Do we choose our beliefs...or do they choose us? I have heard many times "We don't choose what we believe in, rather what we believe in chooses us." What are your views on this?

Disc

I don't think I understand.. how could beliefs choose us?

Beliefs come out of experiences, I think that's what those people mean when they say "beliefs come to us".

If you have a near-death experience(or near-life experience for all my fellow Fight Club friends, yeah), you might look at things differently.. And most people who experience this look to God, or some other explanation for why they didn't die..(Because people cannot be satisfied by the fact that things just happen the way they do because.. they just do. There's no paranormal reasoning behind it.)

I can't speak for anybody else, but I know that my beliefs aren't voluntary. I can't think of anything I could choose to believe in.

"To succeed the theologan invades the cradle. In the minds of innocents they plant the seeds of superstition. Save children from the pollution of this horror."

-Robert Ingersoll

my mommy chose my beliefs...

Well, one guy I've heard of had a NDE (Near Death Experience) came back screaming, and he described these creatures torturing him and eating his flesh and gnawing on him. In the NT (New Testament), Jesus says "where there will be gnawing and gnashing of teeth" so it fits in perfectly that he was in Hell. Now, if we're dead, then how could our mind be active? It's impossible, after all, we are "brain-dead". Even Einstein believed in religion. He said that we are all made of energy and that energy can never die, therefore something HAS to happen when we die to move our energy elsewhere. Hence religion. Also note that all Creation stories are very similar therefore they must be correct. Just a thought.

Peace

--The Student

quote:Originally posted by AYBABTU:

my mommy chose my beliefs...

such is the story of most.