Is it a “no true scotsman” fallacy for someone who considers himself Christian to hope he finds God for real before he dies?

I don’t think it is, but I also think doing so probably takes a lot more hard work & self knowledge than most of us are interested in.

From the article:

Discussing her future goals, Megan tells the newspaper, “I’m at a complete loss. But I do know that I want to do good, to have empathy. Even though we intended to do good [with the picketing], we hurt a lot of people.”

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating, regardless of what your religion is (or if you even have one): One of my dad’s favorite sayings was, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

I didn’t fully understand what that meant until I was well into my 40’s. There are good intentions and there are correct intentions. Too often, the actions that follow the former are guided by wishful thinking—blind “belief”, if you will, or personal desire, which may or may not be beneficial in a given situation—whereas the actions that follow the latter are based on understanding & practical knowledge and are therefore much more likely to result in a beneficial outcome for everyone involved.

By “understanding” I mean not only an assessment of the situation that’s as objective as humanly possible, but also the ability to recognize & counteract one’s own negative traits & tendency toward self-deception—here I’m referring to motivation influenced by personal desires interfering with what is actually best (i.e. correct intention).

Por ejemplo: You can fall in love with someone and tell yourself: “I’m going to do whatever it takes to make my beloved happy.” Really? Are you even aware of all of that person’s deepest needs? What if something they desperately need is outside your ability to provide it? What if you can indeed provide it, but it means that doing so will destroy your relationship with that person? Do you see what I’m getting at here? People may call this having “good intentions”, but it would be more accurate to call it “wishful thinking” or hoping for an outcome based on one’s own desires.

I’ll tell you the same thing a friend told me once, and it applies across the board, regardless of whether you’re a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, or whatever—it’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given.

Check your intention three times:

1.) Before you do something.
2.) While you’re doing it.
3.) After you’ve done it.

The first check should help you catch instances of wishful thinking that are masquerading as “good” (correct) intentions. There’s nothing wrong with wishful thinking per se, as long as you recognize its limitations and adjust your expectations about the outcome accordingly.

The second check is where, if you fell into the “wishful thinking” trap in #1, you’ll begin to realize you’ve made a big mistake. You may or may not be able to correct course here—it depends on the situation.

The third & last check is usually the most revealing. It’s the part where you’re able to look back with 20/20 hindsight and (hopefully) learn from your mistakes, thereby increasing your practical experience for the next round. ;)

E gad, I didn’t intend too write that much. Sorry for the tl;dr comment!