KNOWING

In Several short sentences about writing, Verlyn Klinkenborg (What a name!) outlines "the ways we know nearly everything about the world around us" in these terms:

1. What you've been taught.

2. What you assume is true because you've heard it repeated by others.

3. What you feel, no matter how subtle.

4. What you don't know.

5. What you learn from your own experience. (p.7)

Although Klinkenborg's main concern is how this applied to the craft of writing, I think this does apply to "knowing" in general. 

It seems to me that when it comes to theology, #1 and #2 - what someone's been taught and what they assume - somehow carry so much weight that they squeeze out #5 entirely. 

Is it because God is THE most intimidating topic of study in all existence? (After all, your own eternity may hang in the balance!)

Perhaps. 

If so, the starting point in forming "your own experience" is crucial. And it needs to be this: There is a God and He is GOOD.