Question:
I'm split between believing and not believing...in God, in astrology, in the afterlife, in the paranormal?
taurusphere
2009-04-23 18:08:06 UTC
And other things like that. I'm so split 50/50 that I don't know which way to look.

I tend to get over-scientific, but I was raised in a family that believes as much as anyone in that stuff.

It's a relief to my mind to imagine things like heaven, but sometimes I feel foolish.

I just want to see the world in the light of truth, and I now many people may find that a strange desire in a world already based on so many illusions (not even counting paranormal/religious things.)

WHAT QUESTION SHOULD I ASK MYSELF TO BREAK THE TIE? What fact simply can't be argued?
Seventeen answers:
daisyduck4007
2009-04-27 10:17:30 UTC
you approach this as it is two sided. They are all of the same force. Now I know that religious folk don't want to hear this. But the truth is that religion is man made. Nothing wrong with it i don't like it because it casts shame and hate on some of God's children. I won't get into that. But the God energy and the paranormal are the same thing. it is that energy that is the energy of spirit. When we die we go back to being in spirit form. That is my two cents worth . I know that the relgious think that this way of thinking is of the devil. Well sorry i don't believe in the devil. I do believe that we create our life on the other side by how we treat those and the work we do here. Take care and hope that helps God Bless
peanutwhistle
2009-04-26 21:31:23 UTC
FACT: the Holy Bible can't be argued, oh some people argue about it but the only way it could have been written is God inspired. Take into account it was written over a period of about 1500 years (not years ago, but over that many years happenings), and things that were written hundreds of years before Jesus walked on this earth, were written about Him.

Now for you to make a choice and forget about my answer here and all these other (mostly ignorant) answers I strongly encourage you to go to this website www.isbdirect.com and order a (aprox. $3) paperback NIV or TNIV bible. Start reading John or Luke or somewhere in the New Testament, don't bother with Revelations until you've read all the rest of the Old and New testament. Once you've read the New Testament read the Old Testament, and I'll venture to say you'll continue right on through the New Testament again.

Then YOU DECIDE what is right. Don't just accept mine or anyone else's advice. I don't mean to be arrogant or rude to those who have answered, it's just that I haven't read an answer that is an educated answer, only the "how I feel about it" ones. I pray all of you seriously consider what you are saying and believing. All the things of this earth didn't just happen.
Fringe
2009-04-23 20:24:22 UTC
Bear in mind that much of the supernatural is beyond scientific inquiry (or beyond the purview of science). This is especially true for God and the afterlife. Essentially, you either believe, or you don't. Some paranormal phenomenon, such as psychic abilities and ghosts, can be (theoretically) studied. Science is really the empirical study of the physical universe, which naturally makes studying the supernatural very difficult. I'd like to mention that you should never let anyone make you feel as if God needs to be scientifically proven. This is not true, and as far as we know, scientifically proving God cannot be done since God exists outside of the physical universe. The deists claim to have a scientific and logical argument for the existence of God, so if you wanted to, you could check into Deism. Do they really? It's hard to say, but they give it their best shot.
anonymous
2009-04-23 18:54:49 UTC
Ask yourself whether or not the thoughts in your head are WHO you really are. And then ask yourself who you are when your mind and ego are completely silent. Are YOU still there or do you become an empty shell of human flesh?



If your honest you'll realize this: your body and emotions and mind are not who you are but that which you express through in this world. So who you really are must be non physical. There is your answer. Forget the paranormal BS and all the EXTERNAL God jargon. This isn't about Aliens or Heaven, it's about YOU. Is there more to this universe? Of course. But before you "believe" in the external notions you'd better get to know what's going on INSIDE. If you are nothing but a group of thoughts with a body, accept it. But if you are MORE than that, and YOU exist beyond thoughts, than it makes sense you will exist beyond the death of your body. So ponder that and good luck.

