All truth that is useful in one's daily life can be verified by experience. For instance, if a man says, “God is love”, he can verify this statement to his own satisfaction by putting the belief into practice in his daily life, and seeing where it gets him. He puts the belief into practice simply by acting on the assumption that it is true. After ten or twenty years he ought to be in a position to look back and say either, “I was right”, or “Well, I was wrong”. In other words, for him faith will have become knowledge; or alternatively, faith will have been proved fantasy. One person's experience of course will very likely be different from another's. But the point is that if one hazards one's beliefs by putting them into practice, they are bound either to be verified by experience, or proved false, provided one is single-minded and systematic and consistent in one's conduct. It is the person who only puts his beliefs into practice occasionally, who will only reach an inconclusive result. Not only is it good Pauline theology that faith becomes knowledge eventually; it is also a little difficult to see the point in having positive beliefs, which could influence the way one behaves, and yet which one does not put into practice. And the interesting question is what is the purpose in having beliefs which one has no…