What specific evidence would people require to believe in God's existence?

That is an interesting story and I'm glad you shared it with us.I can't say how I would have acted in your exact situation with your neighbor, but I have been wronged by other a few times before, including being robbed. When I was younger, I could be easily described as "hot-headed." I was never violent (except with a couple of walls *ouch*), but I got upset and frustrated pretty easily and so when I was wronged I could get quite angry. I was a very aggressive driver as well. I wouldn't say there was a specific moment when I realized the folly and destructive power of my anger, but as I grew older I think I just grew up. I still get frustrated at times, but I have learned to forgive others when they wrong me and have also learned to recognize when I am at fault in a situation where I would have formerly placed the blame on someone else for "making" me feel a certain way.I have also done some pretty stupid things (including, like you, getting heavily involved in drugs and causing a motor accident due to careless driving, oh, and getting a DUI - all many years ago) and gotten myself into runs of "bad luck." As I have gotten older I realize that most of my "bad luck" comes from mistakes and/or bad choices I have made. I have learned very valuable lessons, grown out of my youthful navete and anger and come to make better, smarter choices in my life - not perfect, just better and better all the time. Unless something is completely out of my control, I take responsibility for the decisions I make and how I feel when bad things happen or people are mean and don't chalk it up to "fate" or "bad luck" or blame my misery on someone else.I am generally very happy and I enjoy my life and am working to improve myself, help others and learn something new every day.The difference between you and me is that I didn't need God to do it. I am not saying that I am better because of that, but that it is not necessary to believe in God in order to make a change in your life.We all know when we are unhappy and we all have a little voice trying to tell us what to do. I just attribute that little voice to me. It sounds like me and everything! I trust myself to do the right thing and I can forgive myself and ask for forgiveness from others when I make mistakes.If I may ask, would you say that you might have changed your attitude without God just because you were "ready?" You felt at rock bottom and knew(?) that something had to change. Do you feel that you could have done that yourself or if you had happened into a Buddhist Temple or an Islamic tract (do they have those?) that described a way out of your misery that you would have followed one of those paths or any of the alternatives available out there?

---

"You are metaphysicians. You can prove anything by metaphysics; and having done so, every metaphysician can prove every other metaphysician wrong--to his own satisfaction. You are anarchists in the realm of thought. And you are mad cosmos-makers. Each of you dwells in a cosmos of his own making, created out of his own fancies and desires. You do not know the real world in which you live, and your thinking has no place in the real world except in so far as it is phenomena of mental aberration." -The Iron Heel by Jack London

I am not suggesting you should change what works. That is not the point. I am simply suggesting that there are many, many ways that people transform their lives. Some turn to Buddhism, Kabbalah, Scientology, Islam, meditation, self-help gurus/books or any number of other religions/techniques/people and they all attribute their change to what they find in those religions/techniques/people.Some turn to themselves (sometimes friends and family, too) and say "I have to change myself" and/or they simply grow out of their destructive behaviors.I've done alot of drugs and I've seen and done some crazy shit while on them, including cocaine. I've been scared enough doing each and every one of them (including pot...I stopped doing it because it made me way too anxious and it always sent my heart rate spiking to dangerous levels instead of calming me down like it does for most people) to stop using them of my own volition. Sometimes after one or a few uses (K and LSD) and sometimes after long term use (cocaine and E).I'm not trying to downplay your addiction, maybe I just don't have the "addictive personality," but while I was doing coke I did some very stupid things, not the least of which was spending all of my money and I kept on doing it until I realized how crappy I felt and how stupid it was. I just stopped and I haven't touched it or even thought about doing it in 9 years.Maybe I didn't hit the bottom hard enough?I know you derive joy and comfort from feeling that God helped you through all of this, but YOU made the decision and are still making the decision all the same.And it doesn't answer my question of whether or not you feel that ANY sort of help that presented itelf to you would have drawn you out of your addiction and destructive behavior/feelings. I know you can't "know" but an honest speculation will do.

---

"You are metaphysicians. You can prove anything by metaphysics; and having done so, every metaphysician can prove every other metaphysician wrong--to his own satisfaction. You are anarchists in the realm of thought. And you are mad cosmos-makers. Each of you dwells in a cosmos of his own making, created out of his own fancies and desires. You do not know the real world in which you live, and your thinking has no place in the real world except in so far as it is phenomena of mental aberration." -The Iron Heel by Jack London

OK...I'll try to rephrase it.You say that one day you were feeling particularly desperate and you happened upon a Christian tract and you asked God for help. You subsequently started reading the Bible and felt a change in you when confronted by the robber and then you had a scare and met the hitchhiker and started attending CA meetings (forgive me if this sequence is out of order...it's not all that important to the point anyway).Imagine that instead of that Christian tract you happened upon an Islamic tract expounding on the Forgiveness of Allah. You started reading the Qu'ran and read its enjoinments to forgive and treat people who wrong you with kindness (for example, Surah 41:34 - The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo! he, between whom and thee there was enmity (will become) as though he was a bosom friend.) and then you asked Allah to lead you out of your addiction and you befriended a Muslim and former alcoholic in a place you never go to and you started talking with him about Allah's prohibition against any kind of intoxicant and you decide to attend a mosque with him and the religion of Islam along with your new friend bring you the strength to overcome your addiction.Feel free to substitute any other religion/philosophy in the above example.The question is how do you know that you wouldn't have just accepted ANY kind of help while in such dire straits?Sub-question - How do you know it was God at all? How do you know you weren't just ready to change your life and the Christian God just seemed like a good candidate to help you due to coincidence.Sub-sub question - Why is it that so many people who are "born again" become so only after hitting rock bottom? Edited by Jaderis, : fixed link...something's kooky with the board today At least on my end

---

"You are metaphysicians. You can prove anything by metaphysics; and having done so, every metaphysician can prove every other metaphysician wrong--to his own satisfaction. You are anarchists in the realm of thought. And you are mad cosmos-makers. Each of you dwells in a cosmos of his own making, created out of his own fancies and desires. You do not know the real world in which you live, and your thinking has no place in the real world except in so far as it is phenomena of mental aberration." -The Iron Heel by Jack London