The head, the heart and the body

Did you know that there is a difference between knowledge, belief and action? The head, the heart and the body were designed to work together in all areas of your life. Take the arguments for the existence of God for example. you may know them, if not, please take a look below. They are not my exclusive work nor compilation, as they were assembled, at least in this form, by Dr. Chris Bounds. There is also some explantion of what arguments rather than proofs are. Now - back to this concept of the head, heart and body.
Knowledge is a cerebral act. "I know there is a God." It implies that a body of information, facts, etc. have stayed in the brain and will reside there until they are needed in form or another - whether for a test, a question or personal contemplation. This is where most people find themselves in regards to most things that they have processed. For example, I know that there is a body of laws that exist that allow us to maintain a civil society.
The next step is taking that knowledge and synthesizing it through your being, your "heart" , in essence. This is what belief is. It is taking those facts and making them real to you in a special way. "I believe there is a God." Another way to look at it would be to take the first example and say,"There is a body of laws that allow us to run a civil society and I believe that they are the best laws, and they allow us to have the best society for me and for others." The thing is, this is not the end of the journey, although many people stop right here.
The final step on this journey is the logical conclusion, the action. In order to make anything go from your brain to your heart and then to your life is to ACT upon it. It is about taking the next step, the concrete expression of knowledge and belief. This is action. An expression of action, which puts belief into motion, is to then say "Ok, I know and believe that God is real. If he is real, then he is truly God. This means he is in charge - hence God. If he is then God, then I must be willing to accept the fact that he isn't just God in an abstract way, but in a real and tangible way. If he is God, I must then listen to him and then follow his commands." Or to finish the earlier analogy, "I know there are laws that allow for us to have a civil society, and I believe they are the best. I want the country to stay that way, so I will vote for politicians, lawmakers, etc. that will best help to maintain my beliefs."
While there are differences between knowledge, belief and actions, it is interesting to note that there is a necessary synergy that exists between the three of them. There is also a logical progression from one to the next. Knowledge, in and of itself, will only carry you so far. However, without it, belief is incomplete. Belief, by nature, is an emotional and faith-driven expression. It works in concert with knowledge but has little lasting impact without it. Actions require the engagement of both mind and heart in order to be effective and meaningful. That is what makes them so powerful. It is also why they are the logical conclusion of knowledge and belief. It is also why actions are required in order to fully express beliefs and knowledge. Actions are the final testing grounds of the head and the heart.
I would challenge you to think about what it is that you know and what you believe and to then act upon that in all areas of your life. Specifically, in the area of God, if you are convinced in your mind of his existence and know in your heart that you believe in him, what should you do about it? Action must follow up knowledge and belief in order to complete the process of complete engagement. You act upon your convictions and beliefs by implementing a new life strategy that recognizes this. In other words, in this arena, you would live as if you know and believe in God's existence. this means God is in charge of your life, and you believe that he is Lord of all. One step further, you believe what he says about himself in the Bible. You would also believe that Jesus is not only his soon, but is also God himself. If Jesus is God, you must accept and live with that fact. You then acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life and then live a life that reflects that knowledge and belief. By doing this, you then complete the cycle of the head, the heart and the body.

Arguments for the existence of God

It is an incredibly valuable and rewarding thing to question and examine what we all believe in. I really don't have the time today to develop this post as I would like, so have patience, please. First things first. I'll tell you this up front. If you are looking for empirical data, concrete proof, etc. for the existence of God, you are out of luck. The bottom line is it cannot be PROVEN that God exists. However, there are a great many things that we accept as fact that fit the same bill.
What can be done is that arguments for his existence can be made. These are found, briefly, in five categories:
1. Cosmological - the argument of causality. the world and and universe exists - therefore, there must be justifiable cause behind it. Motion exists, something started that motion. From physics, no effect exists without first having cause. Contigency is in place - an interdependence between systems, organisms, etc. - ultimately, dependence lies on something being continually greater than the other, leading beyond man and his reasoning capabilities. Finally, there are grades of perfection inherent in the universe that point in an upward direction from inanimate to animate and so forth.
2. Teleological - the argument of order and design. Clearly, order exists within the universe, also, design is present and observable in all systems.
3. Humanity - the arguments present in the existence of the mind, human nature and human culture. Another aspect - why do humans have the innate conception that there is something greater than they?
4. Morality, beauty and pragmatism - the moral sense of humanity - yes, the existence of the conscience in form or another. Why does beauty exist and how does it exist? Pragmatically, look at the positive effects that believeing in God has upon humanity.
5. Ontological - since we cannot empirically prove God exists, why would we have the idea of him if it wasn't placed there by him.

Once again, none of these are proofs, rather, they are arguments. Yet, when taken together, they present a hefty case for God's existence. The same type of thinking exists when dealing with things like Einstein's Theory of Relativity, etc.
The deal is, all of this boils down to one thing. Let me assure you, though, it isn't brainwashing. The whole issue of God's existence is contained in one word: faith! Faith is the hope of surety and the certainty of the unseen. I do have enough arguments for me to logically wrap my mind around the existence of God. I can't fully understand him or explain him, but I can logically conclude in his existence.
This is a solid starting point for examining arguments for the existence of God. If they do raise issues, good. If they give you problems, good. However, I would say that your struggles lie in one area - like I said earlier, they lie within FAITH. It is wonderful to examine what and why you believe as you do. If you are going to do that, though, I urge you to do it right. Come at the issues as objectively as humanly possible - a difficult proposition, to be sure. A few last questions for thought. If you are your own God, can you take credit for ANY of the arguments that I presented earlier? Would you have you as God? Do you possess any divine attributes?
I'm not trying to position myself as one who knows all, etc. However, I have gone through the same struggles that you are presenting - every one of them that I have read so far. So, please, take time to read this post, let me know if you have ANY questions, etc. You can keep those as private or as public as you like. I'm not going to try to MAKE you believe anything, as I really can't. It is a decision that YOU alone must make for YOURSELF, as you have the ultimate responsibility of belief. However, I am obligated to help you in any way I can.