Belief is not a choice. If I ask you to honestly choose to believe that there is a red hippo on my lap, can you do it? If not, how can you expect me to choose to believe in god and why should I be punished if I do not?
2006-12-26 09:14:00 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
you cant make yourself believe
and i wouldnt expect you to
and you are right ... why would you be punished for that ?
i dont believe so
2006-12-26 09:17:18 · answer #1 · answered by Peace 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The biblical answer is that you cannot make yourself believe.
God gives you many opportunities to believe , but you and you alone decide if you will take the gift. We call this planting the seed, as God tells us to do. Only God can make the seed grow.
I do not expect you to choose to believe in God without first heeding Gods call to believe. The book of Romans is a good read for you. It will tell you why you cannot believe on your own.
Even God's patience is not eternal. At some point after he has given you many opportunities to believe in him, he will give you your wish and darken your already depraved heart. At this point , there is no turning back, you will have rejected God in your heart along with your words and you will be forever with your choice of unbelief and the known results of that action.
This is why you will be punished, for not accepting all the times that you were given the opportunity. You actually ultimately decide your own eternal life, I pray that you will accept the next opportunity that God puts in your path.
2006-12-26 09:29:09 · answer #2 · answered by cindy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When I was about 15-16 years old, I was losing my faith. I was raised a Baptist, and had been a devout Christian the entire time. Then I started learning about science in school. (At around age 13)
By the time I had reached 15-16 years of age, I had done everything in my power to fight off the logic in my head that told me my beloved god was only imaginary. I was scared to death. I couldn't imagine life without my god. And I got down and prayed to god. I BEGGED him to give the strength to keep my faith, and find a way to defeat the doubts I had.
I BEGGED him.
If that god exists, and did not answer that prayer, then he is truly a despicable creature, and is not worth of anyone's praise.
I hope one of you Christians out there claiming that atheism is voluntary can learn something from this little tale. I wasn't "hurt" by god. I didn't have a bad experience that made me "hate" god. I simply could not rationally believe that he existed. And if you knew what I know about your god, and the religion that created him, you wouldn't believe in him, either.
There is nothing voluntary about it.
2006-12-26 09:35:53 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You cannot make yourself do anything that you have not chosen to do especially within your own mind. Belief is a choice. As a man thinks so is he.
You choose and accept to believe; and you choose and accept, not to believe. Once a person gets an understanding of their own spirituality they are in charge of their own beliefs.
Peace,
Hope
2006-12-26 09:36:25 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have to study things that you want to believe. If someone tells you there is a nice place somewhere. At first, probably you believe because the person who tells you is a good friend of you. But you will not surely believe it until you go there. If you happen to visit that place often then nobody can tell you that such place never exist because you have see it yourself.
2006-12-26 09:27:02 · answer #5 · answered by Has 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
BELIEF is a choice.
Hebrews 11:1 NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.
Simply put---We believe in something or someone that we cannot see but have evidence of its existence!
EXAMPLES: The WIND-- we can not see it but we see the effects of it therefore even though invisible we believe.
George Washington---we have never seen him but we read about him in History books thus we believe he did exist.
God our heavenly Father---we can not see him but we can see evidence of him all around us, and read through his inspired word the History of the world and believe even though he is invisible.
Colossians 1:15
Isaiah 14:12,13,14 We are told of how SATAN deceives the whole world.
John 1:1 Rev. 2:7 Tells who benefits by lying about God SATAN/HELL
James 4:7 resist the devil and he will flee from you
James 4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
Satan had only to get Eve to doubt ONE word of God, then he moved in and cause her to further disobey God's word Genesis3:1, 5
Matthew 24:35 The heavens and the earth shall pass away , but my words shall not pass away.
The WORD is with us always Matthew 28:20
Oh yes, Belief is our choice to make.
By reading God's word our faith grows stronger everyday and we can resist the devil all the more with the power of God behind us.
Romans 10:17 SO then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Belief, Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
Christian in Pa. ready and willing to study and share God's word with all who sincerely want to.
2006-12-26 09:40:28 · answer #6 · answered by Penny Mae 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
belief IS a choice. your question is absurd. most people choose not to believe in God because His rules are unpleasant or they are angry at Him for something that happened to them that was unfair or they don't want to submit to His authority and absolutes. Atheists always use this illogical argument. It's so unoriginal. Just because you CHOOSE not to believe in something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Please show me one shred of evidence that God does not exist. It would seem the burden of proof is also on the unbeliever.
2006-12-26 09:27:55 · answer #7 · answered by 4 Shades of Blue 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To deny the existence of God is to deny science. Because of the way proteins and DNA are constructed there is no way it happened by chance... Neither of then have the ability to build life strings unless they are guided in that construction.... How is it that intelligent Atheists don't bother to understand life science? Jim
2006-12-26 09:23:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
They believe in belief. You make a good point.
2006-12-26 09:20:34 · answer #9 · answered by Mayonaise 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
if anybody asks you to chose between a god then you should flat out say no my friend...
there can only be One ..
and it is my belief that the One is the One without anyones belief or disbelief...the One still exists.
2006-12-26 09:18:44 · answer #10 · answered by Antares 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Although this point is missed on most if not all of them...
That is the purpose of my being here. Why can't you all make yourselves believe in me? I am Zod!
Kneel before Zod!
2006-12-26 09:17:51 · answer #11 · answered by Zod 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