The Art of Evolution

As you read this you will probably be making some kind of critique about what I've written.  That's okay - you should.  So I want to say up front that I'm going to be using a lot of generalizations.  I will be making comments about critics, very likely unfair comments about critics, so please think of this more like a movie where writer and director have to establish the personality of the characters in order for the story to develop with meaning.  Okay, are we ready?  Action...

Movie critics and Food critics tend to have a bad or even a mean reputation.  A new movie comes out or a new restaurant opens and the critics go on the attack much to the dispair of the director or actors or the chefs and owners.  But that's okay.  That's what they're supposed to do.  They are supposed to make some kind of judgement as to how "good" a movie or restaurant is.  You see, to watch a movie takes time and it's an investment on the viewer's part.  And, of course, enjoying a meal maybe even more so.  So the critics play an important role in helping you to decide whether you should spend your time and/or taste buds on something new.  The value of a restaurant or movie depends on how "good" it is.  I put "good" in quotes because, yeah, it's still kind of a personal thing.

Art critics, however, fall into a different category.  In general their job is not to decide how "good" a piece of art is, but rather how "real" it is.   Most art gets its value from being "real" - I guess that's why some very expensive art looks like it came from a kindergarten class - but again, the value of art is not how good it is but how real it is.  Okay, so I might be wrong about that, but really it seems to work like that.

So why the difference between art critics and other critics, like movie, food, or book critics?  Because it only takes a few seconds of your time to view a work of art.  So it's you who gets to judge how "good" it is on your own with very little investment on your part.  Don't like it? No problem! Just go on to the next piece of art.  Modern art tends to favor quick viewing.  Some older art has a lot more detail to look at, so you'd want to spend more time.  Those older masterpieces were kind of like the movies before movies were invented. "Where's Waldo?" being a modern exception.

However to buy a piece of art can get pretty scary.  There is typically a huge investment and you want to make sure that what you are buying is really worth the money.  And that piece of art gets its worth from the Artist not so much the Art.  Pay attention, please!  That's really important, so I'll repeat it.  The piece of art gets its value and worth from the Artist.

Now what's all this have to do with evolution?  I personally don't believe in the theory of evolution.  The Bible clearly states that God created the universe, all that we see, in six days.  Also, the evidence that evolutionists try to use to support their theory, actually disproves that theory and supports God's creative work of art.

Okay, so what's all this have to do with the false theory of evolution?  A good art critic can not only determine whether a work of art is actually created by a particular artist, but they can tell you when the artist worked on it.  Was it the "Blue Period" or the "Block Phase"?  Was it early in the artist's career or one of their final pieces?  You see, they can notice the evolution that takes place in the art throughout the artist's lifetime.  So they notice all the little changes and the differences between each piece of art, some of which can be major.  

Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying, "Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."  He was trying hard to not evolve.

But an art critic's most important job is to tell you whether a particular work of art was actually created by a particular artist.  They have to find the similarities - not the differences.  They have to find the personality and the character in the art.  They can see the Artist in the Art!  It's amazing!

I dare you now to be an art critic of the most beautiful, the most famous and the most critiqued work of art ever viewed by humankind - The world around you.  The most amazing creation.  The most valuable work ever to flow from an artist's brush.  So many peculiar people, crazy creatures and wonderful wildlife.  It's definitely one of the older masterpieces.  You can spend years searching out all the little details.

It's actually a collage of many smaller works of art.  Each individual person is definitely a unique piece of art.  All the different animals and plants are so varied.  Pablo Picasso is also quoted "God is really only another artist.  He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat.  He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things."  Ha!  

The problem is that almost every evolutionist would disagree with Picasso.  Not that God is another artist, but that He has no style.  You see, they constantly get tripped up on all the similarities among the species.  Evolution sounds like it's based on the differences in species, but rather, it's really based on the similarities.  If there were no similarities, there never would have been a theory of evolution.  Think about it.  

So God definitely has a style and every evolutionist can see it.  They just don't seem to be able to see the Artist.  Apparently evolutionists are not very good art critics.

I dared you to be an art critic.  Can you see the Artist?

Who ya foolin'

I once read an article titled "Who's fool are you?"  Great article about how we all follow some belief or doctrine.  It started out with the verse I Corinthians 4:10, "We are fools for Christ's sake" and explained that it meant that we might look like fools following Jesus.  And it's true in many ways.  Christian belief is very different from typical culture or human character.  Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you.  If that doesn't make you look foolish, then maybe try expecting the meek to win out in the end. 

