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Is belief a choice?
- Thread starter idav
- Start date
I don't think it is.
I've tried to be both a Christian and an athiest, but never really succeeded. I played the part, but that was it. I don't think we can control what we believe in, at least from a theological perspective. Even now, there are many things that some take literally (like a literal Creation or a 40-day flood that wiped out almost all life) that I can't believe in.
I've tried to be both a Christian and an athiest, but never really succeeded. I played the part, but that was it. I don't think we can control what we believe in, at least from a theological perspective. Even now, there are many things that some take literally (like a literal Creation or a 40-day flood that wiped out almost all life) that I can't believe in.
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Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
I sure hope not, looking at all the irrational and dangerous beliefs people hold.
Let's take this example for instance.
Would it be safe to say that you can't believe it because of evidences you made a decision not to believe in it? If someone were ignorant of scientific facts it seems to me it makes it much easier to just choose to believe especially when not having investigated otherwise.
Which kinda makes me think they can choose those beliefs even if they have to cover their eyes and ears to do it.
I have no way to answer that. I was exposed to both science and Bible stories at about the same time. But I do think what we experience has a lot to do with it.
We constantly gather evidence, some of it objective and some of it subjective. I'm sure that it plays a big part in what we believe, regardless of the subject matter.
But, on the other hand, you have things for which there should be no evidence. For example, why do I reject the ideas of the Trinity and origional sin when almost everyone in my life accept them and all of my early religious education centered around those concepts?
Why do people choose one religion over another, or better yet, why do they convert?
Yeah, I think experiences and evidence play a part in it, but I don't think that is all of it.
heretic
Heretic Knight
do you mean belief in general , or belief in certain religion or doctrine ? I think to believe in something , is not a choice , people don't have control over it because it's one of the human instincts , a soul instinct .but to beleive in something certian is totally a choice. everyone believe in what he/she thinks it's the right one for him/her
Songbird
She rules her life like a bird in flight
outhouse
Atheistically
the proper way to answer this is that it is, and it isnt a choice.
Most people have religion forced upon them as a way of family life. Once ingrained its hard to reverse.
horizon_mj1
Well-Known Member
IMO this is very close to the Truth. If you are shown that a belief in which you hold (no matter how close you hold it to your heart) and are shown absolute proof that the belief was wrong, yet choose to ignore the Truth and keep believing in deception, this is pride and arrogance. If you choose contentment in what may be deceptive without ever searching outside of those set doctrines, once again this is wrong. Why would anyone ever settle for anything less than what is True, especially if that Truth consists of Logic?
I'm sure there are things we are born with an inclination to believe and things that are ingrained from birth. I guess to some extent that choice may have been made for you but once you have the ability to actually understand what is going on you make the choice to stay in that belief or not. Just as there is an argument that are minds are inclined to be superstitious we are still able to overcome it with logic. Could be a matter of whether we choose emotions over reason.
Landerage
Araknor
I think beleive have different aspects, one of them is that beleive is something that's already in oneself even before getting any knowledge but a great feeling of it.
Then another aspect is acquiring beleif with studies of religion etc...
and a third aspect, is making a hypothesis of beleiving and going along with it until something come up that can tell you wether you should continue beleiving or stop. It's quite abstract but if one is meant to beleive, he will feel it with his heart, soul and mind, sometimes it's the heart first then the mind, sometimes in a different order, for me it was mind first, then heart, and now just everything
Then another aspect is acquiring beleif with studies of religion etc...
and a third aspect, is making a hypothesis of beleiving and going along with it until something come up that can tell you wether you should continue beleiving or stop. It's quite abstract but if one is meant to beleive, he will feel it with his heart, soul and mind, sometimes it's the heart first then the mind, sometimes in a different order, for me it was mind first, then heart, and now just everything
I think it plays a significant role in what we believe but we can sometimes see passed it.
Sometimes, despite what people show you, you find other reasons to believe otherwise. I'm the same way with you on the trinity and original sin and I was raised Catholic. The theological concepts I came to understand to be true were opposed to these beliefs and oddly enough was able to find ways to reconcile the bible to such beliefs based on interpretation.
As with the example above some other evidence or internal justification must have played a role on your view on trinity or original sin. The original sin concept is easy to see why it is flawed concept and it is even one of the first things that atheists might point out about the flaws of bible god. Though it is easy to say original sin isn't fair it is also easy to reconcile the bible to it which would be why people still believe in it even if it is a flawed concept in which case they choose to believe the bible over various criticism.
Ultimately, I would say as beliefs, there is choice. As thoughts / ideas coming to consciousness, there may not be choice, for simply 'crossing the mind.' But the choice to accept something as true is a choice.
To me, this has to do with self awareness, and understanding how that grows the more we understand, plus how we are ultimately responsible for what we see. In our infant understandings of self awareness (could be 30 years old, and still have infant understanding), we might think the world around us is not in any way of our making. But as self awareness grows, it becomes clearer, more reasonable, that a lot of what we see, and way in which we see is by our choosing. Thus is our responsibility.
Helps to understand this if one realizes that beliefs are ideas really, and that some ideas (ones we say matter) are being 'made to' conform to particular framework(s) we hold to be, how you say, self evident.
To me, this has to do with self awareness, and understanding how that grows the more we understand, plus how we are ultimately responsible for what we see. In our infant understandings of self awareness (could be 30 years old, and still have infant understanding), we might think the world around us is not in any way of our making. But as self awareness grows, it becomes clearer, more reasonable, that a lot of what we see, and way in which we see is by our choosing. Thus is our responsibility.
Helps to understand this if one realizes that beliefs are ideas really, and that some ideas (ones we say matter) are being 'made to' conform to particular framework(s) we hold to be, how you say, self evident.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Only if you suck at logic.
But why must have some other piece of evidence done so? There isn't anything that suggests my beliefs described above are based anything observable.
There is nothing that indicates one belief is correct while the other is not; there are so many different interpretations of the Bible that there is no objective way to say what makes sense and what doesn't.
And, even if some piece of subjective evidence that I had collected at some point did influence that, it still doesn't suggest there was ever a choice that could be made. I honestly think that some of us are set up to believe, while others are not. I don't think it's conscious decision we make.
I don't think it is all that loose of a term. I could be given a list of things and I could tell you if I believe them with simple yes or no answers. I could even tell you which things I believe that have or don't have evidence and I would have reasons for all of it.