adhunt, thank you for your reply. I have studied theology at Bible College level, but have not studied theology or philosophy at university level. I therefore, had to look up a number of the terms that you use. I am now aware that the word “knowledge” should be qualified to enable the hearer to understand what type of knowledge is being referred to. I guess I was meaning empirical knowledge when I used the word ‘knowledge’ above.

Cut and pasted from your post:
It certainly cannot be “proved” to be knowledge in the sense which you seem to imply is true knowledge, but there are many different ways that we know things, not all of them, indeed none of them, are provable from a position of pure reason or rationality apart from the subjective interpretive individual.

Would you be kind enough to give me some examples of this?

Prayer and worship - I am writing to you from a post-Christian point of view. While I was a Christian I was absolutely convinced that God was both real and did answer my prayers. I am not talking here purely from a petitionary stance. I know what it is to immerse oneself in one’s belief and to feel deeply that one is communicating with God, but this is still a matter of the mind - what one feels and what one believes.

Some would even argue that the concept of “God” is man made, that the Children of Israel invented a god who was more powerful than those of the surrounding nations. A god who seems to us to be remarkably human at times. A god who appears to acknowledge the existance of other gods. (eg Thou shalt have no other gods before me - were these other gods real??)

C&P’d from your post:
Why is it that you feel belief must be justified by unassailable proof?

Because I believe that we are essentially rational creatures. Everything we do we do for a reason. Paradoxically, this is not to say that we should rationalise everything. The heart has a big part to play in being human.
 Peace.