nakamichi680zx

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GrassHoppah: The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.

romansh

have faith, believe and know.... I have trouble telling the three apart.

have faith .... I use in a religious sense ... so I don't have any.
believe ... I use in the sense I have experience and I am comfortable with the lack of proof, eg the sun will come up tomorrow, ie the astronomers have got their sums right and the sun won't go supernova during the night.
know ..... laws of physics/chemistry etc I use on a day to day basis, I know are reliable predictors of the universe (a bit of an exaggeration) within the limitations they used.

now when it comes to god, I don't have quality evidence one way or the other ..... but if you could define god .... that may eliminate some possibilities! So in short, I don't have faith, know or believe.

Goodnight from the Kootenays

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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams

AB517

You have just shown that you have all three my friend.

Tomasz

Believing is taking something to be granted without evidence, while knowing is based on evidence.

Sometimes in actions one takes it's not important whether you believe or know since one behaves in both cases as if one knew.

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It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts - Sherlock Holmes

Eastspur

I would say there is no difference between believing and knowing when it comes to future tense. Even things that are based on science are not known. Science is based on experience and observations. Even though science is supported by experiments all you can ever know is "at this place and at this time this is what happened". Believing it will happen again because it happened 1 million times before is still not knowing.

Even in saying you know something happened to you, you are still believing that your memory is sound. So do you really ever know anything or is knowing an impossibility?

Eastspur

Here's another question...

I was assuming that knowing is absolute. Is it? or is knowing just a really strong belief.

shadowind

i would say knowing is a strong belief, we know things fall towards earth becuse it happens on a daily basis and we observe it over and over. other things we observe less so they seem less certain. i would say theres usally sometype of direct relationship between obserability/perception and "Knowing" although some things people say they "Know" when its just an unobservable strong belief that doesn't follow critical observation at times. which i would say isn't knowing.

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remember "for mere impulse of appetite is slavery, while obedience to a law which we prescirbe to oursleves is liberty"-rousseau: the concept of the general will "if we can not reconcile all opions, then let us endeavour to unite all hearts."-?"to be is to be perceived"-? "‘We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know’-Robert G. Ingersoll

romansh

So Tomasz
Do you know the sun will rise tomorrow or do you believe it will?
There is a lot of precedent that it will rise ..... but.....

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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams

nakamichi680zx

If boiling water scalded my hand, I know that it will do so again. I don't believe it. I lived it and I therefore know it.

Part of knowing is experiential.

However things which I do not experience personally, which are filtered through the media, or which I have no first hand knowledge, I will more than likely use the word believe.

From Ruby the Adventures of a Galactic Gumshoe, (a very smart play for the mind) they pose an interesting theory: "The media creates reality."

Other than personal experience, you almost have no choice but to believe what is fed to you via some form of the media. You can choose to trust the media and other people's opinions, but it would be hard to truly know for yourself, unless you live it up and close personally.

At some point, some of us make up our minds and use the word 'know' to replace the word 'believe' because we think we think that we've gathered enough evidence as proof of personal knowledge.

So what evidence do I have to live through to go from "I think there is no God." to "I know that there is (or is not) a God."?

I don't have the answers for myself yet, but I do know (heheheh ) that I've not had that key experience that has convinced me one way or another.

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GrassHoppah: The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.

Bjarki Dalsgarð

I know, things I have seen with with my own eyes, touched or heard (gossip and rumour not included) myself

I believe some things I hear.

Faith? no, I've lost faith in all its forms. But I am able to trust some instead.

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Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.

The bitternes of life may consume you, otherwise it teaches you how to live for real.