Why Should I Care About My Beliefs and Invest Time in Supporting What I Believe?
Detailed Answer:
To properly address this question, we first need to define what we mean by “beliefs” and explain their serious impact on our lives.
Understanding Worldview Beliefs
Beliefs encompass our understanding of reality, how we think the world works, and what is our place within it. Beliefs act as a map, giving a framework to view and then guide our life. This map is shaped by the fundamental questions about existence:
- Origin: Where does the universe come from?
- Meaning: Why are we here? What is our purpose?
- Morality: Is there a true right and wrong?
- Destination: Is this life all there is, or is there something beyond this life?
The Importance of Worldview Beliefs
When evaluating the importance of your beliefs, the same criteria you use for any significant life choice should apply. How much time and effort you should invest to ensure your choice is best, depends on how often you will be impacted (Quantity), how much or how serious you will be impacted (Quality), and how likely the choice will impact you (Probability).
Your worldview, including beliefs about God, reality, and the possibility of an afterlife, ranks as one of the most critical decisions you’ll ever make, which is why these questions have been recognized throughout history as life’s “big questions.” They have a Quantity-Quality-Probability (QQP) value greater than any other choice in life. Let’s explore.
- Frequency of Impact (Quantity):
Questions about beliefs come up all the time in life. Whether you’re watching a movie, listening to a song, scrolling through social media, discussing current events, or dealing with something life brings to your door, moments arise that challenge or stir reflection on your beliefs.
For example, a film about sacrifice might make you question the meaning of love and purpose. A song about loss could cause you to think deeply about death and what, if anything, comes after. Social media is filled with debates about everything from morality to the existence of God, often prompting you to reassess your own worldview. When an episode on Family Guy makes a joke about a belief system, odds are it will be funny as they have good writers, but you wonder whether the point the writers are pushing is accurate or not. Even personal events—like the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, or facing a tough decision—can trigger thoughts about what you believe.
In quiet moments away from the daily grind, you may wonder: Is life just about the things I pursue, or is there a higher purpose pursuing me? These questions aren’t trivial. They come up naturally because they shape the very way you live, act, and respond to the world around you.
Quantity Value: HIGH
- Comprehensive Guiding Influence in Your Life (Quality):
What you believe shapes your thoughts, choices, behavior, responses, which become your habits, goals and priorities, ultimately guiding the direction of your life. This in turn determines much of the good and bad you will experience in life. Whether it’s how you spend your time, how you treat others, how you deal with challenges, or how you set your priorities, your beliefs serve as the foundation for your decisions, impacting not only you but everyone around you.
Now, let’s think beyond this life. The possibility of eternity, a never-ending existence, dwarfs all the good or bad experiences this life could possibly bring. If your existence is entirely composed of your physical body, then when it dies, you simply decompose into the elements of your body, and eventually, all humanity and the universe will cease to exist.
Alternatively, some believe we merge with the universe as energy, but this still would lead to a bleak reality brought about by what physicists know as entropy. Entropy is the universe’s undertaker, as even the universe will one day cease to exist in what’s called “universal heat death.”
On the other hand, if there is a part of you that lives on to meet the Creator of the universe, the Author of eternity, then how you live today takes on immense significance. Seeking and understanding the truth about God, who holds the keys to eternal life, becomes the most important choice you could ever make. Anything you have ever done, or may someday do in life in life become only a small drop in the vast ocean of consequences that flow from either being welcomed by God into eternal life, or being separated from God, and on the wrong side of the truth, forever.
Your beliefs can uplift your life or limit it—both now and for eternity. What you believe has the power to transform how you experience everything.
Quality Value: Very HIGH, and if an eternity exists, then the HIGHEST possible quantity and quality of impact.
- Will This Impact Me? (Probability):
The likelihood, or probability, your life will be impacted by what you believe about the big questions in life is 100%. You will experience good and/or bad due to what you believe.
And as far as an existence after this life, if there is any likelihood at all, considering the potential consequences, serious consideration of this issue is warranted. Further, probability depends on the evidence supporting the likelihood of something being true, compared against the evidence supporting opposing claims, and considering the evidence for an after-life covered throughout this website, the likelihood of an eternity is likely much higher than you believe.
The worldview belief you choose (or worldview map you use) is the most significant choice you will make in life – beliefs have far and away the highest QQP value – measurably far more important than any other choice you will make.
Building Your Life on Your Worldview
Consider these points:
- We all navigate our lives based on our worldview.
- While different worldviews may share similarities, they contradict one another on the key questions in life.
