No one employs mere belief when dealing with the down-to-earth realities of everyday life. For example, none of us would buy a used car assuming the truth of the salesperson’s enthusiastic pitch that it’s in excellent running condition. We would have it checked out by a reputable mechanic or insist on a generous warranty. We all know that believing a car to be in tiptop shape doesn’t make it so. Or if a stranger offered you an unknown pill, guaranteeing that it would cure your migraine headaches, you wouldn’t swallow it on the spot. We don’t take pills unless they are prescribed by a trusted physician and prepared by a licensed pharmacist. It doesn’t matter how much we believe they will work or want them to work; we know that the wrong pills won’t help us and could even harm us.
In making everyday life decisions, we insist that truth precede belief. We don’t trust our lives and health to what we hope, dream, wish, or think will happen. Our beliefs are conditioned on dependable, objective, verifiable truth. “True for you” doesn’t work for any of us in the material world. We insist on going beyond belief to what is objectively true. So, why do we abandon objectivity with religion?
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