Is belief the same as fact?

A belief can be an opinion or conviction: for instance I believe that the earth is flat. It can also mean a confidence; faith; trust: such as a child's belief in his parents. We can believe that something is true. We can have faith that it is true. This does not necessarily make it true.

A fact is something known to exist or to have happened; for instance Boston is a city in Massachusetts. There are many things that are facts. The problem we run into is when we believe something is a fact just because we saw it written on some web page or in some book or newspaper.  The current trend is to accept what a person says in a BLOG as being true. We don’t stop to check the facts.

Our beliefs, if based on fact are true, but we often believe things that are not based on fact. We want to believe something is true because it is what we want or because of some incorrect view we have. I could believe that I am a pathetic excuse for humanity. That would not make it true. This is what people in Alcoholics Anonymous call “stinking thinking.” I am not thinking correctly based on the facts. I have an incorrect view about myself.

So how do we know what we think about ourselves is a fact or just stinking thinking? If we are Christians then the bible gives us some guidelines. It says that I am set free in John 8:31-33 and I am chosen in Ephesians 1:4 and I am beloved of God in Romans 1:7. None of this is because of what we do, but because of what God has done. Our belief in what God has done changes us. In Philippians 1:6 it says that I am being changed into the image of Christ. I am not doing the changing, God is.

When we rely on people in our families, schools, churches or on our friends for our opinions of ourselves we will always see ourselves through a cloudy lens. No matter how well intentioned they are, they cannot see the real me. Only God can see into our hearts. So what do you use to decide what to believe about yourself?