- By the Law of Noncontradiction, whenever beliefs contradict, only one belief can match reality and provide accurate guidance to what you seek and expect. All those that contradict with that one belief will guide you at times during life, and possibly eternally, into consequences you did not seek or expect.
You can know your future now
This means you can know your future, right now. You don’t need a fortune-teller to understand the trajectory of your life; all it takes is self-reflection. By identifying the worldview you adhere to, the worldview map you follow, you gain insight into a significant potential outcomes your life is headed towards.
Analyzing Your Belief System
To illustrate, let’s use two contrasting belief systems: Atheism (the belief no God exists) and Christianity (the belief the biblical God exists).
- Choose Your Belief System:
Identify the belief system you currently follow and a contrasting belief system, which you think may be true if yours is not. In the chart above, if you are an atheist, you will be in the top row, and your future will be given either in box 1 or 2. If you are a Christian, your future will be contained either in box 3 or 4. - Evaluate Reality:
Consider which belief is supported by reality. Only one belief system will be supported by reality on a level no other belief system can reach. This is simply common sense, and logic by the law of noncontradiction. If you cannot decide what you believe or why you should have to, then it may be extremely beneficial for you to recognize why you should care and discover the available evidence. Your answer will determine the exact box and the corresponding future facts you will find yourself in when all is said and done. - Anticipate the Consequences:
Depending on your beliefs, examine the implications for your future.
- If, for example, you are an atheist and your belief is accurate, no God exists, then you are in box 1, the upper-left quadrant. Have a look into your inevitable future experiences.
- On the other hand, if your belief is inaccurate, God does exist, then you are in box 2. This would be basically true for an agnostic also. An agnostic, who claims either no one can know whether God exists or not, or simply they just do not know, if not accepting the biblical God as needed, will therefore exist in the same box 1 or 2 as an atheist, just with all but the last bullet-points lessened.
- If you are a Christian, then if your belief does not fit reality as no God exists, you are in box 3; if your belief is true, then you will inevitably experience box 4.
- Further, let’s say you have searched the evidence reality provides and think the likelihood no God exists is 60%, so you choose to live as an agnostic, then you have a 60% likelihood of experiencing box 1, and a 40% likelihood of experiencing box 2.
You currently are sitting in one of those quadrants, heading directly towards the future results noted within. Here is the big follow-up question: If you found another belief was supported better by reality to be true, would you step into the other belief, and corresponding box of consequences?
We seek hard for truth, the best answers, and realize the consequences of wrong choices concerning our relationships, careers, family, health, and other areas of life, but many do not properly ensure their beliefs about the most important questions of life are accurate, and are unaware how much their worldview map has already impacted them, and how much it will affect their lives in the future.
If you want to live your life as though all beliefs are equally valid or true to reality, and will lead to similar overall impacts on you, then you, without question, will be in a box not supported by reality, and will be dropped into unanticipated consequences. In this case, it is healthy to be boxed in, as the only reliable belief box is the one boxed in by truth.
If your answer is “No,” you would not step into another belief box if it were more likely true than your current beliefs, then hopefully you understand you have a problem, a barrier of irrationality boxing you into your current position. The answer should be obvious, it is all about costs and benefits, but not always simple as emotions do get involved, and current comfort is a powerful motivator to stand still.
What Do You Stand to Gain or Lose?
Everyone invests time in various activities—school, work, hobbies—but how much time do you dedicate to contemplating your beliefs? It’s crucial to evaluate your worldview, as the repercussions of choosing a belief system can be far more significant than those of daily decisions.
Ignorance is not pretty. Choosing to not pursue this issue makes one ignorant about it, and unreliable. Such people should therefore keep their comments and actions regarding this topic to themselves, as their contributions can be harmful when backed by lack of knowledge.
People, who choose not to pursue this significant issue in life, would be described by comedian Steven Wright’s reflection: their conclusion is simply the place where they got tired of thinking. Those who already accept the Bible are not free to stop their thinking either, as Proverbs 14:15 notes: “The simple believe anything but the prudent give thought to their steps.”
There is a saying I like:
Weak minds talk about other people
Average minds talk about events
Growing minds talk about ideas
Maybe a bit harsh as there are times to talk about other people and events, but there is something more interesting and special talking about ideas, and something missing and odd not getting deep into the ideas guiding your life. Beliefs about God and the purpose of life come up constantly throughout our culture and life, and being open to learn will make you so much more interesting in your conversations. If you are looking into this website, you already swimming ahead of so many others, who only swim in the shallow waters of beliefs not realizing the shallow waters of beliefs are where the real dangers in life are lurking.