HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW?

How do we know what we know?  I’ll try to avoid being too philosophical, but in order to know God, in order to practice the science of God, this is an important question, so here goes:  I know it is a clear day with sun and clouds as I look out the window of my office.  We have had a string of cloudy and cold late winter days in a row, so the clear weather is a refreshing change.  I’m sure none of you reading this statement doubt what I have said about the weather, but if you do it is easy to check a weather almanac (this observation was made in Strongsville, Ohio at 11:41 on Monday, February 25, 2013).  Easy enough when it comes to the weather, but how do we gain knowledge about God?  He, Himself, is of course the best source, but can we actually come to know the eternal God?  Yes.  I would contend that God is knowable, a personal being, much like us – the Bible states that we were made in His image,

I fell in love with my wife Barbara in July of 1964, but I really did not know her very well.  Now, more than forty years later I can say that I know her better than anyone else on this earth.  How did I gain that knowledge – by firsthand experience that came from constant observation, interaction, and conversation,  Through the birth and raising of four children, through all the trials and joys of life, through career changes, through financial ups and downs, through all that life brought our way over more than four decades together I have grown in my knowledge of Barb.  It is her person that it has taken a life time to come to know.  The color of her eyes and hair, her height and features can be known in a moment, but I didn't fall in love with them, I fell in love with her person, and it is the person of Barb that I have desired to know. 

The person of God can be known in much the same way.  I stated in an earlier entry entitled An Affair of the Heart that “Spiritual awakenings remain a mystery to me… God approaches us, we respond, and our hearts are engaged with his.”  It begins with an awareness that God exists, and His invitation that is extended to us to know Him.  He reveals Himself to us much like Barb over time revealed more of her inner person to me.  The knowledge of God begins with an awakening, and it grows as we pursue Him, and live our lives interactively with Him.  This is the science of God.  Books about God cannot give us this knowledge.  Practicing the science of God involves ongoing, up close, and personal interaction with Him.