Choosing to/not to Believe? Not Possible?

[AFTT47]

No, I don't believe faith is impossible. In fact, some degree of it is necessary.

I see a doctor every 6 months to monitor my health. I have never done research to probe the man's history to find out for certain if he really is a doctor. Instead, I rely on the system which does a very good job of exposing false doctors. It is very unlikely that I would fall victim to a jaded auto mechanic who thought it might be fun to practice medicine while skipping that whole burdensome medical school thing.

I similarly do not research the supply chain of my local grocer to make sure all the produce is safe.

I don't research every driver who drives the same route I do on the freeway at 5:00 in the morning to make certain each of them are competent.

It would be impractical to live one's life like that. We are forced by necessity to practice some degree of faith.

But...

The type of faith you are talking about is literally insane, IMO. You are talking about dealing with things unseen which cannot be dis-proven and believing they are true for no other reason than you feel they should be true or you want them to be true. That is self-delusion. The ONLY way to KNOW that a thing is true is to be able to logically demonstrate that it is true - or at least to show the probability of it being true is very high.

I am honestly amazed this is not obvious to anybody. Can't you understand that your particular fantasy (Christianity) is no more likely to be true than anyone else's fantasy? The Muslims have faith equal to your own. So do the Hindus and the Buddhists. Contemporary science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard created Scientology and millions believe it with the same fervor you believe in Christianity.

The take-away here: Faith is not a way by which you can know if a thing is true. The type of faith you are talking about is self-delusion. Nothing more.

I recognize that many people are capable of self-delusion but NOT if they recognize that it IS self-delusion. That is why you cannot con yourself into believing 1 + 1 =3. You recognize that trying to do so is self-delusion. Unfortunately, you do not recognize that your religious beliefs are exactly the same thing.

We atheists DO recognize it. That is why we are no more capable of believing in fantasy religions than we are capable of believing that 1 + 1 = 3. We have looked at the evidence without blinders and can clearly see that every religion we are aware of is OBVIOUSLY invented by man. To take one of them seriously would be a self-delusion. Before we can take any of them seriously, we would need to hear a convincing argument that they might not be.

We cannot take seriously what is obviously nonsense. We cannot willingly self-delude.