Most beliefs that one has arrises out of a few main deductions. Do not take this to be a comprehensive post on how man completely established his beliefs, but rather a simplistic overview. I am posting this, as a result of my posts which some people misinterpreted as me saying that we should not use our minds. My point is that we do not create God with our thoughts... God lives in our hearts, not our minds. We need to base our beliefs on our relationship with Him, not simply or intellect alone. Most beliefs that I am committed to through: [b]Empiricism[/b] are points of faith that almost have to be through experience to be established firmly. A couple of those beliefs are the gift of tongues, and the gift of healing. These are both gifts that must be experienced to be understood, or at least to have some comprehension as to what they entail. Others, who have not experienced such things, simply lack the experiential knowledge that is needed to have an understanding of these gifts. [b]Reasoning[/b], there are several beliefs that I am committed too. Abortion is murder. This is a belief based upon how I reason that Scripture deals with killing babies. There is no specific reference made to the physical process of abortion in the Bible, so we must use our judgment. [b]Intuition[/b] is not something that I tend to base beliefs upon. Really, it is not good to base your beliefs on intuition. Our flesh is a whirlwind of emotions, and if we base our beliefs on things that we “feel,” we are in big trouble! HOWEVER!!!! Some would place the working of the Holy Spirit in this category. I would not. I would place the gift of Revelation in empiricism. Intuition is different than Revelation of the Holy Spirit. [b]Faith[/b] is the foundation for such things as me believing that I am saved and going to Heaven. We can not know from experience, nor can we know from intuition, we simply have assurance in salvation because of our faith in Him, and our faith in the fact that His Word is True. Scripture is read, and then applied. Scripture is not a process by which we gain beliefs, it is the Truth that we use to found our beliefs. I guess the best way to explain it is to ask a question... Why do you hold Scripture as an authority... The answer to that would "most likely" lie somewhere in the 4 reasons above. Once we have a belief that Scripture is the Word of God, "THEN" it is used as a foundation... So please do not take this topic as meaning that we do nto use Scripture to base our faith... That is not what it says. Again, this is a simplistic overview, not a complete analogy... however it encompasses the vast majority of mankind's basis for their individual beliefs. B) -Matt