Fortunately for many of us, we've grown up in pro-Christian cultures and the concepts of love and humility will now typically inspire honor.  In many cultures it was pride and dominance, power and plenty that inspired honor.  And that still remains even in pro-Christian cultures.  It's hard to get away from that pride.

The article went on to say, that if you weren't a fool for Christ, then the only alternative was to be fooled by the devil.  Since Christ leads us with the truth, to not follow Christ means to not follow the truth.  The devil is the father of lies, so you'd just end up following him, which would be very foolish.  So, who's fool are you?  Obviously the article went into a lot more details about following Jesus and what the alternative means, but that's the gist of it.

But why would we want to follow anything?  Do we need to follow?  Can't we just lead our own lives and be done with it?

I don't think you can get the right answers by asking those questions.  Seems strange but I really believe that some questions just don't lead to real answers.  "Are we there yet?"  "Why does Tommy always get the bigger piece?"  A big part of advanced math is finding the right Questions, the right formulas to get the already known answers.

I think the better questions would be:  What do we want?  What do we want out of life?  What do we want after death?

Trying to answer the questions about "following" probably won't give you the same answers as the questions about our true inner desires.  The questions on "following" will lead you to defend your pride, to compare yourself with others, to judge others.  Ultimately leading to answers that are all about you and your pride versus everyone else.  Not good answers at all!

Asking questions about what you desire in life may also sound selfish.  And it's true, that if you are an extremely proud person, your answers might also maintain a lot of pride.  You can try to fool yourself into believing that you desire certain things.  A very proud person is simply fooled by his or her pride. A very selfish person is simply fooled by their selfishness.  So the trick is to try to answer those questions as honestly and humbly as possible.  What do you really really want from life?

If you are truly honest with yourself I believe your answers will draw very close to just about everyone else that's ever lived on this planet.  We all want to be loved and respected.

You can see where that might be slanted somehow into believing that we all want the world to revolve around ourselves, but that's not the case. Well, okay, yes, that is the case...  Too many people do slant it.  And it is probably the type of answer that many people would give.  That's the problem!  They are so close to the truth, but they've been fooled into believing a slanted view of the truth.  So close, yet so far!  It almost fulfills the desire to be loved and respected.  Almost, but not quite.

So, in the end, what we all really really want is to be loved and respected.  And if we are honest with ourselves we will be able to see that.

And now we have the correct answers to the questions about "following" and "leading our own lives."  How's that? 

Well, why would we ever want to follow anything.  If it just happens to be the only way to be truly loved and respected.  Then of course we would want to follow it.  Why not?

Do we really need to follow?  It depends on what you mean by follow.  The truth is the truth whether you believe it, follow it, or not.  To follow the truth will actually set you free.  Doesn't sound exactly like following. 

It just turns out that where ever you go, your nose will be leading you there.  In other words, you will always and forever be following something! Even if you refuse to follow, you'd just be following some belief that you must refuse to follow!  Now that's really foolish! ha!  So the answer is simple.  Yes, you need to follow.  You have no choice in that matter.  You have to follow something.  You do, however, have a choice about what to follow.

Now, what about leading your own life?  Well that would by definition be the same as following yourself.  Think about it.  Do you really think that you, of all people, know the best way to go?  Maybe you do, maybe you don't.  So let's just for the sake of argument consider that you do just happen to know the best way to go.  Wow!  You're pretty awesome to say the least!  I think it's time now to pat yourself on the back. 

So if you know the best way to go, where did you learn that?  Did you always know that?  Have you ever changed your mind about what you think is the best way to go?  It's beginning to look a little suspicious right now...  It's beginning to look like you are just following something you learned.  Was it all by your own experimentation and experience?  or did you pick up knowledge from other people, too?  And your experience, did it not include other people?

So, in the end, trying to lead our own lives is really just following what we believe.  And so, again, by definition, any following of any doctrine is the same as leading our own lives.  There is no difference.  We always make the choice about what we will follow.

Now, does what you are following provide you with your deepest desire to be loved and respected?  And if people do love and respect you, do you believe they should?

Jesus taught us that He loves and respects each of us.  And that we should love and respect others. 

He didn't say anything about striving to be loved and respected.  I guess I was wrong!  What a fool I am!  So while it may be true that we all desire to be loved and respected, the only way to fulfill that, the only way to be loved and respected is to love and respect others! That's what we should desire the most. To love and respect others. 

