Is belief a choice?

[pwfaith]

Is belief a choice or is something that you don't have much control over? Now I'm not talking about freewill or anything like that. Is belief a decision you make?

IMO, yes (well at least as far as believing in Jesus). Although that does not mean it is an easy choice for everyone. For some it's a very hard choice. For many it's a process, for others it feel very natural. I think there is an indefinite amount of variables that come into play as to why that is for each individual.

 

[Me Myself]

It depends on how you define an individual.

The totality of what we are does control our beleives, but mostly this is done subconciously. consiously you just get the end results, and if you don´t like what you are beleiving you look for more, but it generalyy doesn´t come to "you know what, I don´t like the conclusion I just had about whats logical about this, so I´ll just have another one"

the thing about beleifs is that they support each other, so the already chosen beleive system limits your new choices of beliefs

 

[Orias]

Even with no opinion on the matter?

Opinion is contemporary in terms of it being a belief.

 

[Tarheeler]

I just thought it is a bunk deal but thats me. There is usually a 'why' for everything I believe. Some sort of red flag is raised especially if sounds irrational.

How do you determine what is irrational when you have nothing to base it on?

In your last post, you assumed my rejection of original sin was due to a different interpretation of the Bible than what I was taught. The problem with that is that there is no evidence that one interpretation is any more "correct" than the other; there is no reason to follow the Baptist tradition rather than the Jewish one other than belief. I've tried to choose to believe something else, and it doesn't work.

Like I said earlier, I'm sure evidence and experience play a part in our beliefs. But I think there is more to it than just that.

 

[Erebus]

Is belief a choice or is something that you don't have much control over? Now I'm not talking about freewill or anything like that. Is belief a decision you make?

For me personally it's a bit of both. I was raised as a Christian and gradually rid myself of those beliefs as I found less and less reason to believe in the Christian God. Practising magic has presented me with a few situations where it would be completely irrational for me to not believe there's something more to it than just psychology.
The difference between these beliefs and the Christian ones of my childhood is that my belief in magic stems from experience (and is thus difficult not to believe in) while my old Christian beliefs stemmed from being taught them as a child (making it difficult to not believe as a child). All that could be taken as choice really is the process of rejecting Christian beliefs and the decision not to pretend nothing's happened while practising magic.

 

[idav]

How do you determine what is irrational when you have nothing to base it on?

In your last post, you assumed my rejection of original sin was due to a different interpretation of the Bible than what I was taught. The problem with that is that there is no evidence that one interpretation is any more "correct" than the other; there is no reason to follow the Baptist tradition rather than the Jewish one other than belief. I've tried to choose to believe something else, and it doesn't work.

Like I said earlier, I'm sure evidence and experience play a part in our beliefs. But I think there is more to it than just that.

I wasn't trying to assume where the belief came from, I was throwing out various places it might come from including possible scriptural interpretation or beliefs that god is a certain type of god. Even if there are different interpretations people will choose what sounds more logical whether using only the bible or including knowledge and experience outside the bible. When someone tells you that you inherit the sins of your parents or the first humans on earth, it could just be something as simple as common sense that tells you otherwise.

 

[idav]

"Belief" expresses a relation between someone and an object of belief. The object is usually in the form of a proposition about possibly true conditions or possible worlds. As long as there is someone in a relation to propositions in which to believe, belief is not a choice, it is an actual part of a working model of the world.

I often see it as everyone having a worldview which they use as a sort of lens to look at everything with. So in a sense this idea we have we use to choose how we read certain texts or hear certain things out of context. Like that saying we hear what we want.

 

[idav]

I think it is. I've changed my beliefs over time and did so through education and conscious effort.

I'm with you on this. I've gone through quite a spectrum of beliefs and ideas and change was always the result of answering questions and adjusting accordingly. A lot of times it is a matter of unlearning things.

