With respect to religion as with all other things, I believe that what I believe is true, and that in believing it I am correct. Indeed, I think my beliefs are absolutely true. Those who disagree with me, I consider to be wrong about what I disagree with them about.
Do I sound like an self-righteous, arrogant, dogmatic SOB? Actually, I'm just stating something that's trivially and boringly true.
But if it makes you feel better, I should add that disagreeing with me will not necessarily result in your everlasting damnation.
8 comments:
I believe each of my beliefs are true. But I also believe that some of my beliefs are false
This is our epistemic situation.
But damnation for failure to believe makes no logical or moral sense.
When you say I believe something today don't you normally mean "I think this is more likely true than false"?
Christian belief seems to me to be something different. Does it leave room for thinking there's a 49% chance it is false?
Isn't it odd that 'atheists' -- who after all also believe what they believe (unless, of course, they are liars, as so many of them are -- never seek to apply that arrogant label to themselves?
Isn't it odd that those fools who call me arrogant because I call them on their foolishness, never seem to get around to applying the label to themselves?
What, it's "arrogant" to show that someone is wrong, as I do, but it's not arrogant to merely call someone stupid, as they do?
GK, the NT Greek word frequently translated as "to not believe" is also frequently translated as "to disobey." It is the same word, and to means both things simultaneously.
Douglas Wilson (a "Calvinist," by the way) recently discussed this here
"disagreeing with me will not necessarily result in your everlasting damnation."
Disagreeing on which matters?
Victor,
Your belief cannot be trivial and boring if it is your real belief. A profession of a belief can be trivial because it has no bearing on what motivates you or what actions you take. But your real beliefs determine what you do and say, who you are and who you are becoming.Being wrong is not about scoring well on a test. Being wrong has real consequences.
What is trivially true is the law of noncontradiction, and that it can be applied to statements in the realm of religion. The beliefs, and the disagreements are, of course, far from trivial.
Though, of course, "trivially true" is a far cry from "trivial."
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