Not sure I can understand all that, but if Jesus says it's so, then it's true.  It may seem foolish to follow, but it's still the truth. And the truth will set us free.

So, who's fool are you?

I am, therefore I think... sometimes not

"Cogito ergo sum" is Latin for something like "I think, therefore I am" expressed by René Descartes.

There's been a lot of discussion about that phrase. Probably too much. One argument by Søren Kierkegaard is that the phrase is not logically sound because it relates the "am" to the "think" without any proof. I think he just missed the whole meaning. That if "YOU" can relate to the "I" then "YOU" exist. One simple way to relate to the "I" is to think, therefore if I think, then I exist, that something that thinks has to exist!

When Moses asked God what His name was, God replied: "I am" - He didn't even need to say anything about thinking. He knew already! Ha!

Anyway that's not what I really want to write about.

In Genesis it says that God made man in His image. This has been thought about and discussed ever since then. How are we created in God's image? Chances are he's not fat or bald like some of us. Or even tall and skinny like others. So it's not what we look like. Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." And God said His name was "I am" so maybe it's because we can think. Many have said it's because we can love. I like that one.

But there's a lot of opinion that animals think and have the capability of love and that they would then have to have been made in the image of God as well. Maybe they have been. The Bible doesn't specifically say they haven't - we just sort of imply that because God said it about us. There are also verses that say that God is Love (Check out 1 John 4:8) and other verses that say that God is "in" everything and can be seen in everything. So maybe animals can love and it's because of God.

I've heard that many believers in God don't believe that animals "go to Heaven" or won't be in the Heavenly Kingdom. Revelation 19:11 says: "Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse!" I thinks it pretty clear that there are animals in Heaven.

But that brings us back to the "made in God's image" statement. The Bible is meant to be read and understood and followed. I don't think God intended to trick us with the statement. I think He wanted us to realize that we are different, that we are like Him in ways that the animal kingdom is not. But in what way?

In the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 11, in the King James Version of the Bible, it says:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 

I think that is the clue. We have eternity in our heart. We can think about eternity. We can ponder life after death. We can relate to God and worship Him as God. I think that's what makes us different.

We love Him because He first loved us, but I expect animals (at least Godly ones) would love Him as well. What makes us different is that we can understand that He is God, Eternal. I would not expect animals to be able to understand that. They might recognize His authority, much like a child will recognize their mother. But they cannot understand or comprehend its significance. And I don't really think animals concern themselves with eternity, with the afterlife. We are definitely different than any other creature.

So we can ponder eternity and that makes us like God. It does not make us as smart as God, though. That's clear from the rest of the verse: "yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Fathom means to understand in depth. So it says no one can truly understand what God has done from beginning to end. No one, not even Stephen Hawking, can understand how God created the beginning of time.

Nor can we truly understand where we are headed. In fact, none of us actually really truly knows where we are! Or what we are like.

I do that all the time. I think I'm doing okay, being nice and all, but it turns out that some people just think I'm a jerk or something. We can't both be right. And since I'm the jerk I get to assume that I'm the one that's right... ha! And yet, I can ponder eternity and I can worship God because I have been created in God's image. It's amazing! I am so thankful for God's love and mercy. I'm guessing that I give Him a chance to put His mercy into practice just about every day. I have a feeling we all do.

I'm also glad that he didn't put eternity in our hearts just to tease us. He plans on taking us there some day, some how. Or maybe because it's eternal it's more like we'll always be on that journey there. I don't know. I don't really understand. But He does. And He's promised to take us there. In John chapter 14, Jesus promises us:

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

The Ultimate Spectator Sport

No, I'm not really going to talk about sports. Sorry.

I was just thinking and praying about how the Lord lets us go through so many problems. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" That's Psalm 34:19. And that's for the "righteous" - you can imagine how bad it must be for us sinners! Phew! Is it getting hot in here? Well, Okay, we are the "righteous" because we've received God's righteousness through Christ, through receiving His gift of salvation. So, yeah, the verse does apply to us. And, yeah, some of us do go through a lot of problems. Seriously I don't know why some seem to get more problems and afflictions than others, but I'm sure there's a special plan for each of us, specially tailored to work God's will in our lives.

Which brings us to the second part of that verse: "but the Lord delivers him out of them all." This is the exciting part. When afflictions and problems hit us we usually can only see the first part of the verse, especially the word "many" really hangs in there and bothers us. At least that's my usual reaction. But what we're supposed to be thinking about is the second part of the verse. And we're supposed to be thinking about three words in particular: "Lord", "delivers" and that very special word: "all".