PS: If you are nonphysical, I guess that would mean there is likely something to a lot of the other non material phenomena.
PureOrLady
2009-04-24 06:53:13 UTC
Putting aside religion and a conservative church which is man made, why can't you believe in anything you want to believe in? My God doesn't care if I believe there may be life beyond this planet. My God doesn't care what name I use or how I pray. My God is OK with me planting seeds the old way.

The wise men were guided to Jesus using Astrology.

If you feel that you can only believe in one thing though--what makes you feel the most complete? What feels "right" to you?
clcalifornia
2009-04-23 23:16:41 UTC
Most people don't realize that science proves God's creation.

How could something this grand happen. There is order with creation and I do think that evolution was and is part of creation.

You can believe in both. Paranormal and God the Creator.



And there is a fine line between the physical world and the spiritual world. Some people are gifted to occasionally get a brief moment or two crossing over the line, just long enough for them to be considered Paychic people. We are created in the immage of God.

And being part of God, we whill eventually, after our bodies die, live in a spiritual world of which we have no clue of what that is.



I had a near death experience. All human fear and anxiety gone.I was in the bright light. I believe in heaven or what ever our spiritual selves+
eri
2009-04-23 18:39:25 UTC
Look for evidence. See what people use to back up their arguments. Some things can be tested, others apparently cannot be tested. Astrology was tested and failed - it's never been shown to work. Gods can't be tested - they never show up at the testing sites. :) Afterlives can't be tested, you'll just have to find out for yourself. Some paranormal things can be tested, and many have - but not successfully or they'd just be normal, not paranormal.



Heaven is a nice thing to dream about, but I haven't seen any evidence for it. For things like that, I think it would be nice if they were true, but I'm not going to waste my life just assuming that something like that is waiting for me.
◄♥ Witchy Mel ♥►
2009-04-24 16:43:17 UTC
You should work with the Angels and ask for signs. They are really good at sending you signs in such amazing ways that the memory of it stays with you and boosts your faith when you are in doubt.



But have you ever thought that if you are split 50/50 between belief and disbelief that maybe that makes you a balanced person?



It is okay to enjoy and explore science. In my opinion science doesn't disprove spirituality, it is just a way of seeking from the total opposite side of the spectrum.



Check out my answer to this question, I think it might explain more of what I mean:



https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20090424033428AAftnFB&show=7#profile-info-Eev3kF9Baa
Mary
2009-04-23 22:04:44 UTC
You need to make this decision on what is best for you. It is hard to be raised a certain way, only to abandon those beliefs for what you feel is right. There is no evidence to support an afterlife, however it would be closed minded not to believe that anything is possible. It is tough. Only you can do what is right for you, do what you feel and don't let others influence you, or use scare tactics to make you believe a certain way.
Mike Ma
2009-04-23 18:48:47 UTC
science is one path to knowledge, not the only path. It creates a framework in which one can get materialistic answers to materialistic questions. But it fails to address the whys.



Why are we here? We know how we got here, in terms of the procession of physical events, evolution, but why? Science can't answer that question, and so some people say therefore there is no answer and you are childish for asking that question. Maybe so. But the questions refuse to go away, because they are an intrinsic part of whatever the hell we are.



If you think about, the idea that all of existence exploded out of pure nothingness and everything aligned to produce a very complicated chemical system which somehow became aware of its own existence and sits around wondering why it exists is equally as bizarre as any other philosophy.



By the way, "extraordinary" is a purely subjective opinion based on one's own personal experiences. You can't test for "extraordinariness". In the end, it comes down to what you want to believe. "Imagination is more important than knowledge"~ Albert Einstein
Peter D
2009-04-24 10:44:14 UTC
If you don't feel personally compelled by your family or culture to believe in those things then do what I did--follow the evidence. Base your beliefs on objective data. Ask questions. Try to boil down these beliefs. Find out why people believe in them. What's their motivation? Ask yourself the same questions. What's your motivation to believe what you believe?



