What We Believe Matters
When an individual is deeply invested in their beliefs you will not win them over with reason because you are asking them to go against the very thing they believe.
Beliefs are important.
For instance, one might reason that people who call themselves lovers of the peace movement would not succumb to rhetoric that is fervently for war. An individual who believes they are a Christ follower has certain character traits and so on.
We should pay close attention to beliefs because they dictate thoughts our thoughts steer our actions.
My question, how do you alter beliefs?
How do you and I shift the very foundation we build our entire life on? We live and die by our beliefs – even if they are wrong.
We loose the principle of truth as a foundation for our beliefs because we cannot agree absolute truth exist. My faith teaches that there is absolute truth. Truth is found in Christ, scripture, and seen through creation.
My belief in an absolute truth lays the foundation for how I treat you, respond to hate, and live my life. But, this is my truth, and no matter how bad I want that truth to be the truth of the world, it is not.
Other belief foundations that we witness today are those around abortion and homosexuality, money, and power. It appears the foundation is centered around the belief that your life is your own and you do what you will. But I have known people who did what they will as it pertains to life, love, their body, and relationships and it has led to pain.
How do we decide on a central and absolute truth?
The place to begin would be the beginning but we would all have to agree on the starting point. We would have to agree on the starting place of our existence and creation, a beginning in which man was created.
The reason we don’t know where to look for the answers is because we have lost our starting point. Truth is subjective and our beliefs stem from the days newspaper headlines.
I hope we can come to an agreement before we harm each other further with our “beliefs”.
@earlinagreen