I often think about the things I believe and why I believe them. We all have some kind of belief system. Even if it’s a decision not to have any beliefs. That’s still a belief system. And these things govern our worldview.
The aspect of our beliefs that is interesting to me is in examining the origination of those beliefs. Because we all have beliefs, but we don’t often examine where we got that belief. I’m not just talking about religious beliefs either. We have things we have come to believe about morality, finances, emotions, etc. What I wonder is, “How many of those beliefs and belief systems stand up under scrutiny?” For many of us, we may not know, because they’ve never had to stand up under scrutiny. Those beliefs have never been challenged.
Let me put this in a context we all can understand. When we think about some commonly held beliefs that have been proven wrong, we can just look at some examples in history. There was a point in history where it was widely believed that the Earth is the center of the Universe. This appeared to be correct through experience. And many scientists believed this to be true. This belief was developed in the 4th century B.C. However, in the 16th century this belief was proved to be wrong by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. They discovered that the planet, including Earth, actually orbit the Sun. So, up until that time many people had a false belief system on this. It just seemed like it was right, based on experience.
I agree, the above example provides a rather broad look into false beliefs. But what about some of the things we falsely believe individually, every day? Some of us have had bad experiences with certain types of people. Say, for instance, you have a couple bad experiences with two different Wal-Mart cashiers. These experiences really rubbed you the wrong way and stuck in your mind. So, now you come to conclude that all Wal-Mart cashiers are unpleasant. But is that true? Of course not. We know that some Wal-Mart cashiers can be pleasant. But it’s something we come to believe because the power of those experiences overrides what we know to be true.
Taking this further—without realizing it, many of our beliefs that govern our worldview can come from our early family experiences. We can come to false conclusions about people we don’t know based on the experiences we’ve had with the people we do know. We could have had bad experiences with certain family members. We may have had trouble connecting with our mother, harsh relationships with siblings, or a bad relationship with our father. We can easily carry these experiences throughout our lives and allow them to affect how we interact with others. But we can’t allow these experiences to dictate how we see people for the rest of our lives. We need to realize that those were just experiences. They weren’t necessarily true of everyone.
I believe many people come to the wrong conclusions about God based on their experiences with people. We have been disappointed by people. So, we believe that God is the same way. But we should start from the belief that God is good.
AV Numbers 23:19: “God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Although we have had experiences with people lying to us in the past, we shouldn’t ascribe that quality to God. We need to know that God is faithful and that He is faithful to watch over His promises to us. This is the confidence we have in God.
AV Psalms 34:8: “O taste and see that the LORD [is] good: blessed [is] the man [that] trusteth in him.” God wants us to give Him the opportunity to prove His goodness to us. I believe we so often underestimate the goodness of God. We’ve allowed our past experiences to taint our view of Him and who He is. Past experiences can be good when they confirm that which is true. But when they are contradicting the truth, we need to challenge them.
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AV 1 Thessalonians 5:21: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” The Bible even tells us to challenge things we believe. We don’t need to have a blind faith. We have reasons to believe what we believe. This should also give us confidence in what we believe. Then once we learn and know that which is true we need to hold on to it. We need to have a strong grasp of the truth and then not let go of it. Hold on to it with all you’ve got. Because the truth is one of the most important things. When we know the truth it makes us free.
AV 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The Bible declares its own truth about itself. When we align our lives with its truth, we are changed and transformed in ways of righteousness and equipped for good works. And that’s the power of not allowing our experiences to dictate our theology, but allowing our theology to dictate our experience.
AV Numbers 23:19: “God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
AV Psalms 34:8: “O taste and see that the LORD [is] good: blessed [is] the man [that] trusteth in him.”
AV 1 Thessalonians 5:21: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
AV 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”