The importance of believing in God. Part 5

The importance of believing in God

Part 5: We are free to choose to believe in God

I am keen to give all due respect to the inner life of secular minded people. Although I’m tempted to, I must not deride the quality of the inner, spiritual life, which is a facility we seem to have by virtue of being human rather than through being religious. I am naturally inclined to think that secular people are just missing out on the riches of the inner life that I enjoy through being religious, but I mustn’t think that religious people have a monopoly on awe and wonder or reverence for the beauty and profundity of life. However, although I cannot get inside a secular minded person’s head to experience what they do, it seems reasonable to believe that a person who believes they are experiencing an intimate relationship with a person who has the qualities of God must be experiencing an extra layer of wonder which is not accessible to those without faith. Of course, the secularist wants to argue that the religious person is experiencing a fantasy, but the truth of that is not open to a certain answer, but from the religious person’s perspective, their relationship with God certainly appears to be genuine rather than a fantasy. Perhaps a secularist tried to believe in God but felt they could not do it because their doubts led them to conclude that the belief is a fantasy – and therefore they conclude that those who did not abort their life of faith have been fooled by a fantasy. However, to the person who does believe, they haven’t “failed to see that it’s a fantasy”, instead, they have worked through the doubts, rather than pulling back from faith because of them, and so simply experience God’s presence as real and authentic. I think this must open up to the believer a precious dimension of mystery that lifts them to higher and deeper experiences of life.

However, we raised the all-important question:  but is it true?

Even for those who don’t get caught on the hook of doubt, it still makes a fundamental difference whether or not their beliefs are true. Reassuringly/annoyingly, this is a question that will only be answered when it is too late – or it will not be answered at all. That is, if God is real, it will only be discovered after death, and none of us is coming back to tell the rest of us the answer – or we will die and simply lose consciousness, and so have no awareness that God is not real and so there is no life after death after all.

In a way, this does give believers complete freedom to go on believing. Provided there is enough evidence to make it not completely, ridiculously implausible to believe in God (which there isn’t) and provided the individual is able to deal with their own appreciation of doubts, then they are free to enjoy their life of faith, confident that they will be proved right in heaven – only to never know that they were wrong because, as above, they simply lose consciousness at death and so never discover that there is no life after death after all. Or they may be right, and enter into the bliss of God’s presence in heaven. Of course, this also means that the secularist is free to go on not believing. Their reading of the evidence, and their levels of doubt are such that they are content that they have made the right decision not to believe in God. If they are right they will, as above, never discover that they were right, and if they are wrong, then they’d better hope that God is as forgiving as the believers said he is. They are also then free to either adopt the altruistic principles of Mr Dawkins’ vision, or commit themselves to hedonistic selfishness – or anywhere in between: it’s their choice.

This all sounds reasonable, though I feel I’ve somewhat side-stepped the issue on the believer’s point of view. It’s not simply that we shrug our shoulders and say, “I don’t know if we’re really right about God, we’ll find out one day (or not find out!)”. Rather, these things are clear:-

• I want to believe in God
• Believing in God brings immensely precious value into my life
• I freely acknowledge that I may be wrong (We live by faith, not by sight)
• I freely acknowledge that there are alternatives to my faith, though, with the best will in the world, I can only see that these are equivalents of what I experience in my life of faith, or drawing close to what I enjoy, but certainly not exceeding it
• It is not ridiculous or unreasonable to believe in God. The evidence supports this belief as a valid possibility
• Therefore, given the importance of believing in God, I consider that we are free to continue doing so.