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[Syndicate]

I grew up as a Christian and in a Christian household. I am agnostic now, though. I am not sure if I would go to heaven. I am also not sure how I can know God exists or doesn't... how do we figure out if God exists or not? Thank you.

[jimwalton]

Glad you have asked. God can't be proved, but many things can't be proved. I saw a rainbow last week, but I can't prove it. I felt happy last night, but I can't prove that, either. Even in a court we can't prove a person is innocent or guilty; we go for the inferring the best conclusion within a reasonable doubt.

On that basis, I (along with everyone else) will assure you that God can't be proved, and he can't be verified by scientific means. Science deals with a certain kind of knowledge (reproducibility, experimentation, testability), and only with that certain kind. Many kinds of knowledge (jurisprudence, economics, politics, music, art, sociology, psychology, history, literature, philosophy, and many others) don't fall under science's umbrella, and theology is another one.

There are several ways to figure out if God exists or not. I'll mention three.

1. We reason about it. You are probably aware that there are logical "proofs" of God's existence: causality, purpose, morality, consciousness, etc. These arguments make a whole lot of sense, but they're not watertight or foolproof. I find that they are far more solid and substantial than arguments against God, but whenever such arguments are posted in a forum like this, they are ridiculed by the people who don't find them convincing. Here is where reason alone will serve you, to consider how much the arguments make sense to you, to weigh their logic against the counter-arguments, and to infer the most reasonable conclusion. I, for one, feel that arguments for the existence of God are strong, and that there are no good arguments that atheism is true. Whenever I say such things, I get drill to the wall by people who feel they are worthless. No matter. This is one way you can figure out if God exists or not.

2. Evidences. Some people are convinced there are evidences of God in the world. They believe in evidences of spiritual forces; they intuit that this life is not all there is; they have experienced answers to prayer or the presence of God in a situation. These are all subjective, but for some people they are so strong and convincing they would say they have evidence for the existence of God.

3. Experience. You can know God exists completely separately from arguments. Things make sense to us; we believe in the external world and the objectivity of reality; we believe other minds exist besides our own. We use logic, abstract reasoning, intuitions and perceptions to arrive at reasonable conclusions. We can also use our own experiences, subjective though they are, to understand our world and other abstractions such as time, motivation, preferences, advantages, and even spiritual realities. Scoffers, again, will say that nothing reliable can be based on one's experiences, but you and I both know that our experiences are not always false or untrustworthy.

4. The Bible. The Bible for some is a powerful book of truth and wisdom, even though for others it is a joke. The Bible's interpretations of life events make sense to people, its prophecies are astounding, and its teachings are life-changing. They find the Bible to be a forceful and stalwart source of spiritual truth.

As is evident, these four factors are subjective and highly debated. Over 2 billion people in the world self-identify as Christians and find these arguments convincing. That also means slightly less than 5 billion people in the world don't find them convincing. You have to weigh the arguments, study the evidence, search your heart, and come to the most reasonable conclusion.