgivness of Jesus was limited to "asking for our own forgivness on the condition that we do the same too - then the same would apply to God the Father as the son of God is equally God in our own human state. \n\nMy rant is now over - I hope that this throws a wee bit more light on what your looking for.
774326
Yes, if you didn't question His existance every now and then, then I would have to question whether you believe in Him or are just following what others have told you to believe. Questioning is a part of being human - curiostity, you must think logically and a lot of matters to do with good are not always logical, but I think that these matters are outside of our realm of understanding and I figure that it may be for the best. So yes I believe in God (don't really fear Him as much as some people) but I think it is healthy to question His existance to create a better, stronger belief.
22100
I know there is a God. I didn't arrive at this conclusion by my intellect, for human intelligence is limited. Give up on trying to figure everything out, for common sense itself should tell you that you can't know or understand everything. This is not a matter of the head, but of the heart. Ask yourself this: "If God is the truth, do I really want to know the truth?" Our sinfulness makes us afraid of a holy and righteous God who we feel must demand an accounting of us His creatures. Atheists say they don't believe in God, but I don't believe in atheists. If they don't believe in God, then who are they so mad at? They claim wisdom and knowledge and call believers simple, but I see atheists as being extremely smallminded and limited. Did atoms and microbes not exist until some human came along who was smart enough to detect them? How small these people's reality must be! How futile and pointless their existence! I commend you for at least being openminded enough to ask? How foolish it is to think that one's ignorance is evidence! Thanks for not being that way, wisdom is not beyond the grasp of one such as yourself. There is a God; He is beyond human comprehension; He is absolutely holy, righteous, and frightfuly just. His awesome majesty and power is terrifying and he is completely unapproachable by vile, prideful humans. Remember I said that it is our innate sense of this reality that drives some to deny His existense out of fear of the truth. They can't face themselves and their guilt, and they can't face a righteously angry, holy, and just God whom they rightly think will demand retribution of them. What they don't understand is that this same God is also infinitely loving, kind, gracious and merciful, and that He paid the penalty for their sins and removed their guilt which was keeping them from Him. How? He gave us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ who took our sins and guilt upon his holy and innocent self and was put to death so that we may go free. Believe this, make claim to it as a FREE GIFT from God, confess it to Him and to others, then walk in peace from now on with Him, always trusting Jesus' sacrifice as your justification in God's eyes, not your own merit. Then keep on learning more of Him and growing spiritually.><>Sir Brian
11800
So that we know about Gods existence and the beautiful things that He has made.\nWhat would God do in a lonely world.. so He simply blew life in it.