What makes someone believe? (Last time)?

Question

Evolution is a great theory despite holes, and I can understand how the universe began. How come you can't come up with your own way of thinking, your own answer to the questions? Why would you support a position with no physical evidence? Please leave your emphasis on the first question if you are one of the people who uses "faith" as your magical word to answer these questions.

Answer 1

I don't know about anyone else, but once you realize that there is objective reality despite the denial by some actresses, then you have a basis to search, discover and understand. However that is not enough. You absolutely need intellectual honesty. The search is vain and the discovery is vain without intellectual honesty. Yet you need something else. The great Julius Huxley was asked why the American public had adopted evolution so readily. He said, "I suppose they didn't want to give up their fornication." What a brilliant answer! I can't find one in a thousand who understands this answer because modern day teaching does not give the student the proper tools to reason. You absolutely have to be able to reason critically. So, you must search, discover, and understand. To do that you need intellectual honesty and the tools to think critically. Without them you are like a ship without a rudder, floundering in the sea.

Answer 2

Believing is natural part of being human. We code things through our senses or Representational systems. Eyes ears nose mouth touch. And then try to notice connections that give us meaning for why circumstances happen. This creates beliefs about anything and all things.

Once we have enough evidence to support the belief whatever it is about be it Maxwell house is better than Folgers or or we all came from soup and your second cousin was the chimp on BJ and the bear.


Once we have established a belief about something we have filters deletion distortion and generalizations. Noam Chomsky wrote about this., All experiences from that point on go through your own particular experience filter and you filter out those things that do not align with your belief.

Your filters or your blinders become the model in which you experience your particular version of reality.

So have you ever noticed how some really dogmatic people cling to there beliefs even when those beliefs are highly improbable. These people had an experience that had profound meaning for them and created a strong neural code to make this meaning become dogmatic and it is very difficult to give those beliefs up.

The one thing that I found most effective is just simply helping someone see a new experience from a different point of view, from anothers shoes if you will.

So keeping this in mind a person can not NOT make meaning out the experiences they have. In another words it is impossible to not either create or reaffirm your current belief systems with all the experiences that you call reality that happen every moment of your life.

Now this understanding may create some confusion or even perhaps a sense of hopelessness or valuelessness a what's the point kind of attitude. If it's just my own mind making my own meaning and creating my own reality what's the point of all of it.

If you were to take this to a larger scale How can you know that everything isn't just an illusion? And philosophers and scientists and Artists and psychologists have all come up with theories and ideas from Prick us do we not bleed to I think therefore I am, to showing us diagrams of how the human body articulates and moves in complete bio mechanical breakdown. to expound upon that very question.

But in the end I believe it comes down to probabilities.
which aspect of the large scale beliefs ie Evolution, Atheism, Religion, Science has the greatest degree of probabilities and stays consistent as possible.

I was once lead to a book that I read that shared a probability that I was not aware of prior to reading the book. I was skeptical at first to the authors claims and then after studying his sources I feel completely confident in his research.

Evidence That Demands a Verdict Josh McDowell

Interestingly enough the bible says that Without "Faith " it is impossible to please God"

I wonder why that is.

An interesting concept isn't it.

If you get past the argument of it was written by Man and is not of God. And actually look at the bible from the aspect of
" What if it was written by God"
Why does He say what He supposedly says.

Then you get a completely new view point. You don't have to believe this but if you were to look at the bible through the eyes of it was written by God you then get even more valuable insight to choose from and apply to your belief systems. Put on God's shoes and see how life looks from there.

I feel this is an interesting way of observing and learning for my filters.

Answer 3

Science is still young so expect holes in theories. Religion and Science act the same, they claim to be consistently right even with the holes in logical reasoning ( Either one, take a step back to see the dark spots ). I look at religion as the easy answer given from god for his children, so religion is the kids book to the universe. Science still growing and will be the unedited adult edition to the book. Science will evetually take the metaphors and put into literal knowledge instead of a leap of faith ( keep in mind it will take a long time before scientists figure out certain sciences to fully explain all of exsistance, with that in mind I'm partial to the it was god explanations ). As of why people believe, it's something in between that person and the expiriences they had (God, life choices, fear, insight, Spiritual expirience ).

Answer 4

People will believe in whatever doesn't frighten them. While Evolution has holes, it doesn't question "science" like faith does. And while faith has little science, it doesn't challenge God.

For every aspect in the universe to be perfect for one split second to produce this solar system on it's own is proposterous to me. But most would rather believe a 1 in 205834056840684078490780487230583764394460928624856etc number than think that there's some being greater than us all. They are welcome to their beliefs. But I've seen miracles no scientist could ever explain. And I've seen science override things the faiths say.

Answer 5

Evolution makes the most sense to me. I mean, if a T-rex can become a sparrow, and snakes once had legs, why is it so preposterous a suggestion that people were effected by time and environment, too?

Answer 6

You have to listen to your own heart and listen to what it tells you, without that you flounder. Litsen to your heart, it will always lead you in all matters. No one can prove God in disernable terms, it's a matter of knowledge, of knowing your soul, of your source. Think for a minute about anything, and wonder where that came from, the ability. There you find God, within yourself.

Answer 7

faith is supposed to be the evidence of things with no evidence but even things that don't exist have evidence that they do.

Answer 8

It is easier for humans to believe than to think... this is why there are more believers than thinkers.

Answer 9

someone will believe when what they didn't believe in either happens to them or they see it happen