on the topic of 'knowing' : An apologetic response to Mr. Terry

​To those who wonder about believers in Jesus--How can we say "I KNOW"?

A  Mr. Terry recently replied to a FACEBOOK comment of mine.  I was reading the hundreds of comments to a National Geographic post about an archeological dig with new information on the historical Jesus.  That so many were so passionate about adding arguments disproving the Biblical Jesus was sad to me, and I commented:

ME: “This makes me sad. Our wonderful Creator loves us, invites us to know him, and knows each of us better than we know ourselves.  And we search for ways to deny He exists.  For me, I know my Redeemer lives.”

MR. TERRY: “You believe what you’ve written above. That’s cool. You invite others to believe it too. Invitations are cool. Belief does not equal knowledge. Some beliefs are false. I believe your conflation of belief with knowledge makes  you feel better and more solid in your beliefs.”

After a week of just pondering this reply, I became curious.  How to differentiate, in words, between important concepts like ‘belief’, ‘doubt’, ‘faith’, ‘knowledge’, ‘truth’.  Where am I in the process of my own spiritual understanding?  Do I have the right to claim that “I know”?

Mr. Terry is correct that ‘belief’ and ‘knowledge’ are not the same ‘animal’ (so to speak). But at some point, the belief ‘rubber’ must meet the knowledge ‘road’.

A belief/conviction/opinion will eventually be revealed to be truth, or revealed to be error, or maybe the belief will undergo some revision to incorporate new, reliable, vetted information.

So, I did a word -study, looking at the dictionary definitions of the afore-mentioned words, which are key words in discussion of religion, or philosophy—the big questions in life.  I also researched the original Greek of those words as used in the New Testament.

“Belief’ led to ‘faith’ (also not equal in concept).  ‘Truth’ entered the picture as well.  Then, if empirical evidence comes to light, it can transcend over to ‘knowledge’.

I grew up in ‘church’—Sunday morning and evening, Wednesday evening, Sunday School, children’s choirs, training union—all of it.  So, I learned Bible stories and characters, and some scripture memory.  All very surface level, until my big sister talked to me about Jesus, and told me I had a decision to make.

I responded ‘Yes,’ to Jesus’ invitation to believe that He is God’s perfect son who died a criminal’s death in my place so that I (and ALL who would believe in Him) could be released from the penalty of death and be adopted into the family of God.

It was a choice I made then, whether or not I had the capacity to consider and comprehend all of the “facts.”  Honestly, (opinion alert) the choice was, and always ought to be a ‘no-brainer’:

OPTION A: Believe in a loving, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present Creator of the universe.
OR
OPTION B: Reject the idea that God is real. Deny the possibility of something existing beyond what we can see, or explain without concrete evidence.

POSSIBILITIES (greatly simplified because each of the outcomes could be a book on its own):

BELIEVING: Enjoying God, appreciating Him for His creativity and  all of the intricacies of Intelligent Design.  A life of mountains and valleys, but filled with meaning and purpose that counts for eternity. Friendship and conversations with God. Learning to care about the things (people) He cares about. Confidence that God is a promise-keeper who will one day fulfill His promise to right injustices, establish true peace, no more evil, sin, sickness, pain or tears.

OR

NOT BELIEVING: ? (Think about it.)

When I decided to ‘believe’ that Jesus is God’s Son who died in my place so that I could become part of the Family of God, I changed. Though I was an immature little girl at the time, I still changed when I made that choice.   My mind and my soul became  newly aware and sensitive to loving God and receiving His love.  God’s presence was with me.  I wanted to share Jesus with other people.

The undercurrent of those sensitivities remained strong from that point on.  I am 65 years old now.  Even though I strayed from God’s ‘covering’ many times, making some bad and faithless choices that set me on some journeys through a wilderness, the anchor that kept pulling me ‘home’ was the God I believed in early on.

God’s interventions, and holy encounters with Him over time—those were the EVIDENCE. My opinions, beliefs, faith, convictions; PLUS God’s undeniable activity, holy moments that were game-changers-- all of it solidified my faith into experiential knowledge of the reality, character, and faithfulness of Yahweh.

Again, after making the choice to believe, God’s dealings with us on a personal level become the evidence we need to KNOW Him. As  we seek more information about Him, and as He reveals His character, we discover we want to know Him more.  We TRUST Him with more of our heart.  We learn to recognize his ‘voice’ in our soul and spirit. We yield more to His leading, knowing that He is good, and confident that wherever He leads us will produce good fruit.