The word "all" is so cool. Really think about it! That means everything, every single little thing, every major problem, every stinking difficulty, everything that afflicts you in some way. Of course, if you're like me, you're probably your own worst enemy, so, yeah, that can also mean delivering you from yourself. Ah... well... Sorry, I didn't mean to mess up the coolness of the word "all" - but, you know, it really would be nice to be delivered from our own sins. So, yeah, it's still cool! Actually, the more I think about it, that's even better!

However, I'm still missing something. I guess I'm missing the real point of that verse. It's the word "Lord" that really makes the difference. We can be delivered. We can be righteous. We can be saved and victorious. But for what? What is salvation anyway? It's being close to God! That's what it is. Not close to Him, like "Look at me! I'm standing next to God! I'm so great!" No, more like "Wow, God, You really do love me! In spite of myself! You're so cool!" That kind of closeness. That's salvation. That's heaven.

So when we get afflictions and problems we really should be looking to the Lord and getting closer to Him through them. Again, closer in love and thankfulness, not necessarily closer in goodness or our own righteousness. That won't really work.

That means that Christianity is like the most ultimate Spectator Sport ever!

We're supposed to be watching what God does in our lives! If we keep looking we will not be disappointed! King David said in Psalm 27, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." He expected to see the Lord do something! He expected Him to come through for him with whatever it took to deliver him, to see the "goodness" of God.

"What about all those Christians in the arena during the Roman persecutions?! It was the Romans who were the spectators! Not the Christians!" Hold on, I've got an answer for that... "And do you mean we are not supposed to do anything about our Christianity?! We're supposed to just sit around waiting and watching?!"

No! I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. Let me explain. During those persecutions, what was the greatest event that happened for each and everyone that suffered? Was it that they suffered? That's what the Romans were watching. Or was it that God came and took them and brought them to heaven with great rewards? That's what only the Christians saw! They saw the Glory of God! They were the real spectators in that arena. They were the only ones who really saw the winning goal!

But they did need to be in the arena to see it. So it's more like an Interactive Spectator Sport! Sort of like Gaming on your favorite console, only better.

The second part of the verse, "but the Lord delivers him out of them all" doesn't really have any significance without the first part, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" - We need some battles, afflictions, challenges to be able to partake of this amazing spectator sport. Without them we'd miss the greatest show on earth (and in heaven).

Of course, it's more than just watching God do His work. It's being a part of His work, being close to Him, learning about Him, even becoming more like Him day by day. He's wants us to partake of this sport, not to show how great He is, but to show us how much He loves us. How great He thinks we are!

He also wants to share His kingdom with us. How can He do that? By letting us be a part of His work, by working through us in the lives of others, by being Him in this world. Being Him means letting His light and love flow through us. It's not that we become so great and mighty. If that were possible then people would be seeing us and not Him. It's actually a good thing we are such a mess. Then there's no confusion. Anything good we end up doing has to be God and not us.

So you got problems? Big problems? Be there. And watch.

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Exodus 14:14

Impress Me!

You've seen it in the movies. The hero asks what they are supposed to do for some important critic, client or employer. "Impress me!" Most of the time it seems to me that the person saying "Impress me" is really not expecting to get too impressed. They think too highly of themselves and their abilities and sort of hope the hero will at least try to get close.

There are other times, though, that they really do want and expect the hero to truly impress them. When that happens, if I were the hero, then I'd really want to do my best. It would be a pleasure! I guess I really like to be impressive! ha! Maybe it's low self-esteem, maybe it's because I got positive feedback from my parents and teachers when I did something good.

Yeah, I really like to impress people, even though I'm not so good at it. I like to blame it on being human, but I might just be more human than others since I often offend people trying to impress them. They don't really want to be impressed by me. I think maybe they are thinking about how much they can impress me, instead. Or maybe they are actually just really that humble and nice and not impressed by my impression. Oh well.

Anyway, I've got boys. Some are getting a little old now and are actually men and not boys. But they are still and will always be my sons. They will always have my love and my desire to be loved by them. And I was thinking that they are actually the few people that I don't really want to impress that much. What I want is for them to know that they've impressed me!  Kind of strange for me, I know! But it's true. I really want them to enjoy that fulfillment and personal worth. I think contentment has those ingredients in a big measure.

