Quote:
Originally Posted by ReformedDave
TRFRANCE, you said a mouthful in your post. Could you explain your definition of 'faith' and is it antithetical to 'reason'?
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Well, I guess 10 people can give you 10 different definitions. And even the same person could give you different definitions, depening on the situational context being discussed...
But in a nutshell, I primarily think of faith on 2 levels.
Faith that there is a God up there to begin with.
And Faith IN God, (That is, faith that God will provide, as the Bible says... faith that God is just and will always do the right thing by me, etc)
Obviously one wont have faith IN Him, if they don't even believe he exists.
So in the context of what the original poster is referring to, I'm really talking primarily about faith that He is real, to begin with. And secondarily, faith in the sense that we should believe in His Word, and the path laid out by his Word, the Bible, to the extent that we would choose to give our lives according to the Biblical path given to us.
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Is faith antithetical to reason?
I'm not sure what angle you're coming from with that, but I'd say it's not necessarily antithetical to reason, although
in the minds of some, it could be.
For example, in the minds of some, there cant be a God, because "why would he let innocent people die in earthquakes?", etc. Thus they think faith in God defies reason and is irrational. Simply because
they cant wrap their minds around the idea that a God could allow innocents to die in natural disasters, they feel that faith in God is unreasonable.
But faith in God says that even though
I might not be able to explain to your satisfaction why God would allow innocents to die in earthquakes, it doesnt negate my solid belief that He exists, nor that He is good, even though I cant explain all of His acts, or why He allows some things to happen.
Hope that makes sense somewhat.
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