"Why Do I Believe What I Believe About God?"

Why Do I Believe What I Believe About God?

            I suspect that many people, if not most, hold their beliefs about God without much thought as to why they believe what they believe or how they came to those particular beliefs.

            It seems to me that when it comes to beliefs in or about God we have two choices.  Either we base our beliefs on what we believe to be divine revelation or we form our beliefs within ourselves based on personal feelings, thoughts, desires, reasoning or the influence of others.

            If we base our beliefs in and about God on what we believe to be God’s revelation of Himself in the Old and New Testaments, we then confess that what we believe is not of our own making – not subjective – but objectively revealed from outside of ourselves.  Such a belief in divine revelation calls us to surrender and submit to what God has revealed.  This is to believe in absolute and unchangeable truth as opposed to relative or uncertain truth.  We would then search the Scriptures to discover what we are to believe and how we are to live.  From this perspective there is a definite revelation from God in Whom we believe, and there is a definite roadmap for what it means to be a Christian.  Such a divine revelation cannot be treated lightly, ignored, changed or neglected without eternal consequences.

            On the other hand, if we derive our beliefs from within ourselves they are based on our thoughts and feelings.  They may change or vary from day to day or hour to hour and they vary from one person to another.   Belief on this basis is subjective, relative, somewhat undefined and uncertain.  Many conflicting and contradictory beliefs are considered equally valid since all are derived from within a person, who is the ultimate source of truth, and reflect each person’s thoughts and feelings.  From this perspective there is little if any clarity or certainty, neither of which matter very much.  The only really important thing is to follow one's personal feelings or thoughts.  Ultimately, since everything is based on each one’s feelings and thoughts, what one believes or doesn’t believe matters little and has only temporal value.  Man himself is the source and basis for truth making man his own god.

            Those who say they base their beliefs on the Bible will recognize that many things in the Bible are open to interpretation, being so far removed from the context, time, culture and manner of thinking and speaking of the writers.

Those who profess to base their beliefs on divine revelation are then faced with two similar choices as to how they will interpret and understand the Bible.  Either they will fall back on what the Church has always objectively believed, taught, held and passed down unchanged from generation to generation as to how the Bible is to be understood (this is known as Holy Tradition and believed by those who adhere to it to also be divine revelation), or else they will resort to an interpretation of the Bible based on their personal feelings, thoughts, desires, reasoning and influences. 

The first basis for interpretation of the Bible is based on objective truth outside of ourselves and is not derived from personal thoughts, feelings or interpretations.  The basis is historical truth just as what we believe about the constitution, bill of rights and history of our nation is based on objective historical facts as passed down from generation to generation.

Those who choose to interpret the Bible based on personal feelings and interpretations are somewhat like those who today want to rewrite the history of our nation and redefine the meaning of the constitution and bill of rights based on their personal likes and desires.  In the end, even though these Christians may begin with the assumption of divine revelation, they end up on the same foundation as those who do not hold to a particular divine revelation but look within themselves for truth, whatever that may mean to each one.  The only difference is that those who begin with the Bible at least have some boundaries and guidelines that give a certain direction to their thoughts, feelings and reasoning.  Nevertheless, they also end up with a truth that is somewhat undefined, uncertain, subjective and relative.

            So what is my point?  Merely this, that each one should not only give thought to what they believe, but more importantly, should give serious consideration to the basis or foundation for what they believe about matters of present and eternal significance and value.