But if you want to posit that "You were born without faith and thus do not believe in God", that can certainly be posited and we can then take the idea that "I am incapable of having faith" to which we have already covered. It seems you are arguing that you have a will to believe in God but not the intellect to believe thus are not capable of moving your will to believe in God. But here's the million dollar question, "Why must logic be required to move the will?" Take your 2+2 = 5 analogy. Logic clearly dicates this statement to be false, but I can will myself to believe in it. I'll be mocked and pointed at and laughed off the planet, but I can still will to believe that 2+2 = 5. The intellect and the will are not independant but our will's are not always rational. I can believe that killing a person and drinking their blood will make me a vampire and therefore will myself to do it, and yet just because I would never do such a thing again cannot prove that I am not capable of performing the act of will in general.
You cannot believe in God because you need logic to show you God and you "feel" as if you cannot move your will in that direction. Hey. That's fine! No problem there. That's something I can certainly hold to and agree with 100% but I cannot understand for the life of me why a person would cannot believe in God because you just can't, because I am incapable of moving my will in that direction. Umm.. you are more than capiable, you are just blocked by logic which to which you have will to not believe in God.
I think this is the key point.
Can you *really* will yourself to believe that 2+2=5? How? Your intellect *knows* that it is false, how can you completely shirk your intellect and deceive yourself that way? Sure, you can try or pretend to believe that 2+2=5, and you can go around telling others that you believe it, but that doesn't mean you actually do. Completely divorcing the will and the intellect seems impossible for me, as they are necessarily linked, and if it IS possible, it would seem not to be advisable. When you know enough about something that it's reasonable to draw a conclusion one way or the other, you do, otherwise, you withhold judgment.
In all of your other examples of putting aside the intellect (jumping into a volcano, killing a person and drinking their blood to become a vampire, etc), the result is disastrous. Why/how should we know (with our intellects, mind you) that THIS (faith in God) is the one time it's advisable to will ourselves to do something that our intellect isn't on board with?
Also, you say several times that only the will can lead you to faith, but then also that the intellect MUST be incorporated. Maybe you could clarify that?
In the end... I really don't know how to contribute anymore in this forum. 
Sad isn't?
You're contributing just fine. You can't expect to immediately change people's minds with your arguments in every debate. I enjoy reading your posts and I find them informative, though. What seems to be the problem?
-J
Topic: Creating God in one's own image. (Read 34102 times)
