Why I don't say "I believe"

I was recently writing a letter to one of my friends in which I wanted to talk about why I will continue to believe the message of the Bible. I struggled with this topic because I was tied to the phrase "I believe." I wrote things like "I believe the bible is the word of God," and "I believe that the bible has the answer for everything." These are certainly things that I believe, but they don't inherently cause me to continue to believe them. People stop believing in things all the time (Santa, the Tooth Fairy, etc). I wrestled with this problem with quite some time, until I decided to phrase my letter in a way that was true, but that made me very uncomfortable. I ended up telling my friend very simply that the Bible was the word of God whether or not I believed it, and that I am the type of person who acts upon things I know to be true.

It's interesting to me that Christians are so often uncomfortable with presenting the Bible as fact. I had another situation recently in which I was not courageous enough to talk about the bible in a way that really reflects what I know about it. As I was having a conversation with some colleagues, I said that I believed that there was only one "correct" religion. After I had written so plainly in my letter about the truth of the bible, it felt very disingenuous to call my relationship with the bible "belief." I used "believe" as mediating language to make my stance seem less exclusive instead of presenting biblical ideas as absolute guidelines that I follow.

You may be saying to yourself at this point: "You can't be 100% sure about the Bible or God or Jesus Christ, so really belief is the right word to use when discussing it."

In some ways I would agree with you, I suppose. I thought to myself several times that belief isn't necessarily an incorrect word, but then I thought about the surface of the sun.

I know the surface of the sun is very very hot. It is so hot, in fact, that I know that a person couldn't go there to find out exactly how hot it is. I don't know that anyone would disagree that the sun's surface is very hot, despite the fact that no one can go there to tell us for sure. There are several reasons that this is the case:

1. People smarter than us have assured us that the surface of the sun is hot.
2. We feel warmer in sunlight than out of sunlight
3. We see the other effects of the heat of the sun in the world around us
4. Other facts we know seem to support the idea that the sun is hot.

Without knowing 100% for certain that the surface of the sun is very very hot, we treat it as a fact. I have never heard anyone say "I am not going to go outside today because I believe that the sun is very hot." People say that they will not go outside because the sun is hot. Their confidence in what they know about the sun eliminates the need for a qualifying statement. Whether or not they "buy into" the idea of a hot sun makes no difference. The sun is hot andthat heat informs their actions.

The same sort of thing goes for God and the truth of the Bible. I don't have to qualify actions by citing my belief in different aspects of the Bible because I am assured that what I know about them is true. Many wise people who I respect very much have taught me that the God of the Bible is the true and living God. I feel the effects of prayer and the benefits of living a Christian life. Additionally, I see the Creator in the world around me (Romans 1:20). Everything I know points to a Creator, and things I know about the Bible show me its truth. My belief of disbelief is irrelevant. I act the way I do because of the absolute truth I have been exposed to.

I'm not sure what the practical ramifications of these ideas are, necessarily. Nor am I confident that I have fully explained everything I have to say on this topic. I don't think we should eliminate the word "believe" from our vocabulary, or refuse to acknowledge the faith we have as Christians. Faith is a fundamental part of my Christian walk.  However, if I understand the absolute truth of the Bible, I should not be afraid to treat its contents as facts. I think that's really what I'm getting at. Treating the Bible as a fact isn't the popular thing to do, and in modern society it can be scary to discuss anything as "absolute," but the message of the Bible is as true as the heat of the sun--and that's something that is worth standing up for.