Why do you believe in God?

Why do you believe in God? Why are you a Catholic?

A personal reply from a practising Catholic:

I have a studious but emotional personality.

*1. I believe in a Universal Creator from logic:

I accept the argument that there must be a First Cause because if there were no First Cause, then there would never be anything, ever. Not empty space, but really nothing. I can't imagine an eternal First Cause, but I can see why there must be one. The only alternative would be to hold that some things can happen without any previous cause at all. If this were really true, then the universe would be in chaos, including my own thought processes. They would be worthless. In that case, we should stop trying to think and simply eat, sleep and reproduce. I do not believe that my thoughts are random and worthless: I believe our minds were created in the Image of the Eternal God, and our perception of logic and morals (of true versus false; right versus wrong - not particular details, but the very concepts) is a true one.

*2. I accept the Argument from Design:

I have studied biology and am astounded at the complexity, integration and beauty of the living cell. This is ultimate nanomachinery. The DNA-RNA-protein system alone could not, to my mind, be anything other than a Design invented by a Designer. I note that atheistic evolutionists cannot actually describe how this came about according to their belief. It is not just the complexity, it is the integration. None of it would work unless all of it were in place.

*3. I have also studied particle physics and I am deeply impressed at the elegance of the Natural Laws as we have understood them so far. From just a few General Principles, the entire universe we know can be built up, piece by piece. There is true artistry there.

*4. I have studied history, mostly of Western Civilisation, and I have been to Rome and seen the standing evidence of the history as we have received it. I believe the evidence that there was a man named Jesus of Nazareth who preached a wonderful Law of Love, performed miracles, told us that God loves us dearly, and proved it by allowing Himself to die on the Cross and rise from the dead. I also believe on the evidence that He established the Catholic church.

*5. I have read the entire Bible at least once, some passages many times, and I accept the logic and history that affirm that the Catholic church was the organisation that selected, compiled and preserved these writings, and that the Catholic Church has the authority to give an answer to questions of interpretation. As a Catholic, I am asked to believe that there was a First Man, and an Original Sin, but I am not bound to believe that this happened 4004 years ago, or that the Flood covered the entire globe. (The actual event was probably the flooding of the Black Sea when the Mediterranean burst in at the end of the ice age, about 5,500 BC.)

I have read some of the Early Church Fathers and the works of other writers, and they make sense. I believe I can see how the Protestant Reformation lost its way as the goalposts were shifted.

A more personal note:

*6. I have witnessed a miraculous cure, and have witnessed many little and not-so-little supernatural interventions, many of them very personal to myself and others, – including at least one practical joke ... not the kind of thing you would present to a non-Christian as proof, but we don't live our lives proving what we believe; we just live it. There have been many miraculous healings and rescues in my city of Cork within living memory.

I am afraid I believe in Hell because of what some people do to others: not all rapes, murders, abuse of the helpless, human traffickers, usurers, are insane or misguided. They do know what they are doing. They must go Somewhere. I have also had limited experience of the action of evil spirits. The Catholic explanation, and the power of the priest in exorcism, confirm these things in my mind.

*7. I am astonished at the beauty of the world. It is not nullified by the ugliness. If there is a Universal Creator who is infinitely good and powerful, there might be reasons for the present mixture of beauty and ugliness, of pleasure and pain, in the present world we see. I certainly refuse to follow the line of thought: 'I don't understand why there is ugliness, pain and unhappiness, therefore there can't be a Creator at all.' Quiet ponds, the seashore, sunsets, children – not to mention Woman, the Pinnacle of Creation – The "materialist" explanations leave me with the curious sensation of reading an Explanation of Everything that somehow leaves everything out...

*8. And more personally again, I have had the good fortune to meet certain people who simply radiate God who is in their spirit. I did see one with a halo. Not like in the paintings: I saw the goodness of their soul shining through their person in a visible manner. The idea that such a one could be just a pile of mud, or a highly-evolved ape, is quite simply ludicrous. Of Course this is a child of God. I have also both heard about and witnessed the Second Sight on both sides of my family. Call it the Celtic gift.

*Lastly, I reject rival non-Christian religions – and most versions of agnosticism – because they either ignore Christ (you can't just ignore Him) or else either try to explain Him away, or else dismiss the evidence which I judge to be conclusive.