What's more important to you: being right or being happy?
To put it another way... If it came down to it, would you rather be miserable but have an unassailable belief system, or be happy but hold a belief for which there is no evidence (i.e., have faith in something)?
2013-10-09T08:51:47Z
@Richard: I fully acknowledge you can have both. But my question was about which you value more. If it came down to a situation where they were mutually exclusive, which would you choose?
@No Chance: Faith, by definition, means believing in something even though it could easily turn out to be wrong. We refer to spouses as being faithful to each other because each has to have faith in the other's commitment to their vows, despite knowing they could abandon them at any time. We say "have some faith in yourself" because you need to have self-confidence even though you might still fail. If you believe in Jesus because of evidence, you are exactly as faithful as an atheist in God's eyes.
SPmc2013-10-09T08:56:32Z
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You base your question on the premise that happiness requires knowledge. I disagree with that premise. Ignorance can be bliss. Well, if you offer the counterargument "that is stupid!" then that is your opinion only, and it is not supported by facts. Look around you. How many people are content with what they have already, and they do not wish for more knowledge, more power, or answers to everything. They lead good lives, have people who love and care for them. Would you dare generalize against them and call them stupid for their "ignorance"? It sounds like it, if you want to establish the premise that knowledge only will create happiness.
I think it's very sad that if someone does not have faith they would want others to agree with them! The mystery's of faith an GOD are beyond human comprehension. Faith concerns questions which cannot be settled by evidence. How can the universe create itself out of nothingness? Given the fact that the universe began to exist, it must have had a “cause” that originated it.Doesn't it make more sense to assume the existence of a Creation. The question is tricky because it sneaks in the false assumption that GOD came from somewhere and then asks where that might be. The answer is that the question does not even make sense. It is like asking, “What does blue smell like?” Blue is not in the category of things that have a smell, so the question itself is flawed. In the same way, GOD is not in the category of things that are created or caused. GOD is uncaused and uncreated—He simply exists. We know that from nothing, nothing comes. So, if there were ever a time when there was absolutely nothing in existence, then nothing would have ever come into existence. But things do exist. Therefore, since there could never have been absolutely nothing, something had to have always been in existence. That ever-existing being is what we call GOD ,GOD is the un-caused Being that caused everything else to come into existence. God is the uncreated Creator who created the universe and everything in it.
Life without GOD is like an un- sharpened pencil it has no point.. You can't see the wind, but you know it is there because you can see what the wind is doing. You can know that the wind is there because you can feel it.GOD is like the wind, you can't see him.
I am far more interested in being happy than being right. I am happiest when I don't live my life from some belief system, but dance with the circumstances by inventing a desired outcome, and taking committed action to fulfill that outcome.
Trying to live life from a belief system is like trying to drive a car with the rear-view mirror.
Happy is a state of mind and does not have anything to do with what is happening to you.
Like a student in college who is happy, even though weary of all the study and loneliness because they know it will be over one day with a great outcome.