just tell me what to do

Can an ideology be imposed systemically? Like, is it possible to be a true believer by following a set of rules or principles? 

I said to Minh once that I wish the Bible just told us explicitly what we need to do....like a checklist. And his response was 'no you don't'. He said that not so much because it's a bad idea, but because he knew I would hate that, but it is a bad idea.