Beliefs and Conclusions
In the past I have framed beliefs in terms of “Bayesian” logic where instead of considering ideas as either certainly true or false, you can assign a range of probability if it’s true. I’m writing this to establish some conclusions on what is closest to Truth for me.
I would say the belief I hold as having the highest likelihood of being truth is that observations of nature that are rigorously tested with the scientific method win out over anything “revealed” by religious texts that cannot hold up to such rigorous testing. Built into this is an allowance for and even drive to correct understandings given new contrary evidence rather than doubling down on “revealed” knowledge that is absolute. A poetic basis for believing this is the opening verses of the 19th Psalm.
This may be shortened to “I trust science over religion,” but with the terms “science” and “religion” carefully bounded by the above.
I generally accept that if there is a creator, that creator is either benevolent towards me and the creation I experience or at the worst indifferent or conditionally benevolent. I have a counter conclusion.
Lowest confidence: Starting with the counter conclusion. If the creator is the type of God who would command his chosen people to commit genocide against other members of his creation, or would grant magic powers to someone so a bear mauls kids for calling them baldy, that God is not worthy of my devotion.
Highest confidence: Instead I chose to conclude that the God who created the world I experience is the benevolent “God is Love” in the teachings attributed to John. Buttressing this belief is the teaching of Jesus that the two greatest commandments that serve as the foundation for the rest of religion for those he taught is to Love God completely, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Grey area in between: Alternatively, it is possible God’s love for me is conditional on how I choose to follow those two commandments. I’m fine with that. And if God condemns me because I condition my love as expressed in “Lowest confidence” above, well I’m fine with that too. But honestly, I’m confident enough in “God is Love” that even if God did things I reject, God is benevolent enough to love me despite that failing.
Additional grey area: The portion of Creation that I interact with is so tiny relative to the immensity of all reality, it may be beneath the active interest of the Creator of it all. If so, the only concern is I spent a lot of time worrying about something that doesn’t really matter, and I’m good with that too. The same is valid if atheism ended up being true.
Finally, my actions, or how I live my life, are generally the same regardless of which of the above is true, which is what really matters, and is the point of writing this.
Let me switch to a little personal “parable” really quick.
I got wacked in the face by a branch I was cutting a couple years ago and after gluing the laceration together the urgent care Dr. said she wanted to take an x-ray to see if my nose was broken.
Me: "Would finding my nose is broken change anything in how we treat this?"
Dr: "Well no, I guess not."
Me: "Then I don't want an x-ray."
Regardless of where a Divine Creator is on a spectrum from the Old Testament asshole I deem not deserving of my devotion, to the “God is Love” in John's teaching, or even not existing beyond as a construct in our minds, I will love my neighbors. I will feed and clothe the poor, take care of the stranger, the sick, the widow, and the orphan, and I will raise my kids to do the same. As for the first “commandment” of loving God… practicing the second accomplishes that by embodying God’s love for creation.
That is my truth.
If God is the all-powerful, benevolent creator taught by John, then God’s will shall come to be for my life regardless of if I correctly figure out exactly what “believing in him” means for being saved compared to the multitude of Christianity’s sects that have argued about it for way longer than I’ve been around. If the true belief requirement for God’s love was to say some magic words and take a magic bath, well I got that taken care of as a child with 100% sincerity. He can survive my doubts as an adult. Now it’s a matter of following those two most important commandments. So much of the rest of the Bible has become chaff in the wind as it contradicts those commandments, or careful, critical examination of the “glory of God” revealed by creation.