Of course, they don't really have to impress me with anything. I'm already impressed by them, by them being themselves. They amaze me sometimes and I mean in a good way. They've amazed me in some not so good ways a few times, but that's just part of growing up. They're human, too. But they still impress me, so, actually, I'm not really looking for and hoping that they will do something outstanding and suddenly impress me with their greatness. What I'm really looking for is for them to know and realize that I'm already impressed. That their worthiness to me is already integrated into the love that I have for them. I want them to know that I think they are great!

So, I guess I just need to keep telling them that, right? I'm going to keep trying to remember to tell them as much as possible - without sounding too crazy, of course.

Then I got to thinking (can be dangerous at times). I got to thinking that maybe that's how God feels with us, His children. Maybe He's not really trying to test us to see if we'll stay faithful to Him and keep all the rules and whatever else He can think of so that we can get into Heaven. Maybe He is, but, maybe, just maybe, He's really trying to get across to us how much we already impress Him. How much He really loves us and enjoys us the way we are.

Of course, I know for my part, I've got a lot weaknesses and failings and have really messed things up a lot! Could He really still be impressed with me? Could His love really cover all my mistakes? Could He really be more interested in me growing into a fulfilled person, knowing that He loves me without condition?

That does sound like a Mighty Loving God to me! He really did go way out of His way to prove it! He came to earth as a small child, loved everyone and finally went to the cross for each and everyone of us! It doesn't seem that far-fetched that He would really just want us to love Him and to enjoy His love for us.

What about all my mistakes and the things I've messed up so much? Well, He can fix those things easily! He's God! I know if one of my boys breaks a glass while doing the dishes, I'm much more interested in his safety than in the broken glass. Makes sense. But even if my boys have a fight and hurt each other, I'm more interested in helping each to resolve the conflict and to learn from it than I am in punishing them or negating their worth to me. I mean I do get angry, but ultimately I'm interested in them growing and maturing from any situation.

So, maybe God really is more interested in letting us know that He's already impressed by us. It would definitely make it more of a pleasure to, in turn, please Him more.

And maybe He's not trying to impress us so much with His greatness. It would help explain why the world is such a mess. Why He doesn't just come in, fix everything, make everything right and really really impress us all!  I'd say there are a lot of people in this world who are not so impressed with God. Some are even angry at Him. And some refuse to believe in Him, because they just haven't been impressed by Him yet!

Maybe it really is all about us! Maybe God is much more interested in us and our world than in Himself and His greatness. He left the Halls of Heaven and all that to die for us! I think it should be pretty clear!!

When Jesus was first baptized by John the baptist, God said from the heavens, "My Son, in Whom I am well pleased!" Now, it's true that Jesus had been pretty great up to this point in His life, but really, it wasn't until after this that He did the greatest things. Healing so many people, doing miracles, teaching us about God's love for us and finally proving it by dying on the cross as payment for our sins. God, the father, points out that before even doing any of those greatest things that He was already impressed with His Son.

And when we get to Heaven we are all hoping to hear the Lord say, "Well done, faithful one. I'm impressed! Enter now into this joy of knowing that I love you!" Maybe we shouldn't wait! Maybe we should enter it now and take pleasure in pleasing Him more!

Maybe He's saying to you right now: "Impress Me!" but with a smile and a twinkle in His eye, you know that He has already been impressed and just wants you to know how much He loves you! Really loves you!

And how do we continue to impress Him? Well, just help everyone else to know how much God is impressed with them.  And then let them know how much you are impressed with them!

Impress me?  You already have!

Legos are cool

I really like Legos. They are cool. You can spend hours building things and creating the latest greatest super cool 7 wheeled interspace dune buggie shuttle. And then play with it as your own very specialized toy that no one else in the whole wide world has - just you. Now that's cool. Of course, my kids like them even better than I do. It's a shame that I don't play with them as often as I would like - adults just don't get as much time as kids do. I don't know why. It looks like the same 24 hours, but for some reason it doesn't last as long for big people. Oh well.

Anyway, I was praying the other day and the Lord showed me how studying the Bible and memorizing important verses and promises was like playing with Legos. Ya, really! Okay, well, actually it wasn't about playing with the Legos so much as to the fact that you don't just use Legos for a day and then throw them away. You keep them so you can use them again another day. At least you should. If you've been throwing them away you're really missing out on the best part: the fact that the same Legos can be used over and over, day after day, and still seem just like new toys! Stop throwing them away, okay?

