In a sense, people believe what they want, or what they desire. I ask people why they go to church, and they say many reasons, social reasons, faith reasons, beliefs. But they all have something to do with what they believe. I think the beliefs are made to fit the desires, not the other way around. Each of the following are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and each has beliefs different than what the Church teaches because of their desires.
Jonathan: I want to have a girlfriend, I want to feel good. I need an intimate relationship to feel close to someone. My needs are pressing so I believe that everyone is saved if they do what they feel is right, what feels good.
Mariah: I can’t be married, I don’t think I can do what it takes to be one with my husband so I will choose to believe what fits my desires. I believe that there are no husband-wife special relationships in heaven; instead I believe that we are all one with God.
Brett: I want to be able to drink alcohol. I don’t believe in the teachings of the Church, instead I believe that the Catholic Church is the true church because they have the authority passed down from the bishop of Rome.
Logan: I want this life to be all there is, so I don’t believe in God. There is no God. Life randomly happened. Evolution created everything. “God” is the Big Bang! There is no right nor wrong. Everyone just fares according to their talents and abilities. No rules. No reason. No purpose. It all ends in oblivion.
Lisa: I want to do what I want. I want to play tennis on Sunday. I want to drink alcohol with my friends. I want to drink coffee. I want freedom from the tyranny of a demanding God. I believe that everything is OK as long as you live a good life and don’t hurt other people.
Hester: My husband died, I have no family, I need a community so I’m going to join the Church. I believe what the Church teaches, even though I don’t know much, because that’s the organization that fills my need for community.
Defending Beliefs
Ultimately, if we desire things that are not of God, then we must change our beliefs according to our desires. People believe strange things. They don’t scrutinize or examine their beliefs closely. A person can believe anything without any evidence. God wants me to be happy in sin. Life could have come from a “primordial soup” through spontaneous generation. God could be permissive and anxious to give me what I want. Beliefs justify desires.
Telling others about their irrational beliefs is an exercise in futility, or worse -- enmity. When I point out any inconsistencies in the beliefs of others, they do not see it, do not believe me, or they get angry. They don’t want to know. They are only looking for confirmation of what they believe, and they will accept any doctrine, no matter how improbable, that seems to support their beliefs. But, they will fight to the death to defend those same beliefs.
My Own Heart
I wonder if my beliefs change according to my desires. Do I believe what is true, or do I change what I believe according to my own desires and then seek confirmation of what I believe? I would be living with confirmation bias instead of seeking truth that would change my beliefs. What do I desire?
I desire to know truth. If something isn’t true then it’s a lie, and lies are useless, or cause damage. I am more inclined to let people live in their lies, but I want to know their beliefs so I can see if there is any truth there. I weigh them, analyze them, and incorporate the truth into my beliefs, spending lots of thought on how they fit, and then eschew what I see as untenable. Any who are also looking for truth would ask me what I believe and do the same. It's not that everyone comes to the same belief, but rather coming to many points-of-view or understanding of truth. I desire to know truth, and I want to know what others know.
I desire to know God. In 1975, when I was 11 yeas old, I went with the Boy Scouts on a 50-mile hike in the High Sierras on the John Muir trail. After four days of hiking up the mountain, the evening before hiking over Glenn Pass we camped near a meadow. I went off by myself to the other side of the meadow and climbed up on some rocks, looking back toward camp, and looked up at the trail going over the pass between two snow-packed peaks that we would need to traverse the next day. The grass was green. The sun was low. The peaks were shining back the light from their steep snow-covered slopes. The lake in the meadow was glassy, reflecting. the scene above them. The air was crisp and clean. There was a transcendent beauty that touched my soul. I knew there was a God. He showed Himself to me that afternoon. I don't know how I knew, I just knew. I don't know what about the experience gave me that knowledge, but it wasn't an "I believe" experience, but rather "I know."
Since that time I have sought to know Him better. In fifty years I have come a long way. I'm still seeking. I realize that all I know about God is a tiny fraction of what there is to know. I understand that every person can reveal something about God because we are children of God, therefore they each have something to teach me about Him. I know a few thousand... only nine billion left! :) I know there are teachings about Him that are true, and those that are false. I do not trust the judgment of others, but take what they are teaching and try to understand how that reveals God to me. I am sure Joseph Smith, Jr. was a prophet of God, and knew a lot more than he said. He had what I want. I believe St. Francis also knew God, as did the prophets and apostles of the Bible and Book of Mormon. There have been people in the world who have had what I seek: to know God. These are my mentors.
The noetic experience comes rarely, with years in between, occasionally confirming the road I’m on. Writing in my journal and receiving inspiration. Watching a movie in the back of the car with my son. Reading a book and gaining understanding. Hearing a talk that changes my thinking. Praying. Reading scripture. I am always seeking Him, but most of the time I do not have a connection. Occasionally, the light goes on and God reveals Himself to me, not when I demand, want, or need it, but when I’m doing other things, living my life, not expecting anything. I receive confirmation of my desires.
Desire --> Belief --> Action
Ultimately, no matter who it is, the underlying reason for belief is to allow me to get what I want. Everyone is there. I seek to know God so I believe in Him. I only want to know truth because anything that isn’t true is useless, at best. Because I desire these things I believe in God and ultimate truth so I seek them. My desires determine my beliefs just like everyone else. It isn’t different for me. There are not different kinds of people. Everyone is the same: we see what we believe, and we believe according to our desires. Everyone has confirmation bias. It’s the rule, not the exception. For one seeking truth they will change false beliefs when they discover a truth because that’s what they desire. Those who are seeking other things will also change according to their desires, but true or false may be irrelevant for them to get what they want.
