Hi Bill here, 223 nationalities, and today we are answering the question,

‘How do you know?’ 

 How do you know, how do you know?

 Have you seen me on the street or around in the car or in the cafe sometimes talking with people? Sometimes they say to me, “Yeah, but how do you know?”

 You know, Life can seem pretty black and white,  Yes and no, knowledge, no knowledge, up and down, life and death, love and hate, positive and negative. 

So how do you know? How do you know that God is real? How do you know anything? 

Rene Descartes , wasn’t it he in the 17th century coined that phrase,” I think, therefore, I am,” in response to the Sceptics who said, you can never really know with certainty about anything. 

In the Latin, it’s cogito ergo sum, or in English pronunciation of that, people go, kogito ergo sum, it sounds a little different but still means the same thing. I think therefore I am, or if you’re in French, you would go, je pense, dons je suis ..I think therefore I am , my French is not so brilliant, but that’s what it sounds like, roughly. 

I think..So it must be possible for someone to be able to have some absolute knowledge, I think, therefore I am. We do tests, we do tests in science, looking at the results don’t we, do testings and then we talk about the high probability. Well, when it comes to things about God, maybe there’s a little bit of testing that needs to go on there as well.

 Jesus said, if any man will do my words or hear my words and do them, my father and I will come and make our abode with him and sup with him. And it seems to me that the challenge is there, for those that want the challenge or accept the challenge to find out.

We talk about, ‘oh, I’m an agnostic.’ Where do we get the word agnostic from? 

Well, the word agnostic comes from the Greek Gnosis’, we get the word GNOSTIC, which is to do with knowledge. But to make it a negative, you just stick an ‘A’ infront of it, and you’ve got agnostic. So I don’t have the knowledge, I’re not too sure about things. 

It’s the same with another word that people use from Greek -Theist, a person who believes in God. And of course, to put it into the negative, simply add an A… atheist…. you can do it with a lot of Greek words …bang an A in front of it and it goes from a positive word into a negative word.

 But the journey between the two, the journey between the two letters in the the word e.g. Atheist , A to T?

There’s a gap, a space, there too with Agnostic. There’s a gap there between the A and the G. 

 And there’s a journey between positive and negative, between black and white, between yes and no, between life and death, between love and hate, there’s a relationship and a journey. It’s whether or not you’re willing to take that journey. So people ask me honestly and say, ‘But how do you know?’

I simply say, well, if you read the words of Jesus, especially John’s Gospel, have a read at John’s Gospel, and if you do the things that Jesus says, or in any of the gospels, if you do the things that Jesus says, Jesus said, I and my Father will come and make our abode with you. 

It’s not just like, as in the psychological or the experiential sense. You know if you do something, and therefore you have a working knowledge of it. When it comes to God, when it comes to things about God and you do the things that Jesus said, it’s not just you have a working knowledge of the things Jesus says, you have not just experience, BUT the personal revelation of another person, as in God, will visit with you.

WOW!That’s massive.

 But that’s going from like the negative to the positive pole. It’s making that journey. It’s having  taken that test. 

And so if you’re honest asking the question,

“How do you know?”

Take the test, do the things that Jesus says, and see what happens. 

It’ll be more than just a psychological awareness. There will be a spiritual revelation and a divine visitation. You’ll hear and know the very voice and the presence of God. 

God bless you, 223 nationalities.

 God said he loved the world that he gave his own because he LOVES all 223 nationalities. 

Have a great week.

Hey, I’m getting married in two days. 

WOW… that’s going to be big, isn’t it? 

That’s a transition in itself, isn’t it?

 You’re going from single to getting married. That doesn’t happen overnight, does it, yeah? 

It takes a few months to get there.

 Going from being a widower to being married? So that’s a journey.

Anyway, next time I blog, I’ll probably be married. What do you think about that, then?

 Agnostic to Gnostic. There you go. Atheist to atheist. Unbeliever to believer, single to married. It’s a journey. 

In Jesus’ name I invite you : “Take the test.”