Who we think we are in the universe. Whether or not we believe in a God who loves the world or who can't stand it. If we believe that good truly triumphs over evil.
I've met many people in my life who said they believed things, but then lived as if they weren't true.
It is why I find "position papers" and "doctrinal statements" largely irrelevant. You can hold onto those things with your mind, but whatever you believe in your heart is what actually gets lived out. And it seems there is often a disconnect. We even have a psychological term for it. "Cognitive dissonance." It is the ability to hold conflicting ideas simultaneously and the discord that causes within ourselves.
It would seem that beliefs are formed less through study and more through experience. For example, I can read that 'God so loved me' but unless I experience that, I don't truly believe it. Instead I will embrace the feedback of kids on a playground, my parents, the rejection of a romantic interest, or my worth on the job market.
If we can't own the idea that God is love. Not just loves us, but actually is love, then what we believe about everything else gets skewed, because what we believe about the character of God influences every single interpretation.
I think there is a lot of skewed interpretation. Mostly by people who haven't experienced love.
Jesus said the greatest commandment was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no docrtinal statement there. There is only action. And action is what creates experience.
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