Now what does that have to do with the Bible? Well, you can read a passage from the Bible and be spiritually uplifted. It feeds your spirit and you actually grow spiritually. Often as you read, a particular verse or two will stand out as being especially meaningful and helpful. Just what you needed! Like a key that unlocks that door you've been banging your head on for days trying to get through. The Bible works! God's Word and Guidance have all the answers! So you read them and apply them once and then just forget them, right? I hope not! You really don't want to lose those important keys. It's amazing how many times we have to go through the same door that always seems to lock itself. We need those keys again and again.

Also, often when you pray the Lord will remind you of what you have read in the Bible and other spiritually uplifting reading. And as you go through you day, you'll often remember these lessons learned and they help you make it to the next step. They will be the keys to unlock that door again and many times will even unlock other doors that looked different but apparently were very similiar.

And the Legos? Well we keep all our Legos in big boxes under the kids' beds. And when we need them we just pull out those boxes and dig in to find just the piece we need to add in that extra doorway or window on the three story super duper space galactic dune buggie garage and repair shop. That's what we need to do with our special key Bible verses. We need to store them in big boxes under the bed - no, I mean, we need to memorize them and keep them in the big box that sits on our shoulders. That way they will always be there to help us when we need them.

You do have to take them out often and dust them off or else you will forget them. So be sure to spend time both memorizing verses and reviewing verses that you've already memorized. Don't want all that work spent memorizing to go down the drain.

Also, please don't just wait until you find key verses and promises as you read and study God's Word. You can find lists of very special verses that others have already tried and proven to be effective. You can check out this site, https://www.gotpromise.com/promises.  It has a whole lot of verses.

So, how many Legos do you have?

You can Believe without Seeing, but you cannot Believe without Knowing

I've been thinking about how the meaning of words often change with time. Cool, hot, bad, super, dynamite, wicked, groovy (anyone remember groovy?) - those words are the kind that change a lot and we expect that. If you're an adult then you're not supposed to understand teenagers. And if you're a teenager then you must never get caught sounding like an adult. That's pretty basic. We know that. 

The problem arises when words that "are not supposed to change meaning" do. Words like Faith, Believe, Love.

Love is way too complex for me to deal with right now, and faith is another really deep word. Let's try "believe" - that seems simple enough. I believe this and you believe that and they believe whatever... That should be pretty clear what we mean. But in reality it isn't. You just believe it's clear - ha!

The problem is that often in today's world the word "believe" means something like: "I consider that it may be true, and most likely it is, at least as far as I understand the various facts and proofs that I have available. (but I think I could be wrong... maybe...)" - And for some it's more like: "I heard it on the news and everyone else believes it, so it must be true." ah - yeah - hmmm.

But believing should really run along the lines of "Knowing" - of being positive and basing your life and actions on the "fact" of what you believe. You may be wrong, but as far as you are concerned, you "know the facts" and you accept the belief as not requiring proof.

Ouch! Did I just say that believing could involve not requiring proof! That's unheard of in this scientific age. Everything has to be proven true or else it's a lie! (Except, of course, evolution - that's absolutely impossible to prove true and yet it's taught as a fact - a very strange situation...) Only children would ever believe without evidence!

Well - that's my point. Children believe. Adults often just consider the possibility of the veracity of some doctrine. Big difference.

Now don't get me wrong. Evidence and facts have real value. In fact, it's human nature to accept as true the first side of any argument that one learns and then defend it against all odds and evidence to the contrary. That can have disastrous results like believing that the world is flat or that low-fat food is healthy and dietetic even if it's loaded with sugars and preservatives. So there is a time to consider the evidence. Just be sure it's real evidence and not some contrived facts and figures. And that it's enough evidence to support or maybe counter what you believe.

Actually, the most important thing is to find the evidence of what you do believe. Is there any? You should be able to find some. If not, then maybe it's time to consider the alternatives.

Well all that to say that believing is knowing. It's not just a consideration of the facts or even just hoping something's true. That's the point - don't say you believe if you just "think" it's true. Say you believe if you "know" it's true. Children believe.

Now why is that important to distinguish between considering the truth and believing the truth? Well if you just consider something true it will never really change you! You will always have some part of your mind and heart in reserve, just in case you were wrong. You need to believe to be changed by the truth! To truly know. Then you start living your life based on that knowledge.

So search for the truth and study it until you truly believe it as unquestionable fact. The truth will then set you free from all the other alternatives.

The Apostle Paul once wrote to a young Christian named Timothy and told him, "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

And Jesus, Himself, said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." That's a promise.