belief

The following are the pages in the belief section.

This section is still being developed, and pages are still being edited.

belief
Summary page
god
Has God revealed him or herself?
world religions
12 major world faiths summarised.
religion
Which religion is more likely to be true?
christianity
What Christians believe, and why.
jesus & history
What unbiased historians can tell us about Jesus.
who was jesus?
What the historical evidence tells us about who Jesus was.

the story so far ...

In happiness we looked at what makes people happy and fulfilled in life, and learned a major key is investing our lives in something we believe is more important than ourselves. But what should we believe?

In clues we considered four basic philosophies of life - believing in God, believing in people, believing in satisfying ourselves and believing in nothing - and looked at which belief system is most likely to be true, and hence most worth investing our lives in.

In belief we look at how we might proceed if we wish to consider the god option. Material on the other options will follow. This is a summary of the ideas in this section. For more information and ideas, go to the full chapters (shown in box at left and in the text).

god (show me a sign)

If a god existed, how could we know what it is like? Perhaps she has already let us know. (perhaps that is the only way we could ever know.) But which world religion could he have used to reveal himself?

Scholars tend to talk of 12 major world religions, in three categories:

Monotheistic religions (Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, Baha'i) - a single, powerful, God who created us and the universe, and who expects ethical behaviour of us and offers great rewards in an afterlife for those who please him.
Dharmic religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism) believe in a more remote God, perhaps even a life force, and believe that this world is evil or even an illusion. We are all trapped in a cycle of rebirth until we can escape (by various means) and return to be absorbed back into God.
Taoic religions (Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto) emphasise our responsibilities to society, family or ancestors and the "way" of the universe (the "Tao"). Deities who are spirits or exalted ancestors tend to be more important than a God. These beliefs are often practised synchretistically (i.e. people combine the beliefs of several religions, such as several of the above and Buddhism).

Read about these religions in more detail in god (show me a sign).

religion

To make an objective judgment about the possible truth of each of these religions, we can consider how each religion answers questions we may regard as important, for example:

what is the purpose of life?
how can we know what is true about God?
how can we know what God is like?
how can we please God and earn his favour?
how do we get the strength of character to live as God wants?

A brief consideration of these questions shows that there are similarities in the answers given by religions within each of the three categories of religions, but marked differences between the categories. The two main exceptions to this generalisation are Sikhism, which is like the other dharmic religions in some ways, but like the monotheistic religions in others, and Christianity, which differs from the other monotheistic religions in several important ways.

We can test the various world religions against the likely characteristics of a god we discovered in clues, i.e. whether each religion's god is believed to be loving and personal, could have created an orderly universe and moral, rational human beings, and whether that religion looks like the way God has reached out to the entire world to "show us a sign". I conclude from this analysis as follows:

The monotheistic religions seem to meet most of the criteria, with the Christianity and Islam initially most attractive because they are "world religions" (a religion that reaches out to only a few people seems like a failure on God's part).
It is harder to believe that the dharmic religions meet these criteria because their gods are rarely personal creators or moral beings. The exception is Sikhism, but it has not so far attracted a large enough number of adherents to suggest the true God has revealed himself through it.
The taoic religions provide a basis for living, but say little about a god. If we believe the evidence points to there being a god, they do not help us much with finding God, although they may well assist with living an ethical life.
Some people have beliefs in a god which are an amalgam of one or more religions mixed with their own ideas. It is hard to believe such gods are any more than a subjective belief without objective basis.

This brief survey suggests that, if we are looking for a spiritual approach to life, we should begin either by investigating Christianity or Islam, or else develop an ethic and spirituality that does not depend on revelation from a god. In the following sections, we therefore consider Christianity, Islam, "a distant god", and "reasons to disbelieve".

Read more about how we might make judgments about world religions in religion (where in the world is God?).

christianity (what christians believe and why)

what christians believe

God is almighty, all-knowing and all-good, the creator of the universe. His nature is love and he loves human beings.
Jesus, a Jew who lived in the first century CE, said he had come from God to begin a new stage in God's dealing with people - the establishment of God's rule on earth, not by power, but voluntarily in the lives of those who chose to accept it.
Jesus called people to enter this new "kingdom of God" through receiving forgiveness and aligning their wills and choices with God's way. He supported this call by teaching about how we should understand and approach God, how we should live in a new way, and by miracles of healing, exorcism and power of nature.
Jesus was executed, as he had predicted, for challenging the religious establishment, but later his previously demoralised followers reported he had been seen alive, and began to boldly spread the word. Christians believe his death was necessary to provide forgiveness and entry to God's kingdom, and his resurrection a historical fact that validates all he claimed.
All people should respond by believing in Jesus, accepting the forgiveness he provided, and following in his way of serving and loving others.

why christians believe

Christians believe faith and the work of God are necessary for a person to believe, but they believe faith should be based on facts. The following are most often used to justify faith in Jesus:

When we look at what science knows about the origin of the universe and it's intricate laws "finely-tuned" to allow it to exist and produce life, God is (arguably) a better explanation than the alternatives. Likewise, God is considered a better explanation of humanity, our ability to reason and our ethical judgments, than no God.
Jesus was clearly a great ethical teacher, and claimed to represent God on earth in a unique way. It is hard to believe he was lying or egotistically mistaken, and it is more likely that he was telling the truth. That he was truly resurrected, even though amazing, is the best explanation of the facts, especially the remarkable emboldening of his previously confused and fearful followers.
Christians down through the ages and right across the world claim to live in personal relationship with a God who guides and corrects them and sometimes heals them. It is hard to believe thay are all deluded.