I don’t believe in magical thinking with religion. Granted, some of my atheist friends will say that any belief in a man in the sky, is magical thinking. Totally get that. Some of them also don’t understand why I am religious since they perceive me as more nihilistic. (Spolier, I’m not! My motivations for ‘what is, will be’ are religiously rooted.)
But there are some things that people have support their belief in the LDS gospel that I just, flat out, don’t believe. A great example of this is tithing.
Some people support their testimony in tithing citing a situation in which they didn’t have enough money to pay their bills as well as their tithing. They took a leap of faith and paid their tithing and *magically* there was more money in their account then they thought and they were able to pay their bills.
I say you don’t know how to do math or balance your checkbook correctly.
I believe in a God that operates under laws. One of those laws (that I love) is math. I do believe in a God that can know a check is in the mail that you forgot was coming or a God that can touch someone’s heart to give you an opportunity to meet your needs.
But I never think it is a guarantee that if you pay your tithing you will have enough money that month. Whose to say that coming up short on a month of bills may be the kick-in-the-pants that was needed to pursue a different job option? Or any other life lesson that will develop you into an even more amazing version of yourself?
I just think that when belief systems are anchored in make-believe it is setting oneself up for confusion and heartache when that magic does not appear.
