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Podcast
Do People Believe What They Want To Believe
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Transcript
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I want to address the question, do people believe what
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they want to believe?
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On Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023, during his YouTube program, The No Spin News, Bill O'Reilly
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said, people believe what they want to believe.
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It was in response to a write-in question that was along the lines of, how can a third
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of the country support the current liberal progressive agenda?
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O'Reilly repeatedly answered, people believe what they want to believe.
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Now O'Reilly's a smart guy, so I was amazed at this ridiculous answer.
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Most people believe what they are going to die.
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Is that because they want to believe it?
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I suggest it's because they understand the statistics say death's 100%.
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What they want to believe has nothing to do with what they believe.
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If a person is faced with a serious medical diagnosis or an IRS audit, they probably believe
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it.
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But that does not mean they want to believe it.
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Some think, if I want to believe something enough, that desire will help me believe it.
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No, it won't.
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I'm not saying that it's bad to get your belief from what you want to believe.
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I'm saying it's impossible.
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You can only believe anything you believe when something causes you to understand it
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to be true.
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That understanding could be right, could be wrong, could be some ridiculous nonsense.
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Nevertheless, it must be understood to be true in order to generate belief.
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We believe when we understand something to be true, and when we understand something
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to be true, we cannot help but believe it.
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Even if what we want to believe and what we believe coincide, what we want does not generate
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belief.
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Ever.
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Let's say a newlywed couple wants a baby.
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That means they also want to believe they will have a baby.
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And suppose they find out the wife is pregnant.
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At that point, they both want to believe and actually believe they're going to have a baby.
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But did that actual belief come from what they wanted to believe?
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Of course not.
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They now believe they're having a baby because they understand something about the natural
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laws of conception.
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What they wanted to believe had no influence whatsoever on what they actually believe.
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What they actually believe is only connected to what they understand to be true.
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What they believed changed when they understood the report of the wife's pregnancy was true.
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What they wanted to believe would not change whether the wife became pregnant or not.
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When I drive my car to work, I believe my car will also get me home from work.
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I also want to believe my car will get me home.
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I have both desire and belief.
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But if I get in and it will not start, my belief that my car will get me home is greatly
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reduced.
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At the same time, I still want to believe my car will get me home.
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But I can't believe it.
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What I want to believe remains the same because it's disconnected from what I actually believe.
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And that's because the two never were connected.
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What I actually believe about my car getting me home has to do with my limited understanding
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of the mechanical condition of my car, not what I want to believe.
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My desire has no connection to my belief.
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The O'Reilly comment, and I've heard the same comment from other commentators, assumes
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that liberal progressives believe what they want to believe because they're disconnected
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from reality.
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He's saying that liberal people believe what they believe, not because they're looking
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at things rationally, but simply because they want to believe these things.
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Now let's apply O'Reilly's idea to biblical Christianity.
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If people believe what they want to believe, then Christians who believe the Bible only
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believe it because they want to.
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O'Reilly is saying that there's no necessary connection between belief and understanding
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the truth.
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The O'Reilly comment applied to Christianity reduces belief, say in the resurrection of
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Christ, the gospel message, and the infallibility of Scripture, to be only something Christians
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want to believe.
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Those things don't have to be real, they just have to be what people want to believe.
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In the Bible, the word believe never refers to something generated by what somebody wants
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to believe.
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In the Bible, believing is always understanding the truth to be true.
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Genesis 15, 6, Then he, that is, Abraham, believed in the Lord, and he reckoned it to
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him as righteousness.
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Abraham's belief was connected to what he understood to be true, not what he wanted
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to believe.
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Numbers 14, 11 The Lord said to Moses, How long will this people spurn me?
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And how long will they not believe in me, despite all the signs which I have performed
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in their midst?
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The Israelites were to believe because, based on understanding the evidence from all the
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signs which God provided, their belief had nothing to do with what they wanted to believe.
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Isaiah 43, 10 So that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
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Before me there was no God formed, and there will be none after me.
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Belief that God is the only God was what they know and understand, not what they want to
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believe.
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John 8, 46 I speak truth, why do you not believe me?
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Jesus said the Jews were to believe based on understanding that he spoke the truth.
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What they wanted to believe or did not want to believe had nothing to do with it.
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John 9, 18 The Jews then did not believe it of him that he had been blind and had received
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his sight until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight.
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Now here's a case where the Jews did not want to believe the former blind man had been healed,
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but were forced to believe it based on the evidence.
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But they ended up believing what their understanding forced them to believe was the opposite of
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what they wanted to believe.
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John 10, 38 Though you do not believe me, believe the works so that you may know and
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understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.
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Jesus described belief as what they may know and understand, not what they wanted to believe.
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John 20, 25 and then 29 and 31 So the other disciples were saying to him that is to Thomas,
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we've seen the Lord.
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But he said to them, unless I see his hands and the imprint of the nails and put my finger
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into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I'll not believe.
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After Jesus appeared to Thomas and he believed, Jesus said, Because you've seen me, you've
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believed.
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Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.
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Then the apostle John said, These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus
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is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
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The belief of Thomas, like that of all the apostles, was based on understanding the evidence
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provided by the presence of Jesus risen from the dead.
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Jesus said the rest of us who have not seen his resurrected body are blessed.
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John said it's because we can believe based on the evidence John provided in his gospel
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account.
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What we want to believe has nothing to do with it.
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Acts 2.38, Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.
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Those who believed Paul believed because they were being persuaded, not because they wanted
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to.
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First John 4.1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits.
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Belief is based on what we test, not what we want to believe.
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Acts 28.24, Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.
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Belief was being persuaded.
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What people wanted to believe had nothing to do with their belief.
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Thank you for listening.
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A longer paper on this subject with footnotes for the quotes is available on our website
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relationalconcepts.org.
