Most people a few years into their faith can talk about a few doctrines, such as “We need to have the right intentions in our faith,” “We need to learn to love God and submit to Him,” “We need to perform our duties loyally; we can’t rebel against God,” or “We must know ourselves.” All these doctrines are right, but you don’t understand the true meaning in the words. You just understand them on the surface; you don’t understand their spiritual meaning or the deeper significance of God’s words, so there is no truth in your hearts. Whatever experience or understanding you have, it’s too superficial. You may be able to speak some doctrine and see some simple things clearly, but you don’t act with the truth principles; you don’t come anywhere near the truth. You may have some knowledge and education, but you don’t understand the truth. Don’t take an understanding of doctrines or words to be an understanding of the truth. Of those who have believed in God for a long time, there are some of good caliber and with a relatively good spiritual understanding who may have some experience of the truth—but still, they can’t be said to understand it. Out of ten sentences of the knowledge you offer, perhaps two contain true knowledge. The others are doctrine. You, however, feel that you’ve understood the truth. You can preach constantly for several days no matter where you go, always having something to say. When you’re done, you want to compile them into a book, a “celebrity biography” to send out to everyone, so that they eat and drink of it, for the common good. This is unbelievably arrogant and unreasonable, isn’t it? People can’t even touch the hems of matters of the truth; at the very most, they may understand some of the words as written. Because they are smart and have a good memory, because they often speak about the truth of these aspects such as God’s work, the significance and mystery of the incarnation, and the ways and steps of God’s work, when they have equipped themselves to a certain degree, they feel that they themselves are in possession of the truth, that they are abundant with it. How unreasonable that is of them; it proves that they don’t understand the truth. People these days only understand a bit of doctrine. They don’t know themselves, much less have reason. They think that they have the truth when they understand a few doctrines, and that they’re no longer ordinary people. They feel they’ve become great and think, “I’ve read God’s words so many times. I’ve even memorized some of them, and they’ve taken root in my heart. Wherever I go, I can preach at several assemblies in a row, and I can give the basics of any chapter of God’s words.” The fact is that no one understands the truth. Why do I say that? For one thing, you can’t solve problems or find their roots, and you can’t see through to their essence. For another, you can only grasp part of whatever a given problem or issue is, your understanding is vague; you can’t link it up with the truth. Even so, you still feel good about yourselves, and you’re arrogant and self-righteous. How foolish and ignorant you are.

How would you explain the words “belief in God”? How do you understand this aspect of the truth? What is the correct view that people should have in their belief in God? What are the incorrect views that are still around? How exactly should people believe in God? Have you given thought to these questions? You all seem to be “giants” of the truth, to understand all of it, so I’ll ask you the simplest question there is: What is belief in God? Have you considered that? What exactly does belief in God refer to? What is it, exactly, that you mean to gain from believing in Him, and what problems do you mean to solve? You need to be clear on these things. You must also be clear on this: What manifestations of belief in God must be present in someone for them to believe in Him sincerely? That is, how must you do your duty for your faith in God to be sincere? What elements does God require of people who believe in Him to prove they are people whose faith is sincere? Are you clear about these questions in your minds? As a matter of fact, you all show some behaviors of disbelievers in your daily lives. Can you clearly state the things you’ve done that are unrelated to your belief in God or to the truth? Do you truly understand what it means to believe in God? What sort of person is it, that has sincere faith and truly believes in God? Do you understand what it means for a created being to believe in God? This touches on one’s views about faith in God. Some people say, “Believing in God is walking the right path and doing good; it’s a big deal in life. To perform some duties for God is how belief in Him practically manifests.” There are also people who say, “Believing in God is about being saved; it’s about satisfying His intentions.” You may say all these things, but do you truly understand them? The fact is that you don’t. True belief in God is not a matter of believing in Him solely in order to be saved, less still of believing in Him solely in order to be a good person. It is also not only a matter of believing in Him to gain a human likeness. The fact is that people’s belief in God shouldn’t be viewed as a mere belief that there is a God, and that He is the truth, the way, the life, and that’s the end of it. It’s not just about acknowledging God, either, and believing that He’s the Sovereign of all things, that He is almighty, that He created the world and all things, that He’s unique, and that He’s supreme. It doesn’t end with having you believe that fact. God’s intention is that your whole being and heart should be given to Him and submit to Him. That is, you should follow God, allow Him to make use of you, and be happy even to render service for Him—whatever you do for Him is what ought to be done. It is not that only those predestined and chosen by God should believe in Him. The fact is that all mankind should worship God, heed Him and submit to Him, because mankind was made by God. If you know that the purpose of believing in God is to achieve salvation and eternal life, but you don’t accept the truth in the slightest and don’t walk the path of pursuing the truth, you’re fooling yourself, aren’t you? If you just understand doctrine but don’t pursue the truth, can you gain the truth? The biggest part of believing in God is pursuing the truth. With every truth, people should seek, ponder, and investigate what its inner meaning is, as well as how to practice and enter into that aspect of the truth. Believers must understand and possess these things. When it comes to the various aspects of the truth one should possess in believing in God, you now understand only the words and doctrines, and external practices; you do not understand the essence of the truth, as you have not experienced it. For example: There is much truth in the realm of performing one’s duty and in the realm of loving God, and if people wish to know themselves, there is also much truth they need to understand. In the significance and mystery of the incarnation, too, there’s much truth that needs to be understood. How people should comport themselves; how they should worship God; how they should submit to God; what they should do to accord with God’s intentions; how they should serve God—all such particulars contain much truth. As to all these truths in various areas, how do you treat them, and how do you experience them? Which aspect of the truth is it most important to go through first? There are a lot of truths people need to understand and enter after they’ve laid down a foundation on the true way. There’s the truth of being an honest person, and in particular, there are the truths that have to do with performing a duty. These all require people to experience and practice them. If you’re always saying those words and doctrines without paying attention to how to practice and experience in order to enter into the truth reality, then you’ll always be living in those words, and you won’t have any real change.