The Four Ex’s of Beliefs

Sam Stringer

Mar 28, 2025

But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from

whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures,

which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:14-15

Why do people believe what they believe? Boy, that’s a very complex thing to contemplate, in my opinion.

Beliefs at large (I’m throwing everyone in here) are often interpretations given to makes sense of life, both

what is seen and what is unseen. You’ll find it deep in the heart of Africa, in temples and towns in India, in

classrooms in America, even in scientific laboratories in the chilling tundra of Antarctica; it’s everywhere

that people are. There’s no such thing as a person who doesn’t believe something about life. We are

hard-wired to seek meaning and purpose, to make sense of things both beautiful and tragic, to wonder

about our ends and to hold deep curiosity about what lies beyond. No place in history is absent of a rich

sense of people living by beliefs, whether true or false. Maybe it will help you be brave to know that

there’s a lot of fluff to most of the competing beliefs around you in this world, even though some may

seem more sincere, more devoted, or even more intelligent than us. I’m going to take this into the

Christian realm too, because so many of us differ on points of theology and so forth, and I often wonder

myself how we draw such vastly different conclusions sometimes. This isn’t to degrade anyone but to mull

over some ways that we arrive at our positions. Let us consider four ex’s that may help think about

beliefs:

Number one: exposure. How much of the Bible do you really know? The less one knows of the Bible, the

more they will fill in those mental gaps with imaginations, feelings and assumptions. In my years as a

pastor, I was exposed many times over to the beliefs of others who had little to do with church, often in

places like funerals or hospitals. It’s amazing how much people believe about God without learning it from

His word, but it’s just one of those facts of life that folks often do just that. The less we know of the Bible,

the more we’re going to use feelings and perceptions and even bring in false, contrasting beliefs in

consolidating them into one coherent way of looking at things (the fancy word is syncretism). We may

remove lines in the sand that God has put there or add things that He never had written. One’s level of

biblical exposure will be a bedrock to how they interpret life by belief. It won’t do any of us well to let our

Bibles collect dust through the week.

Number two: experience. A teacher in school years ago said to our class, “The text must inform our

experience, not our experience the text.” Our experiences absolutely shape and mold us and how we see

things, affecting what we believe. If we’re not careful, we start to look at the Bible through the ruby lenses

of experience, using our story as the means by which we decipher the meaning of a Bible passage. I’d

encourage you to do all you can to check your past at the door when reading Scripture in the sense of

listening deeply and examining context carefully. For example, if you’ve been through hard things a lot,

and I myself have, you may read the Bible which tells you of a God who loves you while in your heart you

may struggle immensely to believe that because of your hardships. You and I must tell our experiences

that God does love us even if the road has been hard; this is what I mean when I talk about experience

driving beliefs. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love

God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” How is this good? Romans 8:29 says, “He

predestined (believers) to be conformed to His (Christ’s) image.” That’s how it’s good. Experience may

challenge the good of the matter, and therefore the goodness of God, but the Bible doesn’t stutter, so we

must inform our emotions and experiences by the Word. Just please be aware of the danger of using

experience as an authoritative tool of interpretation.

Number three: expectations. Beliefs can also be influenced by the expectations people have. What they

desire in the big picture or how they’ve lost hope for life or this world, positive or negative, expectations

can absolutely influence and induce certain beliefs. This point is a call to each of us, if we are believers,

to release those expectations we’ve carried that do not line up with the expectations that God wants us to

have as we find in the Bible. I think beliefs are evidenced in expectations, but they’re also formed and solidified by them, so be wise in this. Both desires and discouragements can serve to funnel and form

beliefs.

Number four: examples. We all have people to whom we might look up to, perhaps love, perhaps hold in

high regard and feel a great sense of loyalty towards. Those people who have been examples to us,

sometimes in this poetic fashion. There’s also people who have perhaps been quite detrimental examples

(an abusive parent, coworker, etc.) that may have shaped what we believe. I caution you to not put too

much stock in any person in your life more than you do the Lord Jesus Christ, whether they were a hero

or a villain in your estimation. Loyalty to others isn’t necessarily bad, but it can cause a great inner turmoil

should you see things in the Bible in certain ways that your example doesn’t agree with. Our beliefs may

to some degree be remnants of relationships and to change course or disagree might well feel like you’re

failing them or conceding to the sins of others by choices like forgiveness. Consider with me whether

your beliefs are just yours, or whether they also point back to someone else’s beliefs or are a response to

another’s poor example.

We, like Paul’s challenge to Timothy, must persist in the Bible by knowing it, applying it, studying it and

wrestling through it. It is how we come to know truth and how we mature in our walk with Christ. Bravery,

at times, comes from catching a glimpse of the wizard behind the curtain in other people’s worlds or

pulling back even our own curtains. We shouldn’t be dismissive of others, but we should take that

opportunity within understanding them to find ways to speak the Gospel into beliefs that are often not as

bulletproof as they might seem. Can you be brave today in Jesus? I encourage you to do so, and to

consider your own beliefs as to whether they align with the Bible or where there might be some major

inconsistencies that need changed. God in His love leads us to face our beliefs or those of others and

beckons us all back to Him. Be brave. Be blessed.

