Steve Jones at Freethinking Faith insightfully points out that you can’t force yourself to subjectively believe something: You either believe it, or you don’t. He says:
Believing is not like turning a knob on the dashboard.
Regardless of the intricate chain of reasoning that apologetics offers us, I can no more MAKE myself believe something than I can force myself fall in love or make a given song my favorite just by exercising my will. It doesn’t work that way.
No amount of reasoning can compel me to believe the story of Balaam [and his talking donkey] as long as it subjectively sounds legendary to me.
On the other hand, the resurrection of Christ subjectively sounds believable to me. I don’t know why — that’s just the way it is.
And I accept that fact and have chosen to be Christian despite it.
(Emphasis original, extra paragraphing added.)
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