Beliefs and Behavior

Recently, a person I know on Facebook shared a picture of a chalkboard with "Your beliefs don't make you a better person, your behavior does," on it. My immediate response was: “Since your actions come from your thinking, the do matter. If you genuinely think something is true, your actions will reflect them." That got me thinking about that disconnect that is all too common...

How easy is it to believe something that may be true, but is unpopular; and, because it's unpopular, your actions are often contradictory? Take the issue of the sanctity of life, for example. May people say that they are 'pro-life,' but yet they either endorse abortion on demand, or choose to remain silent. Because it is often unpopular to be pro-life, may people choose to be silent.

A case in point from my own personal experience while in seminary. Because of my conservative/evangelical beliefs, I see abortion as being morally wrong. While there may be some individual cases, because of the immediate life of the mother or because of incest, where abortion may need to be an option, it should never be the 'only' option. But, at my seminary, it was very unpopular to not endorse a 'woman's right to freely choose' what happens to 'her' body. Because of this and many other reasons, I was looked down upon by many of the faculty and students.

For my, my belief system is based on Scripture, which I believe is God's Word for us. It is not a selection of 'mere fables' that we can choose to accept or not. It is God's inspired Word (God breathed, literately) to instruct us on how to have a personal relationship with Him and with each other. So, when God says that we are created in His image and, therefore, all have inherent worth, ending a life without reason, because one does not want to suffer the consequences of their own sin, or only because of 'connivance' for their own lives or plans is utterly wrong.

For some people, like Christians living in the Middle East or North Korea, having unpopular beliefs is literately, a matter of life and death. For example, in North Korea, all people are to worship the state and its leader. That's what Communism, like Fascism, is all about, utterly following the leadership, no matter what. To be a Christian in North Korea means risking your life to read Scripture. Why? Because Scripture teaches that there is only one God and that one's ultimate loyalty is to Him. Service to an honorable government is expected, but when a government calls you to live in sin (in this case, idolatry), one has to put God first. A totalitarian government cannot allow that to happen and still remain a totalitarian government. Therefore, it has to strike out against those who believe in God's Word.

If we believe something is true, then it needs to affect how we live. If our actions do not reflect what we believe, then are those beliefs genuine? Is it something worth laying your life down for? Or worse yet, in the minds of some people, one's own reputation or social status?

Quite frankly, I believe that if what you believe does not directly influence how you act, then your belief system is a worthless religion. Granted, places like North Korea make living your faith extremely difficult, but there are ways. If you genuinely trust God, then He will provide ways for you to live your faith in obedience to Him. But, there are also times when He calls us to live our lives in such a way that our lives become a sacrifice.

So, how does your belief system affect how your life? Do your beliefs directly influence how you act? Or, are they just a belief system that you like, but yet are disconnected from how you actually live? If it's the latter, do you actually and genuinely believe them?