Parable of the Filth Pit

Should the fact that those of us who believe in God and love Him want very badly to believe in Him raise a skeptical question in our minds? Should we not, as men of reason, be unwilling to trust our own observations and conclusions as we would be in a case where we have no bias toward one particular conclusion or another?

Should we not be utterly impartial when looking at the evidence for an against God, and listen to all arguments with equal candor and patience?

This question may be making what philosopher’s call a categorization error. The question categorizes the belief in God as if it were a scientific theory, rather than a love story.

Suppose, Dear Reader, that there were a beautiful blushing virgin whom you had just asked to marry you. Surely it would be somewhat heedless of her to reply, “I am strongly moved by passionate and erotic love for you, my handsome and strong suitor, to accept your proposal, except that I fear I am biased toward you. I want very badly to wed you, to be swept off my feet and carried away to the bridal bed: but, surely I should only decide to accept a proposal from a man I do not love, because then I will be able to trust my own observations, and I will have no bias one way or the other.”

Would not this be an odd and wrongheaded reply to hear from any girl’s lips? Who told her that decisions about love in her heart should be made on the basis of loveless observations about things not in her heart?

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