Did Jesus Exist? by Bart Ehrman

You've almost certainly cast aside beliefs you previously held at some point in your life, Phat. They might not have seemed as significant as your religious beliefs, but it's happened nonetheless.

I'm sure you intellectually agree that thing are not true merely because we wish them to be. Any given position is true or false regardless of how we feel about it...which is why we're not all incredibly wealthy model-attractive immortal geniuses, or something along those lines.

False beliefs should be denied. In this case...if Jesus actually existed, then I want to believe that Jesus actually existed. If Jesus did not actually exist, then I want to not believe that Jesus actually existed. Shouldn't we want to hold beliefs that accurately reflect reality more than we want to hold to a belief that we just happen to like?

Emotionally that's hard. It was extremely difficult for me when I denied Christianity and became an Atheist, to use an extreme example...but even small changes in firm beliefs, even when those beliefs aren't particularly "important," can carry emotional trepidation. But what we want shouldn't be to hold a specific belief. What we want should be to hold the belief that most accurately reflects reality...even if that belief isn't pleasant. To do otherwise is simply to lie to oneself, intentionally.

I didn't want to give up Christianity. But eventually, I got to the point where I realized that what I really wanted was to be intellectually honest with myself, and to hold the most accurate beliefs possible given the evidence available to me. That decision, the requirement that my beliefs be backed by evidence, is what forced me to give up Christianity, whether I liked it or not.

I want to believe what has actual bases in fact. I want not to believe what does not have actual basis in fact. What is true is true, whether I believe it or not; acknowledging which belief is true can't make anything worse.

You don't have certainty though, Phat. You have the illusion of certainty, granted through the false confidence of faith. Just because someone promises you something, even if you truly believe them, doesn't mean it's actually going to happen.

We are all plagued with uncertainty. Nobody knows, though many think and many more believe. The ones who say they're certain are fools, insane, or liars - certainty is a logical impossibility.

Remember, what's true is already true. If God exists, then he exists; if he doesn't exist, then he doesn't exist. Your belief is irrelevant; you're either right or wrong, simply believing doesn't make it so, and acknowledging the truth doesn't make anything disappear.

Why is clinging to false certainty more important than finding out if your belief is actually likely to be true at all? If it's true, then you don't have to give up the belief, and if it's false, then all you've given up is a lie, because what the lie promised wasn't going to happen anyway.