What do I mean by "I Believe"?

[rhu]

What do I mean by "I Believe"?

I've titled this series "What I Believe" so I should start out by defining what I mean by this.

There are certain truths that are provable, or at least testable. Scientists know that it is usually far easier to disprove a falsehood than to prove a theory correct, but we generally accept the idea that a theory is (provisionally) correct if it has predictive value and no counterexamples are known. When we say that the law of gravitational attraction is "true", we mean that we can accurately predict the future (for a small subset of "the future") by computing F=M*m/r².

Belief and faith, at least as I am using those words in these essays, describe one's acceptance of unprovable postulates. If the existence of God were a testable conjecture, then it would be removed from the realm of beliefs. (I intend to write a separate essay on the subject of why it might be to God's advantage to maintain the universe in a state where God's existence must remain unprovable, but that is tangential to this discussion.)

When I say "I believe X," then, I do not mean "X is factually true." I mean "I have chosen to adopt X as a principle on which to base my behavior." As a scientist and rational thinker, I reject (for myself, at least) the progression "I hold as true that God exists even though I cannot prove it, and therefore I must act in accordance with what other fallable humans tell me God wants me to do." Instead, I have chosen to accept a set of principles, derived from and consistent with Jewish tradition, as a guiding framework for my actions; among those principles happens to be the belief that by proceeding in this way I am acting as God wishes me to act.

I will try to avoid, in these essays, ever using the word "wrong." This is not because I don't think that certain beliefs are incorrect or immoral, but because the word "wrong" does not adequately distinguish between those two.

My theological beliefs are my own, and while I will set them out here, I cannot prove them to myself or to anyone else, and I certainly cannot expect or insist that others adopt them. Other people may (and certainly do) hold beliefs that contradict mine; within my belief structure those are "incorrect" but that's not intended as a judgemental term.

However, my moral beliefs are shaped by and intertwined with my theological beliefs. Other people may (and certainly do) hold beliefs that contradict mine; within my belief structure those are "immoral" and that's most certainly intended judgementally.^*

Occasionally, my moral beliefs and my theological beliefs are in conflict. That will be a fascinating topic when I get to it.

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* Now I hate to put this here, because it doesn't belong this far front, but given the way certain "religious" forces in our country have framed theological issues as "moral" issues, I have to say it here lest, dear reader, you misunderstand me. I'm talking here about things, both big and small, that harm other people: genocide in Darfur, ongoing racial discrimination, misogynist "jokes", and so on. To my bisexual, ham-eating, and/or wiccan readers, please stay tuned.

Comments

[kirisutogomen.livejournal.com]

You might find this discussion interesting. You will almost certainly find it to be long. It's a conversation on the variety of meanings people have in mind for the word "faith." A few of the notions don't strike me as terribly useful, but I found some of the distinctions made to be non-obvious and thought-provoking.

Incidentally, what you describe as your definition matches up well to my use of the word "faith" but not at all to what I expect "belief" to mean.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I apologize for not replying sooner, but I wanted to read through more of that post in Dave's blog before responding.

I find it distressing how many people (and not only in that thread) seem to define faith as believing something in the face of counterevidence, rather than believing something in the absence of evidence.

Something that I think I will have to develop more, partly based on Dave's thread, is the tight binding that gets created when one defines "I believe X" as "I have chosen to adopt X as a principle on which to base my behavior." In particular, this would seem to moot the question of "faith vs. works" that seems to pose a difficulty in the historical development of Christianity.

And yes, I'm using a somewhat restricted definition of "believe" within these essays. In more casual speech, I'd use "believe" the way most people do, to mean "accept as true" as in "I believe him when he says that." In this context, though, I need a verb ("believe") and I need a numerable noun ("belief") and "faith" doesn't provide me with those words.

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

This is going to be an interesting discussion. My wife and I (neither of us currently religious, she from a fairly observant Christian background and I what I sometimes term a "gastronomic Jew") were talking a while back about how an intellectual, inquisitive person approaches belief. I'd like to share your entries with her if I may.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I'd like to share your entries with her if I may.

Certainly. The only reason this sequence is friends-locked is that LJ does not provide an adequate mechanism for people to subscribe to "all posts from so-and-so except the ones tagged as such-and-such" and so inviting people to join a flock was the simplest way to provide such an opt-in.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Based on this entry and on what I know of you, I'm very much looking forward to more of your posts on this subject.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

The world needs more people like you.

[cellio]

Ditto.