Don't trust everything I say; I don't!

The infuriating thing is that I know that some of what I believe to be true is wrong.  And yet I only believe things which I believe to be right - otherwise I wouldn't believe them, would I?

But looking back, I've changed what I believe, sometimes quite radically, at various times in the past, as I've learnt more, seen more, or understood more.

For example, I used to think that Christians were to be pitied, for they needed to believe in fairy tales in order to find any security, and so were clearly not mature enough to deal with the harsh realities of life on earth - the dog eat dog, until we die, realities.  But later on - though many years ago now - I realised that the Christians were the people mature enough to accept the reality that God existed and they were foolish and sinful, and brave enough to say "yes" when asked to submit themselves into His uncompromising hands.

Even after I became a Christian and had a living relationship with Jesus, I thought the Holy Spirit was a mysterious and etherial "it" of little relevance today.  Until I realised that He was just as much God as Jesus is, or God the Father, and we needed the Holy Spirit in order to take even the simplest basic baby steps of faith and that without Him we would be nowhere at all.

So, because I do not for one moment suppose that I have stopped learning or realising more, I know that some of my current beliefs must be wrong, or at the very least must be very pale imitations of what is right.  Of course, if I knew which of the things I believed were wrong, I would no longer believe them!  That's the frustrating part...

Hence I get very wary when I encounter people who seem so completely sure of every 'fact' that they know.  This applies whether they are Christians who - even if they are older and wiser than I - appear to have no room for questions and wondering, or whether they are atheists who are equally dogmatic about their own beliefs.

[Atheists beleving something?  Surely I have that wrong, for they are the ones who have dispensed with beliefs and stuck to the facts?  No, if they say that, they are merely confusing beliefs for facts.]

Beliefs, facts, preferences and opinions - perhaps these are topics for another occasion.

In the meantime, my prayer is that God will show me which of my many crazy beliefs are mere flotsam that I cling on to as if they will save me, and which are revealed solid ground.