Is belief in God a choice

[fr0d0]

BTW How can you tell me? From what authority?

Not authortiy...appealing to authority is fallacious anyway, it's not evidence in and of itself

But we are talking about my belief. My authority is that I believe this stuff. Your authority is one of guessing what I think.

I'm saying there's no evidence that beliefs are voluntrary in any way, are somehow a 'choice'...we know that you're either convinced or not, and you may say that you choose them...but that's not evidence that you do...just that you think you do.

But how would you know, having no belief in the way I have belief, and admitting that it is outside your understanding? You're dismissing fact without considering it.

How do you choose a belief? We have evidence for beliefs, and we have evidence for beliefs changing to other beliefs (that's all obvious) - but do we actually have any evidence that we in any way 'choose this' - is that belief required? I need evidence to believe that additonally.

So you are talking about choosing between Buddhism & Christianity, for example? This is not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is the specific choice to believe in the Christian God. Perhaps you consider other belief systems on your road to rationalizing a particular belief, I certainly did that, but this is subsidiary to the process rather than being the focus of rationalisation.

....how about this: just try forcing yourself into a belief.....force yourself to believe that the moon is made of cheese, right now!

You're talking about belief in the actually known again, and I've explained why this doesn't apply.

Hopefully my idea should be more correct than yours, me actually having the belief

How does this follow in any way, shape, or form? How does having a belief make a belief any more reasonable?

We're not talking about the reasonableness of belief. I'm saying that because I have the belief I should know exactly what it is... more than you who neither acknowledges the possibility nor understands it.

You could life your whole life having reasoned the logic for belief, but then never actually 'choose' to believe.

Choose not to? If the logic doesn't convince you...then it just...doesn't convince you! - that's all that is known to me...where is the evidence that you somehow choose to 'not be convinced'...you're not convinced already...how are you choosing the state you are already in???

This is the crux. 'Choosing' can be independent of a reasoned position. You can choose not to believe even though your logical reasoning would support belief, and vice versa. How is that possible? The answer illustrates the point of belief being a choice.
Belief without action is no belief. If the truck bears down on me and I do nothing to save myself, then my belief is useless. (forget the actual belief in the truck, because like I said, belief in actual reality isn't like belief in the non temporal) The result of belief is action. Your actions reflect your worldviews. Belief in God affects your worldview.

And even after experiencing the proof, it is possible to reject it and not believe, as I did.

Well if you reject it, then you in other words... already dont' believe it right? So you're unconvinced...so it's not 'proof' to you...if on the other hand it convinced you, then you would in other words - believe it! So it was then 'proof' to you.

So where does the choice part come in??

No, you essentially believe it but you deny it. Reasoning that belief is correct does not equal actually believing. Believing is the choice to act on your reasoning. To plant a flag. To adopt the position.