Unexamined Beliefs?

Socrates is quoted by his pupil Plato as saying “The unexamined life isn’t worth living.” I truly love this statement, and also do believe there is much merit to it. However, I think this can be expanded to “the unexamined belief is not worth believing.”

How many times have you heard people, of any religious belief, say “I was raised in a [insert religion here] household…or, “I was baptized at the age of 4 and have been following God ever since…” Here’s the deal, I’m not trying to bash these life experiences. What I am doing is questioning whether you’ve sincerely examined your belief system.

I think one of the most important things I can hopefully teach my son as he grows up is to be a free thinker. By this I don’t mean to go against the grain just to do it, I mean to take nothing for granted. Just because his dad subscribes to the Deist philosophy doesn’t mean that he needs to. Sure we all want our kids to grow into mature, responsible adults, but I do think that we need to encourage them to think for themselves.

I have the type of personality that automatically questions what I’m told. This doesn’t mean that I have no capacity to believe, or that I’m person who can’t accept authority, it simply means that I am curious. I don’t question authority just to do it, I question in general to have greater understanding. This entire blog is actually for me. I write for myself. You will no doubt find many grammatical mistakes and posts that aren’t cohesive, but that’s okay. This blog is one way that I question. It’s a great medium too, as I can get comments and thoughts from others.

I have had a couple people try to “witness” to me over the past year. I’ve caught them off guard when they asked me “why don’t you believe in salvation through Jesus Christ?” I answered them “why do you believe?” I have had the response of “the Bible says so, etc…” however, not once have I had one of those people say “because I have truly examined what’s out there, and found that this is what I truly believe.” That, to me, is a great answer.

I’m not saying one needs to write a Master’s Thesis on every subject about which one wants to know, however, I do believe in the importance of being inquisitive. “Why do I believe what I believe?” “Do I actually believe it, or am I playing a role?” “How do my beliefs align with my perception of what others expect from me?”

I do not hold myself up to be a brilliant person, but I am happy that I am a thoughtful person. So why do you believe what you believe? Do yourself a favor, if you haven’t already, really dig down deep and try to answer that question and some of the others asked above. I bet you’ll be glad you did.

One side note: Please notice that not once did I correlate “belief” with “proof.” I am coming more and more aware of the fact that one can offer “proof” of nearly anything they want. How? Proof is dangerous, what may be “proof” of God’s existence to me, may not be to you. What may be “proof” of the infallibility of scripture to you, is not to me. Proof is tricky, and people become very dogmatic when they can “prove” their beliefs are true to their own satisfaction. The point of this post is to examine beliefs, not look for proofs.