but, grose.." However, there are legal, ethical, mathematical dis,cussions of how to make a responsible choice."
That is precisely the sort of issue I was referring to when I said that 'we make decisions every day based on various assumptions'.

Any 'formula' you employ to determine 'reasonable' can be questioned. Why NOT accept the Taliban's formula? Or the Nicene Creed? Or The Code of Hammurabi? Or simply the Scientific Method?

For many, including me, the decision about your ultimate choice does not depend on how many " ...tomes and tomes written on this.", but whether these tomes are internally consistent, ....AND where the authors OF these tomes get their information! If you simply accept by authority that certain ancient texts (and not other ancient texts), have all the answers you need, you are making a decision that is in the final analysis, subjective.
No law against that, and there is, indeed, comfort in finding answers that satisfy you and that are shared by family and friends.....but those other choices are still out there, some requiring belief in different authority, and some rejecting almost all authority.

   I have many friends who DO have specific belief systems...some of whom believe, sadly, that it is unfortunate that a nice guy like me can't go to Heaven...and others who profess to believe that I'll be judged by the life I lead, no matter what I believe......and of course, others who don't think the issue matters, because they doubt that there's a Heaven to go to...*shrug*

Me? I just plow ahead, taking my chances...as that "free will" bit allows me to do. The old line is. "we'll see later who's right", but if there IS no 'afterlife', then we won't see later, will we? Ain't it fascinating what conundrums we can get ourselves into?

take care, grose, and thanks for the interesting comments.