# Does someone's character make their convictions more plausible?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-someones-character-make-their-convictions-more-plausible/515461
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [October 28, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-someones-character-make-their-convictions-more-plausible/515461 "2009-10-28T16:16:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-someones-character-make-their-convictions-more-plausible/515461/21 "2009-11-04T23:49:39Z")
Why are babies so darn cute? Kids are a drain, they cost, they are a lot of trouble, they are one problem after another. But when you look at them when they are sleeping, they are so darn cute.
This is why people do things that don’t seem logical. Because rewards can’t be measured in material terms all the time.
As for beliefs sincerity doesn’t equal correctness. Compassion can be misplaced. You can be so busy treating the wound that you ignore the cause of it.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-someones-character-make-their-convictions-more-plausible/515461/22 "2009-11-05T04:05:17Z")
> [@Chakra Nadmara](#):
>
> Hypothetically, we have the most dignified, charismatic, seemingly intelligent man in the world with us today. This man dedicates his life to the greater good with no selfish ulterior motives (for the sake of argument, we assume this to be true). You would be foolish to question his position on most anything, until one day he tells you, “I know God; I have been in his presence and I have seen how He works,” and proceeds to elaborate on his position ad nauseum, making statements that are only logical based the assumption that God exists. Is his character and wisdom reason enough to second guess yourself, or does the irrationality of it all render it moot?
I simply wonder if you’re mixing up cause and effect.
Just imagine that someone has a vivid hallucination of God; that youth now honestly believes he’s been in His presence and has seen how He works; the Big Guy took to standing right there, some fifty feet tall, after coming down from the clouds on a slanting ray of golden sunlight, whereupon He solemnly tasked that young man with dedicating his life to the greater good.
Well, of _ **course** _ that man then dedicates his life to the greater good. And of course he seems to lack any selfish ulterior motives in doing so; we _ **know** _ his motives, and they suit an earnest and hardworking man who carries himself with the self-assured dignity of someone handpicked by Our Father Who Art In Heaven – a wise and mighty God who even now is sitting in judgment on Thou Good And Faithful Servant.
That doesn’t make any of it _ **true,** _ mind you; it just explains why he’s so danged _ **sincere,** _ both about his achingly responsible character and his belief in God (and why the former stemmed from the latter rather than serving as evidence for or against).
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-someones-character-make-their-convictions-more-plausible/515461/23 "2009-11-05T04:13:47Z")
People of good character are just as capable of deluding themselves as people of bad character. Sure, I’d believe that HE believed it, but so what? I’m sure I’d be compassionate enough to advise him to seek medical attention.
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