Belief is not a choice?

Question

I'm posting this not to raise people's blood about the issue, but to point out a flaw. Belief is not a person's choice. People say that belief has to come from the heart. They also say that there are a lot of people that aren't true believers in this world. That these people go through the motions of being a Christian, but don't fully believe it in their hearts.

Now don't take this personally, but lets compare belief to Santa Clause. We've all grown out of believing that he exists (most of us), but imagine after all that you've learned, what it would take to believe he existed. I say that it is (near) impossible for a person to believe that Santa roams the earth giving presents.

So I say this to Christians to help them understand an Atheistic perspective. Can you force yourself to believe in Santa? With what you know now, is there any way that you could convince yourself he exists? That is the dilemna of an Atheist. We just can't make ourselves believe. Belief is not a choice.

Answer 1

Congratulations--yours is an intelligent question.

Answer 2

I never really thought about it like that before, I know attraction is not a choice. I never put it into perspective that belief wasn't a choice.

This could very well be true, but I think it also depends on how your raised, so in essence it isnt YOUR choice. I think religion is a lot of brainwashing, so if your parents or school brainwashes you to believe in certain things then you are more likely to believe. I used to believe mostly because I didnt know any better, I went to a catholic school from K-10th grade, and it wasnt till a couple years after that, that I was able to live life more and learn more and eventually stop believing in a religion and start believing more in myself and making things happen instead of praying and hoping they do, based off of having Faith.

I've noticed anytime you ask somebody to tell you why they believe there could possibly be a god, their answer is always FAITH. I dont know if they choose to believe that or not.

Good question.

another good question is, if there is a creator of all of this mess, how did he come about, he couldnt have created himself. the sad part is that we will never truely know how everything started, but I am definetly siding with the atheists, because I dont think any higher power could possibly let the world be in the position it is without any kind of help if he was so powerful.

Answer 3

Why don't you do the experiment and live like Jesus taught with comassion and forgiveness toward ALL others you come in contact with? Just for a while and record your results! You will find the Truth if you are sincere and not just look for excuses.

By the way Jesus was not the only one teaching the "way". Sihk, Sufi, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu and, YES, Muslim and others are taught to live by willingly thinking and acting with compassion AND forgiveness toward the "others".

But Jesus stated it most presisely. Love ALL your fellow man and women, even if the may be your enemies. Problem is that it is so "uncionventional", "illogical", "unrealistic" that few "believers" follow it to the letter. The path is narrow and few are there that follow it.

Love (I don't mean sex!) is the answer - whatever the question.

Can you immagine, if all the Sihks, Sufis, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims would live with compassion and forgiveness toward others, as they have been taught!, what this world could/would be like?

Why not try it, and if you don't like the results you can always go back and say it's all a "myth". YOU can make the choice!

Answer 4

Very well written and thought out question - and well taken.

My response will be rather simple.
First, let's get "God" or any particular religion out of the equation - there are just to many varieties of "Gods" in this world to make any general statements about them.
Let's instead talk about a Creator.

You imply "that after all that you've learned" you cannot force yourself to believe. And that's an excellent point. We know and have learned about evolution and E=MC2 and, simply put, we're getting to be a pretty intelligent bunch. We learned of the big bang theory and the primordial beginnings of DNA and so on.

But all of these things miss the real question: They all start with the building blocks already in place.

Where did all of the unimaginable and inconceivable amount of mass and energy of this vast universe come from - let alone our puny, little planet?

It seems logical that there must be or have been a Creator - and we don't know - and that's why it's called "faith or belief."

Excellent question.

Answer 5

If believing was not a choice, then God would not have instructed us so in the holy bible. Futhermore believe what you may , God is real and someday you will see. One should not relate God to Santa Claus cause the two are not a match. But if one want to compare or equal then God is our Santa all in one. Pehaps that's where Santa came from in the first place, God given this name, yet his works manifested in the flesh. Do you kinna sort got it. I do not agree with you cause belief is a choice if not how come you are an atheist and I'm a child of the king.

Answer 6

Well said. I agree completely. I didn't choose to be an atheist, I've just never been able to believe there is a god. It's impossible to force someone into believing in something they really don't believe in and it usually takes a major life event to change one's beliefs (to either start or stop believing in god).

I'd say it's not a choice whether you believe in god(s), everyone believes in what seems logical to them and they can't just choose to believe in something they find unlogical. But as for which religion to follow, that's probably a bit of a choice once the faith in a superior being is there.

Answer 7

Society validates most religions as well as atheists. To me Atheism is a sort of faith/religion on its own. But society will not validate Santa in the same regard. So once the validation and enforcement dissipates so does the belief as it did with most of us we stopped believing in Santa when we were around 12. But I agree with your statement that belief is not a choice, most will follow the religion that we were raised in 'cause that validation and enforcement never diminished and as children we never had a choice. Only the few that were given the respect and trust to chose our own path are actually the only true spiritual followers.

Answer 8

I agree, it is not a choice. Belief is what you feel is right for you. I cannot imagine that there is no God. I would never be able to disbelieve either. I know me, some things are not negotiable. God is one of those things. I can see how for those of you with, shall I say, a more analytical mind could certainly question the existence of a supreme being. I have said this many times, I cannot prove there is a God. I would not even try. For me, I could not live thinking that there is no life after death. I can feel my soul and I know that I will live on.

For Brutal honesty is Best: Bravo! I could not agree more.

Answer 9

So very true. It's pretty funny when someone says, "would you rather be religious and be wrong or be an atheist and be wrong for eternity?" It's not a choice, I just can't force my mind to believe when my logic points me in the opposite direction no matter what the consequences are.

Answer 10

Santa doesn't exist????!!!

I can honestly say, some Christmas mornings, I wake up & there are presents there that I didn't put there.

Sure, I can choose to not believe in Santa Clause, but that flies in the face of the evidence. Doesn't matter that my mother has a key.

Answer 11

I think you make a great point in your comparison... but I still kind of disagree. I choose not to believe in Santa because there is no evidence of his existence... I choose not to believe in God for the same reason. In both cases the belief is based on creditable evidence of existence... and the lack there of makes believing illogical to choose. But don't think I'm trashing your theory.