He has spoken into my spirit numerous times; an ‘audible’ voice in my soul.
Examples:

• After my first marriage ended in divorce, by my choice and action, I had a time of lamenting and regret. And questioning.  “If I am a Christian, how could I have done what I did?  God was I ever saved?  Please forgive me.”  God interrupted my pity party and ‘very clearly spoke to my soul: “Kay, if you had NOT chosen me then (when I was an eight-year-old child), you would NOT be here, on this couch, talking to me right now.”
• I believe and KNOW that God physically shifted the car I was driving, preventing a collision with another car that did not yield.
• God called me out of a profitable career to pursue a seminary education.  Typically the training would prepare a seminary student to lead a church, or an area of a church, usually on paid staff.  But I had a divorce in my past—doesn’t that disqualify me? (A 'doubt' that could have scared me away from God's plan for me.)  I did not have any particular role I wanted to focus on.  But in spite of the doubts, I followed. One step at a time.
• In the School of Educational Ministry, I thought maybe counseling would be my area.  But as I took some electives that looked interesting, a spark took to flame in a writing class.  I wrote articles, a curriculum, and for my graduate thesis, I wrote a book on the dynamics of living in a stepfamily.  My thesis was picked up to be published by a major Christian publishing house.  God's plans are full of surprises!

I was called to write.  I would not have dreamed this for myself.  That is reserved for better, smarter people than I.  But God.  This essay is an answer to a call to write. More than I could ask or imagine, God led me to ‘write the vision’ (Habakkuk 2:1-3). 

So, yes.  I can say that I know that I know (that I know, that I know) that God is real, He loves us, and He reveals to us His heart through His Holy Word.

Whether literal, figurative, a metaphor, or a combination of story ‘styles’, ALL of the Bible speaks God’s story of Creation and Redemption of His Creation.

Whether ten billion years, or 7000 years of earth history; whether a literal 7 days of creation, or a metaphorical 7 days of creation; whether or not human beings evolved from apes over millions and millions of years, there has to be a Source.   

I believe.
I KNOW.
That Source is the God of the Bible.

When you experience God "doing His God stuff" (as a friend of mine says often),  faith and belief transcend more and more to experiential knowledge.   It takes only a little faith to “Taste (for yourself) and see that the Lord is good.”  (Psalm 34:8)

We all likely experience Divine encounters from time to time. But without faith or belief, we are likely to never notice.

For those who believe and ‘enter in’, experiential evidence mounts up through encounters with Him over time.  Faith and belief , one holy moment at a time, become 'sight 'and experiential knowledge.  No one can UN-prove a believer’s precious, amazing, tender, life-changing encounters with a personal God. 

When believers share those experiences with others, each hearer has  a choice to make:  to believe them, or not.

But those personal encounters add KNOWLEDGE to faith. God is real. God is good. God is for us.

That is why I am saddened to read arguments against God, or Christ’s identity as God’s Son, against Scripture.  The most precious treasure we can possess, the pearl of great price, is right within every person's grasp.  And for whatever reason--maybe because of church hurt; maybe anger at God for harm done to them at some point, maybe those people who claim to be Christian but judge, criticize, and condemn with their words; maybe they've seen leaders use their Christianity to gain power and oppress others. It happens, and it grieves the heart of God. 

Less than genuine representatives of God in this world are a sad reality.  We ALL mess up. Some atrocities DO cause us to reason that if God exists, He would intervene .  The incomprehensible experiences that arise in this world--focusing on the 'thing' through our human understanding, is a rabbit-trail.  A smoke-screen. Click-bait.   Clicking on the human screw-ups to make a decision about God--that is the fatal error.

God is real, even though evidence is reserved for those who risk believing.
God is good, even though He is often poorly represented. 
And God is for us.

We all have a decision to make:
OPTION A: Choose Life. Choose Transcendence. Choose relationship with your wonderful Creator. Choose Jesus. (Why not? )
OR
OPTION B: Choose to believe in KNOWING scientific facts, but never KNOWING the Designer of it all.

1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became an adult I gave up childish ways.  For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then, face to face.  Now I KNOW in part; then I shall KNOW fully, even as I have been fully KNOWN.###
 
WORD STUDY

• Belief- an opinion or conviction; confidence in the existence of something without concrete proof

Gr: pistos/pisteo: assurance, belief, faith, fidelity, trustworthy, true
1 Timothy 4:10 “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who BELIEVE.
John 14:12b “Believe in God. Believe also in me.”
John 5:47 “You believe that God is One; you do well.  Even the demons believe and shudder”

• Faith-  complete trust or confidence in someone or something; strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than truth.

Gr: pistis: assurance, belief, specifically reliance on God’s faithfulness, on Christ for salvation, etc
Galatians 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
2 Cor 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

• Truth- the body of real things, events, and facts; sincerity in action, character and utterance.

Gr: Aletheia:  True, truly, truth verity
John 17:17  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Ephesians 4:15  Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head.
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own.

• Knowledge- facts, information, and skills acquired by experience or education

Gr: gnosis: Knowing, knowledge. Epignosis: recognition, full discernment
2 Peter 1:5-6  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self control.