Why We Say "I Believe"

People seem to always go back to the phrase “I believe”. I am tempted to use it right now, because as humans we are all so opinionated and we want to let other people know what we believe in. By saying “I believe”, I think that we figure that this phrase validates our argument. Everyone is so different, with different values and different beliefs, so when we say what we believe personally it is automatically subjective and up for dispute. Yet from an argumentative perspective, I do not really see the point in arguing with people over their beliefs. I have my beliefs and other people have theirs, very few people change their minds from arguing with a person on the other side of things. Discussions about different beliefs can be beneficial if the people involved stay open-minded and do not try to aggressively convert people to their way of thinking. Saying your beliefs can be a positive addition to an argument because the other person could either believe the same thing, or at the very least respect you for your belief in something. Believing in something is what makes arguments and discussions passionate and meaningful (and sometimes quite heated). We always use “I believe” because as humans all we really know is how we see things from our own perspective. This then translates into what we believe, because we can only really know what is going on inside of us.

The prompt says that what we believe in does not have to be in a religious sense but my “so what” in life is definitely my relationship with Jesus. I do not really use the word “religion” because that has so much negative connotation in society, people associate religion with strictness and alienation and self-righteousness. I believe people should focus on a relationship with a loving, accepting God, not on the narrowness of religion. When people ask me about my faith I never argue with them. If they ask me questions I answer them to the best of my ability, aware that I do not have all the answers by any means. Because faith pretty much means not knowing all the answers, but trusting that the one who guides your life knows them all. With these kinds of discussions I merely have to say what I believe in a respectful, open way. Arguing with someone about this stuff is pointless, because when they get defensive it just makes them less receptive. So I would not call this my “life argument”, I think I would call it my life discussion.