Hello people … well, I guess we know each other pretty well now, eh? So I’ll tell you .. I almost decided not to put up this post today. As I am writing this (Tuesday evening), I am wrapped up in cover and have a mug of tea in hand – I have just not been feeling very well today. Because of this, I feel like I don’t have the full focus I like to have when dealing with such an important topic as what we’ve been discussing on Wednesdays. I want you all to know that I don’t write these things lightly, but I write them with much prayer, study and thought. So I thought about just skipping this Wednesday entirely, but instead I decided I could go ahead and write a truncated post with just one simple point … and then go relax with my tea. We’re all friends here, right? I can talk to you with messy sick-day hair and under blankets, eh? :)

So here is the one simple point: you can’t make or force someone else to believe something.

Even if it is the truth, you can’t force someone else to accept a belief. We all have free will and make our own choices, right or wrong. A person might be presented with a point, and upon examining the evidence come to the conclusion it is correct. Or a person may be presented with a viewpoint and choose to believe it simply because they want it to be true, without examining any evidence. Or a person may be presented with a viewpoint and not believe it because they do not see enough evidence to believe it. On the other hand, a person may be presented with a great deal of evidence, and they may see that the conclusion makes sense – and yet make the decision to not accept it anyway. For instance, if you meet someone who says they don’t believe in God because it means they would have to change their life … that’s not really an argument for whether God exists or not, that’s an argument for whether or not that person personally chooses to believe in God or not. They may or may not have examined the evidence … but in the end, their reason to not believe isn’t based on that, it’s based on their own conscious choice that they don’t WANT to believe. Similarly a person may hold a certain belief or viewpoint not so much because they feel the evidence is the most reasonable, but because they simply WANT to believe it.

So as we move forward in the series, and look at some different evidences, realize that there are a couple ways to accept or reject a viewpoint. It is one thing for someone to reject a point because there is insufficient evidence. But it is something different entirely to reject something simply because it is inconvenient or uncomfortable. You can’t force someone to have faith in something – it is the job of each one of us to keep an open mind (as we talked about before) – not so that we just believe anything and everything – but so that when we do come across the truth on any topic, we accept it, even if it is not convenient to our wants and wishes.

Alrighty, well there is today’s post. I’m going to go relax and enjoy some tea now. Thanks for spending time with me … even when I’m not feeling great. :) Leave your thoughts and comments below, I always love to hear from you!