 

[Tamar]

I wonder how many believers are on board because of the hell thing. It sounds pretty pathetic to me that you should have to scare people into believing. I always thought that without the threat of hell, people would start examining religion more closely and there would be a lot fewer believers once they realize how ridiculous religion is.

There would be many who would walk away from Islam or Christianity. There are religions that don't have a theology of heaven and hell and the fear that goes along with it.

I think it would free many people to really look at their spirituality and find the place they are most comfortable and not out of fear.

 

[Tamar]

Is belief a choice or is something that you don't have much control over? Now I'm not talking about freewill or anything like that. Is belief a decision you make?

I don't think so. I grew up in a secular home that did Christmas and Easter but never set foot in a church or had any indoctrination. But I had from a very early age a spiritual center or spark as I have always called it.

I went to church with neighbors, felt very connected to my Jewish neighbors. In highschool hung out with folks who were Bahai. In my 20s really tried to be Christian but finally realized that I wasn't and never was. Spent a couple of years hanging around with Muslims and a mosque. Finally left when I realized that didn't work either.

Then one day someone said she knew someone who was converting to Judaism and a light went off.

I went down that path and never looked back. Everything fell into place and I do believe that for many of us who become Jewish there is a spark inside that brings us to this place.

So I do believe that within us may be a place we are moving towards.

I was so lucky that my family really let me grow up and think, and speak and put my questions out there without fear.

 

[waitasec]

Is belief a choice or is something that you don't have much control over? Now I'm not talking about freewill or anything like that. Is belief a decision you make?

great thread!
how can one be made to believe anything.
to me that is a power no one can manipulate.

 

[xkatz]

Yes you choose what to believe.

 

[Draka]

If I can simply choose what to believe, then I could choose to believe in anything else. I can't do that. I cannot choose to believe in something I find doesn't make sense or is irrational.

 

[sojourner]

Is belief a choice or is something that you don't have much control over? Now I'm not talking about freewill or anything like that. Is belief a decision you make?

You don't get God...
God gets you.

 

[waitasec]

If I can simply choose what to believe, then I could choose to believe in anything else. I can't do that. I cannot choose to believe in something I find doesn't make sense or is irrational.

one can choose to believe anything they want to, if ones sense of integrity goes where ever the wind blows....

 

[paratrooper1993]

i think it depends. it really depends on what your heart is saying. if it is not according to your heart, than it is wrong. god never punish us for doing what we think is best. all religion is created for humans so that they release themselves from the grip of worldly possessions and lust

 

[snl2240]

I am sick parents indoctrinating their children. I was indoctrinated, and now that I am an adult I can say with assurance I would have never chosen Catholicism or even Christianity for that matter. I was raised with the bible, the new american bible, and was fairy familiar with it, in fact I even mesmerized all the books names including the apocrypha. I had never engaged in unguided reading of it though.

The sick sick stuff that was being taught to me by my loved ones makes me wish horrible things on them, until I realize the same thing was done to them. I couldn't even make it past genesis.

I can't say this enough children are not capable of making a decision to live their life according to this book. They are not capable of doing such a thing. They do not know the true nature of their actions or how they effect the world around them. This is a form of rape. I was raped in this way.

I do not believe in a god, nor would I have ever, but now I have the fears and guilt of this Christianity in me. I don't think I might ever get rid of it. I know the Truth now at least though.

If you love your children let them choose.

 

[Azekual]

Yes, belief is an active decision. You have to put effort into believing, especially in the beginning and/or when there is little to no evidence to support your belief.

 

[idav]

If I can simply choose what to believe, then I could choose to believe in anything else. I can't do that. I cannot choose to believe in something I find doesn't make sense or is irrational.

Sure but believing in something like science is different from believing in a philosophy depending on how much speculation is involved. Believing in something that there is no evidence for or against isn't necessarily irrational...or is it?

 

[idav]

great thread!
how can one be made to believe anything.
to me that is a power no one can manipulate.

Well people seem to be pretty good at various forms of self hypnosis. Like telling yourself "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it people like me!".