We have beliefs, and we have good reasons (justification) for at least some of them. We also have faith, and one of the persistent questions of the philosophy of religion is:
What is the relation of faith and reason?
However, before we can get anywhere answering that question, we should try to define faith. How, at least initially, would you define faith?
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I think that to have faith is to have a belief that can not be fully proven by reason. As far as Christian faith, I think that it is due to the divine revelation of God and the internal working of the Holy Spirit.
How, at least initially, would you define faith?
I would define faith as as a concious and intentional belief in an idea that cannot be proven beyond possible doubt.
What is the relation of faith and reason?
Many people think that faith and reason are seperate and that they work against each other. But God is the creator of reason. If God meant for his people to follow blindly then he wouldn't have given us free will and creative minds. Faith came before reason. Faith deals with what one belives about the world. You can not reason about anything without first have a faith-view about the world around you, whether you are aware of it or not.
I believe that Faith and Reason worked together to help western civilization survive. For example. I and others beleive that christianity and reason together led to freedom, capitalism, and western success. There are books about such matters. I've read them.
I grew up understanding faith as what we find in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
I can not give any clearer picture than that. It is an unswerving conviction to that beyond our senses.
To me, faith is the point where reasoning ends and real belief begins.
I believe Christianity and the existence of God are just a few things that we cannot prove (without a doubt) either way. Thus, I believe our intellectual minds allow us to reason only so far. Then, as long as you're not a fence-rider, you must trust and believe, from way down deep in your heart and soul, what you feel to be the true answer to that question. I believe that true belief is only possible through help from the Holy Spirit who lives inside God's chosen ones.
Faith is believing in god and trusting in what he does. Trusting that God is with you even when you can't see him. Loving and trusting God that he will give you what you need. Believing and trusting even when there is no physical presence. This is what faith is to me.
I think that faith is knowing and putting our trust in something larger than ourself, in the Christian's case that God loves us through the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf. This faith is a gift, not of our own abilities and as John Calvin put it, it is, "both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit." I think reason is a part of how we come to understand the concepts of grace, faith, etc. but I don't think that reason can be used to "explain" God or "prove" His existence, treating Him as an intellectual problem or as something we humans can even grasp.
Lindsey,
Are you saying that there is nothing that we can reason about God? You make it seem as if there isn't. Can we not reason that he is loving, fair, just, all-powerful, and gracious from His word? If you trust that the Bible is true, I think there are quite a few things that we can reason from it.
Kaitlin jd,
What do you mean by God's chosen ones? It's my understanding that God is readily available to everyone. Does God really pick and choose? I thought he loved us all the same. Maybe I am wrong.
Heather Ann Talbot
Romans 8:29-30, "For those he foreknew He also predestined to conform to the likeness of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he justified, those he justified, he also glorified."
Does that make sense in relation to God's 'choosing'?
Sidenote, I'm a little behind, my bad, but I always think of faith and belief in terms of a children's sermon I heard a long time ago. Parachutes: You can believe (or reason) that the parachute is functional and will open, but faith is actually jumping out of the airplane to use the parachute"
One of my favorate verses in the Bible is Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is being sure of what we Hope for and certain of what we do not see." I believe the Bible defines Faith so much better than any other source. You can see individuals all around show faith in something they believe strongly, some might look at them funny because they don't believe the same thing or have that spiritual knot tying everything together. Faith my not be able to be "proven" but it seems like when someone believes so strong in something they get frustrated not seeing how another individual doesn't see the reason behind their belief.
Faith...I dont think that we believe in something just because we make the choice to. There are things in our lives that cause us to believe. I am not saying that these things are proof or reason; just curcumstances that show us that there is something to have faith in. Believing without physically seeing is what I call faith.
Faith is belief in something that transcends our senses and boggles our minds. This is not to say, however, that faith and reason are at odds, rather I beleive that they serve to compliment each other. God blessed humanity with the ability to reason, to critically think; it is the characteristic which sets us apart from the rest of his creation. This leads me to believe that it is our responsibility to reason out what we hold dear, all the while with an understanding that some things go beyond reason and human understanding. I believe that it is this attempt to reason, to comprehend the incomprehensible, that leads to the development of faith.
Heather,
In relation to your question about my choice of words when I said God's chosen ones, it is a completely different argument. However, I will give you a little of why I believe God has chosen only some. Since the beginning, God has been CHOOSING. He chose Noah, the Israelites, Moses, David, Abraham,etc. (Refer to Genesis 18:19, Exodus 31:2, Deuteronomy 7:6, Deuteronomy 21:5, 1 Chronicles 28:4-6. And there are MANY more where that came from.) He didn't choose all the peoples on the Earth to be in that special covenant with(that He will be their God and they His people), just the Israelites. I don't believe that means He loves any one person more than another. He just chooses to use different people at different times in HIS plan, of which we cannot comprehend. And those chosen people have the Holy Spirit residing in them. I cannot explain how he chooses; I don't think anyone can. His knowledge is so unattainable that we may think that this choosing is unfair, but I believe that there are just parts of the puzzle that we can't see yet. The day will come when all is revealed, but until then I must just go on with faith and reasoning what I can from the Bible.
What I think the hardest part about relating faith and reason, is coming to the realization that one can reason against faith in many different ways, but it hard to reason in favor of faith. Yet, this is why it is called faith, not proof.
I also find it interesting the contrast between intellectual thinking and our emotions/feelings. It has been a common topic amongst posts so far in response to this faith question. I feel this is something to look into further. It seems obvious that intellectual reasoning provides a stronger argument, but then why is it in ever day life the way we "feel" about matters is how we respond.
Or looking deeper, maybe there is a strong correlation between the two which I have not yet come to understand.
You bring up some interesting points. It seems as if you are trying to equate feelings/emotions to faith and reasoning as a very separate and contrasting thing. I would just like to point out that often times when your feelings rule the way in which you act, it is because some very strong emotion was so strong it "blinded" or prevented us from thinking before acting. Often times, after we have acted we think/reason about the way in which we acted and often regret what we did.
On the other hand, true faith doesn't quickly come and go like feelings/emotions. It takes time to nuture and become stronger in your faith. Then if we act out in faith, even if it was a quick decision and we reason/think about it, very rarely do we regret those decisions.
I guess this really doesn't help relate reason and faith, but it does (I believe) help make a separation between feelings/emotions and faith.
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