I think once you start investigating and letting your curiosity find some answers your personal belief system will gel.
Teuna
2016-02-26 08:15:11 UTC
For 50 years i have contemplated the possibiliTEAZE. i will share MY THOTs w/ Yu NOT/2 CONvince U bet 2 EXPAND the horizons of your Own Exploration in2 : QUESTION = quest - i - on the World is composed of 2 kinds of People : that LOVE/2 talk : those w/ Personal Human Experience - - - - - - - - - those w/out. Personal Human Experience has No Greater Rival and IS what DEVELOPS tremendously necessary PERSPECTIVE in any given field or person. What i say applies to everyone everywhere in every exploration. ReSearch - - Re*Search - - Search Again & Further. GOD is an Atheist. Do we THINK GOD needs 2/BELIEVE in GOD. Yu ARE either the 1st Source & Center Supreme overALL Creation - or U are not. Secondly, In all our experience and in all history THINK of 1 thing - any time any place any where - - - - - - - - - - that DOES NOT have a FIRST SOURCE. therefore - Intelligence and Personality have a 1st Source. In MEDITATION (and i mean years of practicing it) ONE DISCOVERS that LIFE is a MIRACLE in fact ' the miracle ' WE all seek to proooove THE MIRACULOUS EXISTS. bet MOST PEOPLE live in the Shallow & Superficial side of Life They are B U S Y supporting their Kids - their Lives. i will cut this short b'cuz one can go on for hours - Let's take the Scientist - most are atheistic - They have ' the experience ' ' the research ' - ' the deep penetrating THOT ' 2 develop tremendous perspective. but, THEIR RESEARCH is in the Physical World. ESSENCE or HEART of the Matter - or SOURCE REALITY is beyond the Physical. TRUTH would BE a combination of Re-Search in Body Mind & Spirit - Realitys. the ESSENTIAL TRUTHS of All Religions has great research to offer bet one does themselves a great dis-service to STUDY only One - and CLAIM - This is IT ! We are each UNIQUE & EXTRAORDINARY it is unnecessary for everyone 2/BELIEVE in GOD - we can KNOW THIS : Light Life & Love are the Primal Attributes of the Universe the StarSuns give Birth to the Whirling Spheres and provide All Nutrients that Supply the Earths w/ Life. Clearly, it is a combination of things, that makes WHAT WE HAVE differ from Mars & Jupiter, etc. We MUST realize EARTH is an extremely Primitive Civilization and WHAT SEEMS like we are in Isolated Space is Only RELATIVE to those that can Travel at 15-20 times the Speed of Light. There are Thousands & Thousands of Universes. It occurred to me one day, as i learned MORE about the INCREDIBLE BREADTH of Space, that THEY(stars) ALL LOOK ALIKE. therefore, they MUST be from - a SINGLE 1ST SOURCE. It is unlikely, it IS your FORTE in Life to comprehend the Origins and Goals of the Universe. but, WATT this planet calls GOD & CHRIST is simply the UNIVERSE about its Work in the Dance of Creation. LIFE is more Precious and Real than ANY of US may ever come 2 REAL EYEs (realize) in THIS lifetime - bet THE MIRACLE of IT is, eye believe, detectable to Most of US that are socially civilized. NATURE reveals ALL the Great Truths to us throoooo OUR EXPLORATION. Did yu KNO??? COLUMBUS actually KNEW the World was ' round ' before He approached Queen Isabella w/ the idea of traveling West. He STUDIED extensively thruout England, Europe & the Netherlands - what was available : the Calculations in Mathematics, Astronomy and Navigation - and - IT CAME TO HIM - that the World was, in fact, " Round! " In His TIME, what a ' r e v e l a t i o n .' Yet, Today, u can observe online : the " Flat Earth Society " still exists. People are stupid - some aren't. i CAN say this : ( in nature) " the CREAM rises to the TOP." In my observation, THE AFTER - LIFE EXISTS. But, it is the ' Way of the Universe ' to derive WHAT GOOD the SUPREME INTELLIGENCE defines from OUR evolutionary struggles. IT is IN THE BUSINESS of PEOPLE-ing Planets of which THERE are Trillions. i inCOURAGE u to SET YOURSELF FREE from the churches ideas of SIN - and Guilt and CHRIST who was never a Christian and FIND in this Life what CAPTURES u most to do. If u find a BELIEF in GOD or AFTERLIFE as a part of your Exploration then EMBRACE the many many VIEWS the world has Discovered. Otherwise, JUST KNOW this INCREDIBLE MACHINE this MIRACLE of LIFE we are GIVEN FREELY is capable of TREMENDOUS giving and achievement - FIND watt u LOVE and make it SHINE like never before - i assure you - THE UNIVERSE will acknowledge ONE of its SHINING SUNS & resurrect THE GLOW you have achieved to GIVE. Yu are, at this momint, IMMERSED heart soul & mind IN THE UNLIMITED make it your desire/journey 2LEARN2 - - - - " f e e l - i t. " Become One w/ THE ONE.
Peter L
2009-04-24 14:45:11 UTC
A lot of longwinded nonsense here for what is a pretty simple question.



