poll: can you choose to believe in God?

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: notfred
No, you can't. I can't. I can choose to go to the store. After which I actually make myself get up out of a chair and head to the store. I can not choose to believe in god. It doesn't matter how many times I say to myself "there is a god", I still don't actually believe that one exists.

You must be afraid of death big time then :Q

Why?

 

[prvteye2003]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: notfred
No, you can't. I can't. I can choose to go to the store. After which I actually make myself get up out of a chair and head to the store. I can not choose to believe in god. It doesn't matter how many times I say to myself "there is a god", I still don't actually believe that one exists.

You must be afraid of death big time then :Q

Why?

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: notfred
No, you can't. I can't. I can choose to go to the store. After which I actually make myself get up out of a chair and head to the store. I can not choose to believe in god. It doesn't matter how many times I say to myself "there is a god", I still don't actually believe that one exists.

You must be afraid of death big time then :Q

Why?

No afterlife with 1,000 virgins.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: MadCowDisease
Isn't that what "faith" is all about?

Yes. All faith is choice; one chooses to make a committment to believe in something. How could it possibly be faith if you had no choice?

I'd say you just have the faith (or don't) and the choice / free will is whether or not you act on that faith.

 

[Martin]

I think the "yes" crowed misunderstood the question..or don't understand anything at all.

How can one choose to believe in something like a god? I am an athiest/agnostic, but I did not choose to be one. I mean, making yourself belive in god is like making yourself forget something!

 

[dolph]

Originally posted by: MartyTheManiak
I think the "yes" crowed misunderstood the question..or don't understand anything at all.

How can one choose to believe in something like a god? I am an athiest/agnostic, but I did not choose to be one. I mean, making yourself belive in god is like making yourself forget something!

i think you got it

 

[Zenmervolt]

This is an interesting question because it depends a lot on the nature of belief. It also gets (lightly) into the idea of duality.

Can one choose any belief? Can a person choose to believe that the sky is green? Does the use of the term "believe" not imply a perceived truth in the "belief"? If the person doesn't perceive truth in the belief then is it really a belief? Doesn't this lead to the question of whether or not a person can choose his perception of truth? "Choice" implies a conscious action, are you all willing to claim that truth is subject to a person's choice? The only way that a belief can be chosen is if the perception of truth can be chosen. I think that the grounds of intellectual honesty dictate that the perception of truth must be dynamically changeable in response to an ever-increasing store of stimuli, information, and experience. A person has the choice to actively pursue greater or lesser amounts of stimuli, information, and experiences and that choice has a dramatic impact on how quickly or how much a person's perception of truth changes but they don't have a direct control over their perception of truth.

In brief, a person cannot choose his beliefs because he cannot choose his perception of truth in any direct way but only through the very indirect method of limiting or encouraging diverse experiences which increase his ability to evaluate the truth and come ever closer to it as an asymptotic curve does approaches a given value.

ZV

 

[krunchykrome]

Can you choose to believe in Santa Claus? Of course you can choose to believe in god.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: MartyTheManiak
I mean, making yourself belive in god is like making yourself forget something!

If you mean "forgetting" the incorrect dualistic outlook typical of the West, then I'll agree with you. I don't agree with your negative implications though.

ZV

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
Can you choose to believe in Santa Claus? Of course you can choose to believe in god.

You can choose to act as though you believe something, but you cannot choose legitimate belief. See my first post in this thread.

ZV