Why Should I Believe In Anything?
Is there such a thing as a 'neutral' belief system? Lets think about that for a minute. We should consider how we would live under such a belief system. If it is 'unlivable', then clearly it is not rational. That is, if we cannot actually do, or carry out what we profess to believe, then it is not worthy of our belief. For instance, some people believe that they should not tell another how that person should live. But clearly, this is an 'unlivable' system - every day we must work out mutual agreements, usually in the form of laws. Is it ok for the government to give laws, as long as they are mutually beneficial? Who decides which law to enact, and how? Everything from despotism to anarchy could reign in this type of a system, it just depends on who is the strongest. Do we really want to live in a world in which the people in power may decide that one race or another is not worthy of life, and should be killed? This is exactly what happens if there are no values that are 'absolute', meaning that something is right or wrong regardless of what people think about it. Is there something that is TRUE, whether I know it or not; whether I want to believe it or not?
Some people feel that what they want to believe is a matter of personal choice. But again this belief system must accept that there is no 'absolute truth' - meaning that nothing is true whether we want it to be or not. This is quite a popular, but intellectually vacant belief.
As an example, quite some time ago both the Archbishop of Canterbury and Jane Fonda were on a talk show. The Archbishop was discussing aspects of the faith, to which Fonda was incredulous. Finally, in an answer to her queries into the reasons for worship and Lordship of Christ, the Archbishop remarked "Well He is the Son of God you know." Fonda replied "He might be for you, but he isn't for me." The Archbishop displayed the ignorance of her comment with a brief reply "He either is or He isn't."
The Archbishop did not defend the belief, he merely pointed out an example of something that cannot simply be up to personal opinion. It would be akin to saying "You may believe that the sun shines, but I I don't." It does whether I believe it or not. The real, and most important question becomes, "What is real: What is TRUE?"
But how do we decide what is truth? As we discussed before, it must mesh with what we see in the General Revelation, and be confirmed by the Special Revelation of the Creator. If it is neither, then it is up to the winds of change and man's opinion, which is as shifting and reliable as the wind. In this type of a world, then no one could EVER tell another that they are wrong...whether they be the Nazi's in the 1930's and 40's, Stalin in the 1950's, Cambodia in the 1970's, and on and on. Clearly, the belief that all belief is open to subjective debate is UNLIVABLE.
So the question is not whether we should believe something, but WHAT should we believe? The discussion continues on the next page as we discuss WHY CHRISTIANITY is the TRUTH...
WhyIBelieve.Org Ministries Copyright Pending 2002 M. Sutherland |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||