A computer does not know the information that it holds any more than a piece of paper knows what I write on it. Only a person has a mind. Only a person thinks thoughts. Only a person knows things. Therefore all knowledge is personal.
Thoughts are known by the will, not the mind alone. The will has influence over the mind. It tells the mind what it wants to know, and the mind does everything possible to achieve it.
Nevertheless, the will and mind depend on each other. The will knows nothing apart from the mind, and the mind makes no choices apart from the will.
Reason seems less personal than faith, because it pertains to things that are true regardless of how I feel about them while faith relates to the way I choose to value them. Reason points to something objective, outside of myself, that does not depend on my trust and acceptance. Logic does not ask for my approval.
Personal belief goes deeper than intellectual assent. It is not good enough to acknowledge something in my head if I don’t want to accept it in my heart. The demons know that God is one, and they shudder at the thought. James 2:19
We can discern between “head” knowledge and “heart” knowledge, but we cannot separate them as if they don’t relate. The two are one. Head knowledge is personal, and heart knowledge is intellectual.
The demons’ intellectual knowledge causes them to shudder. It has personal implications.
You cannot have a belief in your head uninfluenced by your heart. A belief in your head will affect your heart. If it does not affect your life, you do not truly believe it. The demons truly believe that God is one.
I noticed that the Bible never debates the existence of God. With all those pages I expected to find some debate, but instead it assumes that everyone knows. I can believe the Bible when it says that God makes himself known to everyone (Romans 1:19), or I can believe that some have not been told.
I don’t believe in athiests. I know that some people deny God’s existence, but I believe that they have a personal reason for denying him. They see a world of pain and suffering and refuse to believe that a good God would allow it. Nietzsche said, “The only excuse for God is that he doesn’t exist.”
We often debate things on the intellectual level that spring from personal conviction. A debate is a battle of minds, but the deeper battle is of the will.
Faith is the driving force in our lives. We develop our views by faith, not a neutral study of “facts.”