Believe anything that is objectively testable and proven by repeated experiments under controlled conditions. That means we should believe in scientifically proven facts, andf the rest can be taken on faith or ignored. That is what faith is about - belief when there is no proof. SO all the religious answers are fine - god/ghosts/aliens/paranormal phenomena may exist BUT there is no proof that he/she/they/it does.
***
2009-04-26 01:11:25 UTC
Ask yourself



"What am I"



When you come up with the experiential answer of "A living soul created in the image of God"

You're there.
nexvecter
2009-04-24 08:02:10 UTC
faith is a good tool to have. its a sign of strong disciplined mind.keeps individuals humble and in line. however,there are very strong indications that what we have been calling religion may be all wrong.furthermore,astrology,i follow mine sign on a daily basis,so did adolf hitler. food for thought. anyway as far as the paranormal is concerned its all speculation. but man i have heard some good ones of late.try john lears soul catcher on the moon.
anonymous
2009-04-23 18:12:51 UTC
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
j153e
2009-04-24 00:26:33 UTC
So far, one fact that simply can't be argued (based on scientific evidence and logic) is: "Nothing comes of nothing, hence, some Thing has always been."

Science, which is based on the notion that repeatable, controllable, soulless manipulation provides a limited area of reliability, namely for that which is repeatable, controllable, and manipulable, promotes the idea of "energy." Hence, scientifically, energy must always have been, in some form, of course even before the "big bang."

The notion of Soul as individing of Creator God, offers a possible Creator God, even a God Who Creates Energy.

Thus, science and religion are at base logically harmonious, for science does not claim knowing of absolute negatives, such as "There is no God;" that type of claim of an absolute negative logically is simple error, for to prove same, would require Omniscience and Omnipresence in all dimensions, etc.

Secondly, there is no logical support for what is termed reductionism. For example, brain scans show "religious experience" and e.g. experience of a beautiful garden to be similar or identical. It is an error of logic to assume that the whole is necessarily indicated by a part termed "physical."

Thirdly, there is the problem of the "gesture of God" which transects physical laws as humans know them. An example is the Host of Light at Garabandal, Spain, early 1960s, which was predicted by an Angel to a little child, then filmed at very close distance by several sceptics, as a perfect disk of Light coalescing in air above the young child's open mouth. As this kind of event is neither replicable nor controllable, science does not comment on it. The closest scientists have come to investigating such activity is e.g. Dr. William Tiller's investigation of human intention to alter quantum electronic systems: "Psychoenergetic Science," http://www.tiller.org does involve a group of world-class scientists, in the engineering and biological sciences at Stanford and elsewhere, who have designed good experiments showing just that, and who have developed an SU(2)-type theoretic (and this before superstring theory) to explain how biofield and intention move in dimensions beyond the physical.

