The weakening I versus the strengthening I
Often prefacing something with “I believe” or “I think” lowers the audience’s perception of the truth of the following statement. However, if you are specifically talking about your faith OR you are an expert in that area, then saying I think or I believe actually adds credibility.
I use an example from Scott McCloud’s book Understanding Comics as an illustration; he says “I think” regarding comics. Why does this not weaken his statement? It does not weaken his statement because he is an expert on comics; he not only writes comics, he also writes about comics.