The Power of Belief

For me, this gets back to my belief in a Higher Power.First, I affirm that IF a Higher Power(God) exists, He, She, or It exists regardless of my beliefs, and so too the contrary. IF God didnt exist, no amount of wishing, chanting, or praying could make Him so.Believing in a friendly, helpful God is comforting to me. Scriptures reaffirm this comfort.(Phil 4:19 ESV--And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.)It causes me discomfort when people show evidence that the Bible is any less than inspired. I take comfort, however, in the idea that I can imagine (at least partially) A loving and favorable God and that others also testify of Him. To suggest that this is all fantasy makes me very uncomfortable.

I think that first off, we all need to humble ourselves when discussing belief in a concept(or Being) greater than ourselves. Believers need to set aside their absolute convictions(and wishes) and educated folks need to behave as though talking to children and not learned(or unlearned) adults.What is the main difference between knowing something to be true as opposed to merely believing it to be true?Is it dishonest intellectually for one to claim that they KNOW that what they believe to be true is, in fact, true?