Non-local, non-EMF human telepathy is also well-demonstrated by University scientists' experiments, beginning with Grinberg-Zylberbaum in 1993, and replicated several times since by other interested research teams.

There are of course well-respected physicists, such as Goswami, "God Is not Dead," and Stapp, "The Mindful Universe," who are doing yeoman work to heal the unreasonable scepticism and clean up the experimental protocols. Stapp in particular has identified a key error in Dennett's 1990s attempt to reduce psi by claiming an tracable identity in matter vis a vis Mind, when in fact far before then it is a well-established truth in quantum mechanics that decoherence of a wave (e.g. "Mind" as soliton or Plotinian One) is in fact able to move into physicality without any Mass or Energy "tracing." (The Grinberg-Zylberbaum type of experiment, using Faraday cages, etc., confirms this for human nonlocal telepathy.)

People who attempt to state that "no evidence" exists for Spirit, telepathy, psi intentionality, etc., simply are ignorant of the above-mentioned work, or have some other psychologistic agenda. Even scientists, in surveys, tend to have around 25% or more "religious" folk in their midst, which is remarkable for a labor which self-selects for soulless objectivism.

The major issue for the Abrahamic and Hindu faiths is one of Soul. It is well-known that focus develops essentialism (Sartre's "existence precedes essence," for example). If one devotes energy and time as work in e.g. science and other worldly academics and labor for 8 hours a day, and 5 minutes of sincere love of God and time in Scripture and/or meditation, it is rather obvious, from a physics/work/sowing standpoint, that almost an 100 to 1 sowing ratio obtains. This, when combined with living in a very seductive culture, with few conversations truly energized, about Godliness, ups the relative vectors to well over 200 to 1 in sowing, re physis and Soul.

Imagining heaven is of course a "relief," and if Heaven Is, it should be even more than "relief," but even "resonance."

Finally, family issues tend to affect one's reality in often-unexpected manners. E.g., dislike of father-mother authority, the lure of being able to do as you will after you move to your own household, tend to ally worldly tension-reduction (after a focused day at the laboratory bench, a beer with buddies and a quick flick, and a doze in the sack, none of which is likely Soul-enhancing) rather than e.g. having one day a week in which you relax without boogeying, love the Lord, appreciate the beauty of precision and perfection as it occasionally manifests in Nature, etc.

Consider giving a read to C. S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce," realize that dreams and intentions to be God-taught and protected are often keys to Soul.

Other good reads: "The Path of the Higher Self, " Mark Prophet, "Extraordinary Knowing," Elizabeth Mayer, "The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?", Free and Wilcock, "The Master of Lucid Dreams," Olga Kharitidi, "Testimony of Light," Helen Greaves, "Expecting Adam," Martha Beck, "In Heaven So on Earth," M. Scott Peck, M.D., "Hope for the World: Spiritual Galvanoplasty," O. M. Aivanhov, "Children Who Remember Past Lives," Ian Stevenson, M.D., "Autobiography of a Yogi," Yognananda, "Life before Life," Jim Tucker, M.D., "Babies Remember Birth," David Chamberlain, Ph.D., "Watch Your Dreams," Ann Ree Colton.

http://www.noetic.org http://www.quantumbrain.org http://www.heartmath.org http://www.carolbowman.com

http://www.dreamhealer.com http://www.dreamviews.com

You probably are "majoring" in the Spirit in Truth, which closely outpictures in science, healing arts, finance, music, and maths. A question to ask: given simple directions ("Love God completely, love colleague as Self, love as Christ, Truth, loves"), one gains an Infinite Good by the finite sowing; contrariwise, to lose an infinity of eternal, expanding Joy and Good by ignoring Pascal's wager is infinitely tragic, no?


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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