What's the difference between belief and knowledge?

Answer 1

Belief is when you accept others opinion - for example by accepting what you read in a book.
Knowledge is experience. When you have experienced things you will know.

Answer 2

I'm amazed how many people think belief and knowledge are opposites. A belief is something we hold to be true. The two words are synonyms, not opposites. Many people, unfortunately, are under the mistaken impression that belief is a synonym for 'wishing', or some other garbage.

Check out these definitions from Merriam Webster:
* Belief - conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence.
* Knowledge - the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association; the fact or condition of being aware of something; the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning.

Did you note that last part of the definition of belief - "especially when based on examination of evidence."

I completely crack up when I read comments like the following, from Brent Y - "Belief means you lack said evidence and are accepting it without proof." I simply want to ask him, "Really - do you BELIEVE that to be true?" What's he going to say? If he says "yes", then he's just admitted he holds a view to be true without any evidence or proof. His only other option is to say, "no", but then we have to wonder why he's telling us something he doesn't really believe. LOL!

BTW - I think this whole conflict stems from a misconception of the word 'faith', as used in the Bible. A good article on this is on Stand To Reason's website at http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5242.

Answer 3

As regards spiritual matters, a person may feel that he "knows" his beliefs are true; yet an outside person examining the facts may be able to perceive that to be a completely untenable position. To really strictly define the matter, a "belief" is generally a tenet of faith held by faith in the authority of its source - bible, tradition, parents teaching etc. Knowledge is supported by factual, observable, and repeatable experience -- ie -- two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen in combination are always Water - and if water is split into its components that is what is always yielded.
The fact that a certain set of persons are your parents it usally easily verified by a variety of tests, and ultimately by DNA - Knowledge, in short, can be footnoted. Your beliefs may by factual, but not subject to so rigorous standards - and therefore may be doubted. For example: Muslims will cut your throat for denying the their belief in the Koran is following truth - yet, in fact, the Koran is a fraud, since Muhammad altered the story of Abraham so that Ishmael became the child of the promise instead of Isaac. The story as found in the Hebrew Bible is more than 2000 years older, and adopted by a third religion in addition 600 years before Muhammed was born - His changing the story because his ancestry is through the line of Ishmael, has no power to make his version true, even though a billion people have been deluded into believing it, in other words, it doesn't hold up under scholarly analysis. Or, put another way, the fact that if for example, every Mormon lived a life of purity and goodness, and every christian was a profligate liar and embezzler, doesn't make the religion of one true and the other false - no amount of good behavior on the part of the mormon can make the lost tribes of israel the forebears of the american Indians - and no amount of bad behavior can make Christianity as inherited in the Western main churches true or false - If true, it is true, though all men be false - but the facts make Mormonism false - a matter of factual knowledge - regardless of the beliefs of the mormons and the goodness and generosity of its adherents.

Answer 4

Belief occurs when the facts of circumstances are interpreted to be truths. In many cases when sufficient facts are unavailable we bridge the gap with what we think makes sense to us. This is the mechanism and explanation for why multiple beliefs can co-exist. Knowledge on the other hand is a collection of facts that can be tested and evaluated and consistently afford a single conclusion. Knowledge generally requires considerable effort, commitment and time to acquire.

Answer 5

Belief is an opinion that something is true and knowledge is a belief backed up by facts obtained through experience.

Answer 6

A belief is something you choose to accept w/o proof and knowledge is based on proved fact. It's the difference between believing your husband won't cheat on you vs. seeing the actual pictures of his indiscretion!

Answer 7

Belief is based on trust. Knowledge is based on what you pretty much see to be true and real.

The things I believe are things that don't have logical underpinnings (at least not logical underpinnings that I'm wise, intelligent enough to understand).

Things I know, I have direct experience of. I already have enough concrete experience with God in my heart to know I can trust Him, so based on the knowledge I have from past experience with God, I know I can believe that what He says is true or right, even if I don't have a clear understanding of all the nuts and bolts of it at the time.

Answer 8

That is a good question, ok listen, it's like this, I have found that Some Atheist know the bible text more so than many Christians, But....They do not know the "context"
They have the knowledge, but not the contextual knowledge.

The Bible speaks of this in 1st Cor. 2: 14:But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

Now for the Christian, Read up a few verses from that.

1Cr 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Cr 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Answer 9

Belief is something you learned form some other source than yourself. Knowledge is what you experience for your self. God is real and He loves me and everyone else. Jesus died for all our sins He loves us that much! For me that is knowledge but for anyone who has not accepted Jesus as their savior it is only a belief.

Answer 10

They are opposites.

If you have knowledge, you have all the evidence you need to prove something is true beyond a reasonable doubt. Belief means you lack said evidence and are accepting it without proof.

Answer 11

Belief is something you "think" is true. Knowledge is based on fact.

My tradition is Gnostic which means Experiential Knowledge. We seek to "Know"... not just believe.