I watched this video and I quite like it as a good starting point for this blog post
We cannot know everything. We do not have the capacity to know everything. I make plans for tomorrow because I believe there is a tomorrow not because I know that there is a tomorrow. We cannot decide today to say we will only act on things that we know for sure. This would be impractical. As my friend Chatty puts it, to live life, we must believe in things that cannot always be proven with certainty. For example, we believe that the future exists, that our actions matter, and that other people can be trusted. We also tend to believe life has meaning and that things can improve. These beliefs help us make decisions, keep hope, and move forward.
Given that belief is a part of life, it is reasonable to have people believe in a God and a particular religion. My point is this. Life cannot happen without belief because we cannot know everything (unless we are God like). Belief is fundamental to life. I believe there is a tomorrow so I plan for it. A good bit of our actions are based on belief separate from the belief in God and religion. Belief is fundamental but it is also a choice. We often need good reason to believe. Reason is separate from knowing. And can we truly know?
It is ok to believe in things we do not know. That is why it is called belief. I believe in God and I follow religion because I have good enough reason to do so and it makes sense to me and it just feels right even though I do not know with certainty. I cannot say that belief by itself is a bad thing. Belief goes together with good reason and understanding and choice. We try to know as much as possible but we do not know everything so we depend on belief with good reason and understanding and choice. Call it informed belief or reasonable belief if you will.
Comments