The Difference between Knowing and Believing

When people find out about my business, I get to have some very interesting conversations. Recently, I was having a conversation with a lady about what makes a religion more or less true.

At some point in our conversation, it came to the point where I asked her what she knew to be true. She replied saying something like, “We believe that…” I pointed out to her that I was not interested in what she or anyone else believed. I also pointed out that I was only concerned with what she knew based on her own personal experiences and perceptions (not on the affirmations of a bunch of people called “we”).

She said that I was splitting hairs and playing games with semantics with the distinctions I was making between believing and knowing. Actually, no I wasn’t.

Here’s an example of the difference between believing and knowing that you may appreciate:

When I talk about my relationship with my wife, I speak about what I know, not what I believe. I know my wife from our almost 20 year relationship. I know her because I live with her, talk with her everyday, love her, experience her love for me, play with her, make love to her, laugh with her, cry with her, make money with her, face challenges with her, create things with her, travel with her-you get the picture.

I know my wife. I don’t know her completely and totally, but we have a relationship where I have confidence in who we are to each other because of the depth and quality of our relationship. When I talk about my wife, I don’t say, “We believe that [such and such is true]…” I say things like, “My wife is [insert any wonderful adjective here]…”, “We are [insert pretty much any positive phrase here]…”, “She is so good at [this wonderful and important thing]…”, “I love the way she [does something good]…”

I don’t tell people that I believe that my wife is anything. Why would I talk about what I think or believe when I actually know her to the extent that I do?

If you can only talk to me about what you (or what you and a bunch of other people believe) about God, you don’t know God. [If what I just wrote upset you, you really need to get to know God better!] We don’t get upset and defensive about who and what we really know. When we are challenged (like I am challenging you right now), we only get upset when we are afraid that we are wrong (and conversely, that the annoying guy pushing our buttons is right!).

We don’t know what we don’t know. If I were to somehow “lose” my relationship with God (or my wife or son for that matter), I would know what I was missing. I would be significantly challenged if any of those relationships ended.

If you don’t know God to this extent right now, I suggest that you carve out some time every day to seek God with all of your heart. This way you will begin to know what you don’t know right now. You will begin to receive something that can never be taken away. When it comes to God, you will be able to speak of what and who you know instead of what you and other people think and believe. There’s a lot more power in knowing God than you can currently imagine.

Go and know God!

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