Sam Stringer

The Four Ex’s of Beliefs

But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from

whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures,

which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:14-15

Why do people believe what they believe? Boy, that’s a very complex thing to contemplate, in my opinion.

Beliefs at large (I’m throwing everyone in here) are often interpretations given to makes sense of life, both

what is seen and what is unseen. You’ll find it deep in the heart of Africa, in temples and towns in India, in

classrooms in America, even in scientific laboratories in the chilling tundra of Antarctica; it’s everywhere

that people are. There’s no such thing as a person who doesn’t believe something about life. We are

hard-wired to seek meaning and purpose, to make sense of things both beautiful and tragic, to wonder

about our ends and to hold deep curiosity about what lies beyond. No place in history is absent of a rich

sense of people living by beliefs, whether true or false. Maybe it will help you be brave to know that

there’s a lot of fluff to most of the competing beliefs around you in this world, even though some may

seem more sincere, more devoted, or even more intelligent than us. I’m going to take this into the

Christian realm too, because so many of us differ on points of theology and so forth, and I often wonder

myself how we draw such vastly different conclusions sometimes. This isn’t to degrade anyone but to mull

over some ways that we arrive at our positions. Let us consider four ex’s that may help think about

beliefs:

Number one: exposure. How much of the Bible do you really know? The less one knows of the Bible, the

more they will fill in those mental gaps with imaginations, feelings and assumptions. In my years as a

pastor, I was exposed many times over to the beliefs of others who had little to do with church, often in

places like funerals or hospitals. It’s amazing how much people believe about God without learning it from

His word, but it’s just one of those facts of life that folks often do just that. The less we know of the Bible,

the more we’re going to use feelings and perceptions and even bring in false, contrasting beliefs in

consolidating them into one coherent way of looking at things (the fancy word is syncretism). We may

remove lines in the sand that God has put there or add things that He never had written. One’s level of

biblical exposure will be a bedrock to how they interpret life by belief. It won’t do any of us well to let our

Bibles collect dust through the week.

Number two: experience. A teacher in school years ago said to our class, “The text must inform our

experience, not our experience the text.” Our experiences absolutely shape and mold us and how we see

things, affecting what we believe. If we’re not careful, we start to look at the Bible through the ruby lenses

of experience, using our story as the means by which we decipher the meaning of a Bible passage. I’d

encourage you to do all you can to check your past at the door when reading Scripture in the sense of

listening deeply and examining context carefully. For example, if you’ve been through hard things a lot,

and I myself have, you may read the Bible which tells you of a God who loves you while in your heart you

may struggle immensely to believe that because of your hardships. You and I must tell our experiences

that God does love us even if the road has been hard; this is what I mean when I talk about experience

driving beliefs. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love

God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” How is this good? Romans 8:29 says, “He

predestined (believers) to be conformed to His (Christ’s) image.” That’s how it’s good. Experience may

challenge the good of the matter, and therefore the goodness of God, but the Bible doesn’t stutter, so we

must inform our emotions and experiences by the Word. Just please be aware of the danger of using

experience as an authoritative tool of interpretation.

Number three: expectations. Beliefs can also be influenced by the expectations people have. What they

desire in the big picture or how they’ve lost hope for life or this world, positive or negative, expectations

can absolutely influence and induce certain beliefs. This point is a call to each of us, if we are believers,

to release those expectations we’ve carried that do not line up with the expectations that God wants us to

have as we find in the Bible. I think beliefs are evidenced in expectations, but they’re also formed and solidified by them, so be wise in this. Both desires and discouragements can serve to funnel and form

beliefs.

Number four: examples. We all have people to whom we might look up to, perhaps love, perhaps hold in

high regard and feel a great sense of loyalty towards. Those people who have been examples to us,

sometimes in this poetic fashion. There’s also people who have perhaps been quite detrimental examples

(an abusive parent, coworker, etc.) that may have shaped what we believe. I caution you to not put too

much stock in any person in your life more than you do the Lord Jesus Christ, whether they were a hero

or a villain in your estimation. Loyalty to others isn’t necessarily bad, but it can cause a great inner turmoil

should you see things in the Bible in certain ways that your example doesn’t agree with. Our beliefs may

to some degree be remnants of relationships and to change course or disagree might well feel like you’re

failing them or conceding to the sins of others by choices like forgiveness. Consider with me whether

your beliefs are just yours, or whether they also point back to someone else’s beliefs or are a response to

another’s poor example.

We, like Paul’s challenge to Timothy, must persist in the Bible by knowing it, applying it, studying it and

wrestling through it. It is how we come to know truth and how we mature in our walk with Christ. Bravery,

at times, comes from catching a glimpse of the wizard behind the curtain in other people’s worlds or

pulling back even our own curtains. We shouldn’t be dismissive of others, but we should take that

opportunity within understanding them to find ways to speak the Gospel into beliefs that are often not as

bulletproof as they might seem. Can you be brave today in Jesus? I encourage you to do so, and to

consider your own beliefs as to whether they align with the Bible or where there might be some major

inconsistencies that need changed. God in His love leads us to face our beliefs or those of others and

beckons us all back to Him. Be brave. Be blessed.

Sam Stringer

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by

permission. All rights reserved.