On Doubt, Evidence, and Choice

Freely chosen belief cannot be coerced upon us by evidence.
I have come to learn that there must be good evidence for belief as well as disbelief.
 If there is not, then belief cannot truly be a free choice.

“But belief itself is a choice I wrestle with God for,
somewhere in a dark swampland,
my inner landscape;
where not only God’s credibility,
but my own are at stake”
(Wendy Ulrich).

I believe because I choose to believe.
Just as God freely chooses to “sustain a loving relationship” with me,
I freely choose to reciprocate that relationship.

God does not tolerate me,
he loves me.

I do not tolerate God,
I love God.

Because of that love,
I am called upon,
 not to tolerate others,
but to love them;

I pray that those with whom I share the pews at church
will reciprocate that love towards me.

It is within my Mormon faith,
a faith that has been given to me by my parents,
that I have found and felt God’s infinite love.

http://rationalfaiths.com/why-i-am-mormon/
Michael Barker