"Why do you believe in God?"

I 100% believe it's one of the most meaningful questions we can ever ask in our entire life.  What I mean by meaningful is that, it's the most basic "first cause" ideology that everything builds upon it, e.g. meaning of life?  why am I here?  what is my purpose?  how can I be truly happy?  self-worth and self-esteem.

In some sense, I believe this question is a little bit misleading and needs clarification (a lot of people get mixed up here)

It actually consists of 2 parts

1. is there a creator (God)?
   
2. if there is a creator, who is the creator (Christians' God?  Islam's Alah?  other Gods?)

1st Question:

Philosophy/wisdom teaching/human ideas cannot prove there is a creator, but philosophy also cannot disprove there is a creator.  However, it's pretty obvious that there must be a creator if you are willing to consider yourself as a meaningful "real" human.  You are being created, so there must be a creator.

Some philosophers then ask the question "who creates God?"  Obviously, no one on earth has the "superior" (superhuman/like-God's) wisdom to answer this question.  Watch out!  This question is actually not related to the issue whether there is a creator.  It is a nice excuse for a distraction or argument.  Analogy: you use your brain without perfectly knowing actually how it works.

Therefore the question "Why do you believe in a God?" can be translated to "How do you know Christians' God is the real God?" (Question 2)

2nd Question:

First, I believe it's really essential to clarify one thing.  "Man by himself/herself (specualtion or wisdom) can never understand who God is, can never reach God, never.  Man can only reach God when God reveals himself to mankind"

Among almost all religions, you can find people claiming God revealed himself to them e.g. Alah reveals to Mohammad...  But only in Christianity, God himself comes down to earth (as Jesus) and dwell with humans.  This is the most important distinction between Christianity and other religions. 

Therefore, there are answers to Question 2: 

1. Rely on physical proof:

1. truthfulness of Bible (Archeology of the people, places, Kingdoms inside)
   
2. Truthfulness of Jesus (archeology of Jesus and other Apostles)
   
3. Trufulness of many prophesys (predictions) in the Bible e.g. born of Jesus, modern ideas to be single, vegetarian..., the re-build up of country Israel e.g. the probability for Jesus's existence to be happened randomly is 10 to the power of -24

2. Rely on personal experience:

We tend to think that persoanl experience is subjective and varys from person to person.  No, not all!  If only one person on earth reports God touches him, it's very likely he is subjective, but if millions of people report such a moment, it is very likely to be objective.  *Contrary to common thoughts, personal experience of God constitutes a big part in the proof*  Let me give you an analogy:

In the kitchen, a dad (God) told his son Tom (we) not to touch the griller as it's burning hot.  The dad left, and Tom goes and touches the griller to see if it's really hot.  Tom hurts his fingers.  Then a guy (atheist) comes in and say "I am an expert in griller.  I can prove to you that the griller is not hot at all.  Let me show you."  Tom screamed, "I don't believe you.  I have felt it myself and it's hot!" 

1. incredibly many people (from all backgrounds, all situations, all time) report a complete change in their lives.  they report finding the "real" meaning/purpose of life, "real" love and "real" joy, which is so "solid" that people can give thanks in all situations e.g. even in dying diseases (cancers)  People report that God's counsel makes their lives become so "abundant", full of passions, joy (happy) and love... as promosed by God in the Bible.  Watch out!  there are a lot of "nominal" Christian who claims to be a "Christian" without actually living a Godly live and having no sign of a wonderful transformed life (a Godly life should somehow resembles Jesus or the Apostles in the New Testament...  full of love, joy, peace, meaningful...)


2. People reports God's counsel (Bible) offers a solution to real life struggles e.g. loneliness, marital conflict, lack of meaning in life, solution to moral dilemmas e.g. is abortion appropriate, an ultimate moral consensus/standard for judging what is right/wrong to guide actions

The above are brief answers I can think of right now.  There are actually many professional Christians Reasoning Organizations (e.g. www.str.org) which can help a lot.

Personally, I beg you really research on this topic (e.g. the Bible and its archeology) before making the decision to disbelieve/believe it.  Don't follow others.  It's your life!  Do your own research and find your meaning of life!

Cheers in God

P.S. God has completely changed my life and I found a "solid" reason to be happy and loving in him.  It's miraculous.  If you are interested, e-mail me joewtc@hotmail.com or post here.  Let's search for the truth together