Jesus called it the heart. We can know what is in our hearts by what we want, desire, need, seek, hoard, or treasure:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21)
It is the heart that determines what we believe. We can believe anything that would seem to give us what we want, our treasure. Desires determine beliefs, and beliefs lead to actions. The difference is, those who desire God, or truth, are on a path that leads to Him, happiness, peace, joy, and eternal life. Every other desire leads to destruction.
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Seek and ye shall find
Those who find it are the few who are looking for it. They look for it because that is what they want, it is what they seek. It’s what they love.
I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. (Proverbs 8:17)
There is a difference. While it is true that everyone is subject to confirmation bias, we all find what we are seeking, yet what we seek is essential. Seeking eternal life is very different from seeking money, sex, or the comforts of the flesh. The path of life may require the sacrifice of those comforts. There will be confirmations along the way that the path is leading to eternal life. That is the way, and there is no other way. Those on other paths will also receive confirmation as they have comforts of the world. The confirmation is about the path you are on, not that you are on the path of eternal life. You cannot receive confirmation of a road you do not traverse. What we desire is so important. Our desires lead us to a place in the end because of what we believe. We act on those beliefs and show what we are, the treasure of our hearts.
Conflicting Desires
It’s not so simple that we desire one or the other. Within each person are two conflicting desires. The heart doesn’t just seek a single thing, there are lots of things the heart wants. It wants all the things of God. It wants to be good. It wants happiness, peace, and joy. However, it also has physical desires, food, clothing, shelter, power, to be loved, honor, and glory. It’s like the story of The Two Wolves:
An old Cherokee grandfather is teaching his grandson about life. He says, "A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil—he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good—he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person too."
The grandson thinks about it for a moment and then asks, "Which wolf will win?"
The old man simply replies, "The one you feed."
So the bottom-line of the heart is that either the spiritual desires will dominate, or the temporal desires. That is the choice of life. If we choose to feed the temporal desires we must sacrifice the spiritual, and vice versa. People will deceive themselves that they can have both by changing their beliefs. They will tell themselves that they will seek the world for now, and then seek God once they have gotten all they want from the world. They will believe that God is merciful and will give them a pass because they had such important needs of the flesh. Some will completely shut down the spiritual desires, believing there is no God. Thus, they change their beliefs to fit their desires.
Singleness of Heart
The resolution of the “two wolves” is singleness of heart. The wolf that wins is the only one left to determine what a person believes. The heart only has one desire. Some kill the desire for God and only have desires of the world. Few sacrifice the desires for the world and only have a desire to know God. When God is the one desire, and all others are subordinated to Him, we have “an eye single to the glory of God.” We are one. We have “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” This is “a mighty change of heart.” The change is to no longer desire the things of the world, and the honors of men, but to only desire the things of God.
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? Why is it that ye murmur among yourselves, saying, We cannot obey thy word because ye have not all these things, and seek to excuse yourselves, saying that, After all these things do the Gentiles seek. Behold, I say unto you, that your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. (JST Matthew 6:35-38)
The temptation is to seek the things of the world first, and then work on the things of the Spirit. Jesus is saying not to give in to that temptation. Seek God first, trust in Him that He will supply what you need of the world. It will require sacrifices. Many who are of the world must sacrifice all for the kingdom of God.
The Sacrifice is Real
The father of king Lamoni in the Book of Mormon offered Ammon half his kingdom to spare his life. However, when Aaron began to teach him the gospel, he said he would give up his entire kingdom. His desire was to know God, so he believed in the words of Aaron, and was willing to give up all that he had for this desire.
And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy. (Alma 22:15)
This king did sacrifice his kingdom and all that he possessed. He had to leave behind all he had and became a refugee among the Nephites. The sacrifice is real. Those whose desires are of the world, who go to church so God will give them what they want still have a worldly heart. There are great churches with tens of thousands attending every week because they tell people what they want to hear that is of the world. People think this is the way to have both, for me to “ask, and ye shall receive.” They are told to ask for money, property, and the glory of the world. They can pretend to be both of God and of the world, they can have it all. This is foolish, and it is a lie. Their heart is single to wickedness. They believe. They believe that God will give them what they want. They believe it with all their heart. They believe what they desire, then they act on that belief. The pure in heart of God do not seek the glory of man, but sacrifice it -- all of it -- like the king of the Lamanites.
We sacrifice for our beliefs. We believe according to our desires. The sacrifice of all things of the world to know God, like Abraham, leads to a mighty change of heart, a pure heart, with an eye single to the glory of God. Ultimately, we either sacrifice the desire for God, or the desire for the world.
Belief is not truth
What we believe is essential because that determines what we do. However, beliefs don’t change without a change of heart, a change in what we desire. People must be taught the truth of the gospel to wake up that desire in them. Those who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ will then act on that and sacrifice the wicked wolf. They will give up the world for their belief. They will see that all they believed before was not true. The world is a sphere. God is just -- and merciful to those who repent. The things of the world are temporary, and I want what is forever, or eternal. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Only those who desire eternal life are going to believe, and then seek, and find the path. It’s not what you believe that is most important, it’s what you want.
