Can We Choose To Believe In God?.

[Miles]

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Assuming choice is possible, how does a person go about freely choosing to believe in god?

Is such a thing even possible? Doesn't there have to be an overwhelmingly convincing element that comes into play before such a belief can take place? And why would we settle on that particular element rather than some other element, which might not be convincing at all? Wouldn't picking that convincing element because that's what it is, be stacking the deck? And how would we become aware of such an element?



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[Shem Yoshi]

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Assuming choice is possible, how does a person go about freely choosing to believe in god?

Is such a thing even possible? Doesn't there have to be an overwhelmingly convincing element that comes into play before such a belief can take place? And why would we settle on that particular element rather than some other element, which might not be convincing at all? Wouldn't picking that convincing element because that's what it is, be stacking the deck? And how would we become aware of such an element?

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What a great question. The intricate debate of freewill certainly brings up a big question. If i was born here, with the surrounding factors that influence me, how is it I choose anything? But at the same time we are intrinsically wired with a conscious that makes free choices all the time. It brings up big questions... Do we choose to believe in God?

Paul wrote "3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,4) even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him."

Yet Jesus spoke of law, in which we "love God with all our heart, mind, and soul"... As being the fulfillment of the law. Can we choose to do that?

He also spoke of a mustard seed, the smallest seed, of Faith... Can we put a free choice of Faith into belief? The Original Post talks of being convinced, but maybe it is by faith?

"1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."~Heb 11

Though life is full of huge influences on who we are, I can not deny the idea of choice. And Faith must be the root of belief.

[Ozzy_O]

[Replying to DrNoGods in post #3]

God is proven by radio-astronomy in combination with advanced radiology so that an output can be produced on pc-tablets and invoke immediate God-mind to mind communication. That's science. The mind communicating with the pc-tablet can be monitored by (f)MRI. Science implies God. God exists.

Doesn't your God (science) say that men can be birthing peoples? Doesn't sound like a very omnipotent or powerful god to me....

[DrNoGods]

[Replying to Ozzy_O in post #62]

Doesn't your God (science) say that men can be birthing peoples? Doesn't sound like a very omnipotent or powerful god to me....

You sent the above reply to Aetixintro, but you are confusing science with left leaning ideas or "wokeness." Science says that humans who's 23rd pair of chromosomes are XX can get pregnant and give birth because XX makes them develop into a biological female who will develop ovaries, a uterus, etc. If the 23rd pair of chromosomes are XY then that person will develop into a biological male who cannot get pregnant because there will be no ovaries, uterus, etc. This is all science says about the subject.

Some people argue that trans men are actual men (instead of biological women), but without surgeries these people will maintain their female components and can get pregnant and give birth. This isn't a science issue ... it is terminology and personal identity and how people describe themselves and others regarding trans identities.

My personal view is that trans men are simply women who want to become (or live as) a man and may go to great lengths including hormone treatments and major surgeries to get there, but from a science and biology standpoint there is no ability at the present time to change a 23rd pair of chromosomes from XX to XY, so it is not possible to actually turn a woman into a man (or a man into a woman who could give birth). No amount of hormone treatments or surgeries today can allow a biological man (ie. 23rd pair of chromosomes XY) to get pregnant and give birth simply because the required internal components are not present.

[Ozzy_O]

[Replying to Ozzy_O in post #62]

Doesn't your God (science) say that men can be birthing peoples? Doesn't sound like a very omnipotent or powerful god to me....

You sent the above reply to Aetixintro, but you are confusing science with left leaning ideas or "wokeness." Science says that humans who's 23rd pair of chromosomes are XX can get pregnant and give birth because XX makes them develop into a biological female who will develop ovaries, a uterus, etc. If the 23rd pair of chromosomes are XY then that person will develop into a biological male who cannot get pregnant because there will be no ovaries, uterus, etc. This is all science says about the subject.

Some people argue that trans men are actual men (instead of biological women), but without surgeries these people will maintain their female components and can get pregnant and give birth. This isn't a science issue ... it is terminology and personal identity and how people describe themselves and others regarding trans identities.

My personal view is that trans men are simply women who want to become (or live as) a man and may go to great lengths including hormone treatments and major surgeries to get there, but from a science and biology standpoint there is no ability at the present time to change a 23rd pair of chromosomes from XX to XY, so it is not possible to actually turn a woman into a man (or a man into a woman who could give birth). No amount of hormone treatments or surgeries today can allow a biological man (ie. 23rd pair of chromosomes XY) to get pregnant and give birth simply because the required internal components are not present.

Nope, they change the "science"
You don't even know which "science" to place your blind faith in.....


Here's a "science" article for ya

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-baby-s-s ... ch-reveals

[DrNoGods]

[Replying to Ozzy_O in post #64]

Nope, they change the "science"
You don't even know which "science" to place your blind faith in.....

Here's a "science" article for ya

You either did not read the article, or didn't understand it. No one questions that there are genetic abnormalities that can disrupt the normal development process and create "intersex" humans, or other outcomes. Here's a list of some of them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_chromosome_anomalies

And there are all kinds of other genetic abnormalities unrelated to the sex chromosomes. All this article did was point out that some more information has been gained into what may cause them, or a subset of them. It said nothing whatsoever about science being changed to accomodate men getting pregnant or whatever it is you are misrepresenting about science. Choosing anomalies doesn't support your argument (just the opposite).

[Ozzy_O]

[Replying to Ozzy_O in post #64]

Nope, they change the "science"
You don't even know which "science" to place your blind faith in.....

Here's a "science" article for ya

You either did not read the article, or didn't understand it. No one questions that there are genetic abnormalities that can disrupt the normal development process and create "intersex" humans, or other outcomes. Here's a list of some of them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_chromosome_anomalies

And there are all kinds of other genetic abnormalities unrelated to the sex chromosomes. All this article did was point out that some more information has been gained into what may cause them, or a subset of them. It said nothing whatsoever about science being changed to accomodate men getting pregnant or whatever it is you are misrepresenting about science. Choosing anomalies doesn't support your argument (just the opposite).

Na, I choose not to trust "science"

[PolytheistWitch]

I certainly think that there's the ability to believe a god exists, especially when looked at from a deists point of view where there is a creator that does little or nothing to engage with humans they just simply run the universe. But to just declare I want to believe gods exist and then not follow it up in some way seems odd to me.

[SacredBishop]

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Assuming choice is possible, how does a person go about freely choosing to believe in god?

Is such a thing even possible? Doesn't there have to be an overwhelmingly convincing element that comes into play before such a belief can take place? And why would we settle on that particular element rather than some other element, which might not be convincing at all? Wouldn't picking that convincing element because that's what it is, be stacking the deck? And how would we become aware of such an element?



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You can choose a religion, but religion never chooses you. There's no divine aid in the choice, and certainly not enough info to actually choose.