11-10-25<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is knowledge and there is belief. If we are humble enough we believe what we know, and that we don\u2019t know everything. And people should \u2013 but many do not \u2013 know what they believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of us actually are aggressive about their lack of beliefs. When Jesus, on the cross, asked His Heavenly Father to forgive the tormentors and executioners \u201cfor they know<\/em> not what they do,\u201d the Romans and the Jews actively sought His blood. But today there are people who are indifferent about their beliefs: which translates to not having core principles. Can such a thing be? You better believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In contemporary America, society\u2019s standards certainly have been lowered from previous times, and a swath of the population is content about that… or, again, indifferent about the consequences. No standards of right and wrong in society, or for themselves. The virtual absence of standards results from the lack of basic convictions, and of selfishness and self-indulgence. The lack of self-respect, diminished morals, indifference to others\u2019 concerns, and (let us say essentially) the loss of faith, complete the ugly picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to \u201cknowledge.\u201d Does the accumulation of knowledge, of accessible facts, replace beliefs? Surely it does in the sense that \u201cnature abhors a vacuum,\u201d however as magpies acquire random shiny objects to pile in their nests, newly formed or discernible facts are abstract and not pertinent to most of us. Scientific knowledge, we are told, doubles every five years; if that is a fact, it presumably advances civilization, but represents mysteries to most of us everyday folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was prompted to think about these things and share my thoughts (yes, I believe you can know that I have a point) because of Internet pop-ups and other news I have noticed lately. I realize that certain stories come my way because of algorithms. I discuss the Thanksgiving dinner with my wife, and the next day I receive posts advertising vacation packages to Turkey. This portends a New Paranoia that ought to be the subject of another blog essay, no?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the meantime, I open one site and others follow like ducks in a row. For the moment, the current e-onslaught is actually interesting to me. I will not promote the sites nor go into detail, but I have been learning (knowing? believing? at least my interest is piqued) \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have not cited news stories nor academic journals about such things; my purpose here is not to enroll any of you in Biology 101 again. Refer to Mr Google. But I have been impressed that many things we (humankind) \u201cknew\u201d or thought we knew\u2026 we should be intellectually humble about. Review the dogmatic assertions of history’s experts about the earth being the center of the solar system; the efficacy of bleeding sick patients; the wisdom of infant sacrifice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is baffling how people can be dogmatic about, say, the \u201cprehistoric eras\u201d and age of earth when few of them were around \u201cmillions\u201d of years ago as witnesses; but they fiercely refuse to accept tangible signs of a creator God\u2019s work and inspiration and signs and wonders; of fulfilled prophesies; of confirmed miracles. They will trust<\/em> bogus science and disgraced theories, but ridicule our counterpart: faith.<\/em> The definition of faith? — “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have a little method I rely on when I consider such questions or anomalies, contradictions, theories, dilemmas (let the world can take its pick) . I believe Jesus was God-in-the-flesh; He was sinless but sacrificed Himself as a means to assume the punishment for our sins and rebellion; that He rose from the dead to confirm His divinity. If Jesus believed in a six-day Creation; if He believed in Adam and Eve and the Flood and the prophets of old\u2026 who am I to contradict Him? When we rely upon \u201cfacts\u201d and knowledge to be the bases of our beliefs \u2013 instead of faith as a foundation of our worldviews \u2013 our standards, values, passions, loyalties, and actions are not reliable blueprints for living. Many facts and even scientific theories change; they have changed; they will change. God\u2019s Word is unchanging; His promises are everlasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cY\u2019know, God, I believe You, except for what that guy on TV said. No, not him; he admitted he was wrong. I mean the guy on Facebook last week\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
He knew because He was present in all those cases. If He was mistaken about those things of which He taught, He surely could not have been correct, about anything else<\/em>. He had knowledge and belief as well as trust and faith — all things that He desires us to embrace.
I believe the incarnate God. What else can I do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n