A Guide for the Perplexed

Dear Abbot:

I choose to believe in god because I want to believe? Never have been able to work my way around this concept.

What I have trouble grasping is the notion of "choosing to believe.” In any other context, I believe things to be true on the basis of the persuasiveness of available information - and this would include the
reliability of the source. "Wanting to believe", or "choosing to believe", for me, just isn't a concept that computes.

- Everywoman in Canada


Dear Eve:

As a religious person, I could not agree with you more. There is no way you can simply choose to believe something. To even try to do this strikes me as immoral. It is a form of lying; lying to oneself. And if it were possible to do this, how could there be any reason to choose belief in God over belief in anything else that struck one's fancy or seemed in one's self-interest? It is, as you say, nonsensical.

For my part, I do not believe in the existence of God, any more than I believe in the existence of my nose. The question just does not come up; God's existence is, for me, unquestionable, and to think he does not exist immediately meaningless. It is like saying existence does not exist. There is reason to believe, and there is evidence, as in the article posted. But more important than this, there is an overwhelming awareness of God's presence.

I think there is a general misunderstanding out there about what "faith" means. When a religious person says "I believe in God," he or she does not mean "I believe [in an intellectual sense] that God exists." He or she means it in the same sense I might say, "Eve, I believe in you." This does not imply that others doubt your existence, or that I might.

That is, faith means faith in the goodness of God. It means trust.

I think the misunderstanding has screwed up a lot of sincere people, like you, in seeking answers from religion. Never accept anything less than the truth as you experience it. Accept no copouts, substitutes, or merely convenient beliefs.

No genuinely religious person would do any less. And if doing this does not lead you to God, nothing can or should. IMHO.