Biblical Answers to Questions Christians are Asking Today.
Do People Believe What They Want to Believe
(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Dave Dewitt, and today I wanna address the question, do people believe what they wanna believe? On Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023, during his YouTube program, The No Spin News, Bill Riley said, "People believe what they wanna believe." It was in response to a write-in question that was along the lines of, how can a third of the country support the current liberal progressive agenda? Well, Riley repeated the answer, people believe what they wanna believe. Now, Riley's a smart guy, so I was amazed at this ridiculous answer. Most people believe what they are going to die. Is that because they wanna believe it? I suggest it's because they understand the statistics say deaths 100%. What they wanna believe has nothing to do with what they believe. If a person is faced with a serious medical diagnosis or an IRS audit, they probably believe it. But that does not mean they want to believe it. Some think, if I wanna believe something enough, that desire will help me believe it. No, it won't. I'm not saying that it's bad to get your belief from what you wanna believe. I'm saying it's impossible. You can only believe anything you believe when something causes you to understand it to be true. That understanding could be right, could be wrong, could be some ridiculous nonsense. Nonetheless, it must be understood to be true in order to generate belief. We believe when we understand something to be true and when we understand something to be true, we cannot help but believe it. Even if what we wanna believe and what we believe coincide, what we want does not generate belief ever. Let's say a newlywed couple wants a baby. That means they also want to believe they will have a baby. And suppose they find out the wife is pregnant. At that point, they both want to believe and actually believe they're gonna have a baby. But did that actual belief come from what they wanted to believe? Of course not. They now believe they're having a baby because they understand something about the natural laws of conception. But they wanted to believe had no influence whatsoever on what they actually believe. What they actually believe is only connected to what they understand to be true. What they believe is it changed when they understood the report of the wife's pregnancy was true. But they wanted to believe would not change whether the wife became pregnant or not. When I drive my car to work, I believe my car will also get me home for work. I also wanna believe my car will get me home. I have both desire and belief. But if I get in and it will not start, my belief that my car will get me home is greatly reduced. At the same time, I still want to believe my car will get me home. But I can't believe it. What I wanna believe remains the same because it's disconnected from what I actually believe. And that's because the two never were connected. What I actually believe about my car, getting me home has to do with my limited understanding of the mechanical condition of my car. Not what I wanna believe. My desire has no connection to my belief. The O'Reilly comment, and I've heard the same comment from other commentators, assumes that liberal progressives believe what they wanna believe because they're disconnected from reality. He's saying that liberal people believe what they believe, not because they're looking at things rationally, but simply because they wanna believe these things. Now, let's apply O'Reilly's idea to biblical Christianity. If people believe what they wanna believe, they're Christians who believe the Bible only believe it because they want to. O'Reilly is saying that there is no necessary connection between belief and understanding the truth. The O'Reilly comment applied to Christianity, reduce and believe, say in the resurrection of Christ, the gospel message and the infallibility of scripture, to be only something Christians want to believe. Those things do not have to be real, they just have to be what people wanna believe. In the Bible, the word believe never refers to something generated by what somebody wants to believe. In the Bible, believing is always understanding the truth to be true. Genesis 15, 6. Then he that is Abraham believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. Abraham's belief was connected to what he understood to be true, not what he wanted to believe. Numbers 14, 11. The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people "spurn me and how long will they not believe in me "despite all the signs which I've performed in their midst?" There is realize where to believe because based on understanding the evidence from all the signs which God provided, their belief had nothing to do with what they wanted to believe as they have 43-10, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me, there was no God formed and there will be none after me. The belief that God is the only God was what they know and understand, not what they want to believe. John 8, 46. I speak truth, why do you not believe me? Jesus said the Jews were to believe based on understanding that he spoke the truth. What they wanted to believe or did not want to believe is nothing to do with it. John 9, 18. The Jews then did not believe it of him that he had been blind and had received sight until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight. Now here's a case where the Jews did not want to believe the former blind man had been healed but were forced to believe it based on the evidence. But they ended up believing what their understanding forced them to believe was the opposite of what they wanted to believe. John 10, 38. Though you do not believe me, believe the works so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father. Jesus described belief as what they may know and understand not what they wanted to believe. John 20, 25, and then 29 and 31. So the other disciples were saying to him that is to Thomas, we've seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see his hands and the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I'll not believe. After Jesus appeared to Thomas and he believed, Jesus said, "Because you've seen me, you've believed. Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe." Then the apostle John said, "These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and I believe you may have life in his name." The belief of Thomas like that of all the apostles was based on understanding the evidence provided by the presence of Jesus risen from the dead. Jesus said the rest of us who have not seen his resurrected by our blessed. John said it's because we can believe based on the evidence John provided in his gospel account. What we want to believe has nothing to do with it. Acts 2, 38, some were being persuaded by the things spoken but others would not believe. Those who believe Paul believed because they were being persuaded, not because they wanted to. 1 John 4-1, beloved do not believe every spirit but test the spirits. Belief is based on what we test, not what we want to believe. Acts 28, 24, some were being persuaded by the things spoken but others would not believe. Belief was being persuaded what people wanted to believe had nothing to do with their belief. Thank you for listening. A longer paper on this subject with footnotes for the quotes is available on our website relationalconcepts.org. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]