People Believe and Defend What They Prefer to Be True
People believe and defend what they prefer to be true. This is an obvious and non-controversial fact. That's who we are as human beings. That's what we human beings do. That's what psychological studies have repeatedly shown us over and over.
To understand this just think back to a time when you thought you needed something really badly, but then your hopes were dashed. What did you do? You convinced yourself you didn't need it after all; that you were better off not having had your hopes realized. It may take a bit of time as days turn into weeks and weeks into months, but that's what we human beings will do almost every single time. It's our natural tendency. It helps us deal with our pain and loss. It's how we resolve our cognitive dissonance. It keeps us feeling sane.
This same tendency is what humans have when it comes to religious faith. People believe and defend what they prefer to be true here too. When believers are ignorant (or willingly ignorant) about the available evidence, or when there isn't sufficient evidence to to tell them what to accept one way or another, they will believe and defend their inherited religious faith too. I've devoted a few posts to this topic. [Be sure to read the ones below this first one in that link]. Because of this strong tendency in us all, believers ought to take the Outside Test for Faith. It's that simple.
But despite the facts of human nature the men of Triablogue continue to kick against the goads. They are required to reject many obvious and non-controversial facts in order to believe and defend their faith from the arguments in The Christian Delusion. This is the mark of a blind person, except they simply refuse to see because they prefer to believe.
To understand this just think back to a time when you thought you needed something really badly, but then your hopes were dashed. What did you do? You convinced yourself you didn't need it after all; that you were better off not having had your hopes realized. It may take a bit of time as days turn into weeks and weeks into months, but that's what we human beings will do almost every single time. It's our natural tendency. It helps us deal with our pain and loss. It's how we resolve our cognitive dissonance. It keeps us feeling sane.
This same tendency is what humans have when it comes to religious faith. People believe and defend what they prefer to be true here too. When believers are ignorant (or willingly ignorant) about the available evidence, or when there isn't sufficient evidence to to tell them what to accept one way or another, they will believe and defend their inherited religious faith too. I've devoted a few posts to this topic. [Be sure to read the ones below this first one in that link]. Because of this strong tendency in us all, believers ought to take the Outside Test for Faith. It's that simple.
But despite the facts of human nature the men of Triablogue continue to kick against the goads. They are required to reject many obvious and non-controversial facts in order to believe and defend their faith from the arguments in The Christian Delusion. This is the mark of a blind person, except they simply refuse to see because they prefer to believe.