Do you choose what you believe in?

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by Questioner

I'm at a loss as to how to answer that since I stated in the first post that I don't believe I have chosen whether to believe or whether not to believe... that is like asking whether you like chocolate ice cream or not. If you do like chocolate ice cream, why did you choose to like it?

I will say... carefully... that I do not feel that religion or spirituality has anything to offer me, and do not feel that ministers or being subjected to a minister would benefit me in any way. Being raised in a preacher's home, I was usually annoyed by those people who would come to the preacher for everything and could never figure out why they could not make any decisions on their own, etc. I also found that it was easier to use shows like "Leave it to Beaver" or "Andy Griffith" as a litmus test for normalcy because I felt my Pentecostal upbringing was anything but normal. And no, I didn't have a television growing up... my close friends find it odd that I would try to apply a template from a tv show as my litmus test for normalcy... I didn't even realize it was odd until they pointed it out.

I'm usually able to make the right decisions on my own without having to go to someone else for assistance in making those decisions. If for some reason I make the wrong decision, I accept responsibility for the wrong decision and try to correct the behavior as needed.

I may also be a Deist or Humanist... I'm really not clear enough on the differences of all the different terms to know which label fits, or if I am some hybrid of several labels.

So this goes beyond whether you have ever believed for yourself? But rather, if any belief is a choice?