Steve, you left out a step.
God exists because the bible says so.
I believe it because the bible says to.
It is true because the bible says so.
It is true because God exists because the bible says so.
Thus the circle is completed.
I've described this as putting something of authority between you and the Universe (overriding your senses and consciousness). Because this authority exists outside, you are not believing in God, but the thing outside you compels you to. Therefore you have removed yourself from participation in the process of the act of "belief" (you are just following orders, as it were). So, if there is no free will then your faith is simply being consistent with the truth.
The problem is that you aren't born into the truth of the bible. You have to be able to read (language taught to you by others) or have the bible read to you (by others) and therefore it is the quality of the educators or the reader that determines the relative believability of the Truth (contained only in the bible). So, the source of truth is removed by yet another layer from your consciousness. Oh, yeah, each of the readers or teachers had their readers and teachers, and so on...
All this further removes "you" from the process of faith based upon now, the external thing (book) and external beings (teachers and readers).
Oh, gosh, it gives me a headache to think about it. I finally just ended up listening to my senses and my consciousness to discover Truth. |
