Tag: Faith in God

One Too Many Gods

The idea that there is no God to interfere with our freedom to do what we want may be as much the product of wishful thinking as the idea that there is a God who loves us.

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(c) Can Stock Photo

(c) Can Stock Photo

A.C. Graying, in The God Argument, the Case Against Religion and for Humanism, claims that religious belief is really just wish fulfillment. The book accepts the premise that many atheists and agnostics assume, which is that people believe in God for psychological reasons. I would add that people believe for emotional reasons as well, but generalizations usually belie a different truth.

The wishful thinking premise is a common assumption and is often used to undermine the basis of faith. But does it really support the point it boasts of making: that faith is the product of wishful thinking? Continue reading “One Too Many Gods” →

What Is the Point of Faith?

God certainly has made Himself known in spectacular ways at times, but not very often. There must be a reason. The reason, I believe, lies in the importance of faith.

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MV Pacific Hope Sails to Fiji

I believe that faith has a point, though I have often wondered exactly what it is. I believe there is a reason that faith is necessary, though I have often wondered why. I think these questions are worth exploring.

“Seeing is believing” is a truism that characterizes the world that we live in. Some people are generally skeptical and not willing to believe anything (to give themselves to an idea) unless they are overwhelmingly convinced. Other people are quick to believe the things they want to believe, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. People are quirky that way.

I believe both extremes are rooted in the same soil. We naturally want to control our own destinies. Skepticism is one way we hang on to that control. Believing in something we want to believe is just another way of clinging to the control of our own destiny (gullibility and naiveté aside).

Continue reading “What Is the Point of Faith?” →

Are Reason & Faith in God Contradictory Terms?

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Looking for a Sunset

I began taking notes on a series of hard questions posed to Tim Keller by some heavy hitting interviewers that is posted to the Veritas Forum. I thought I would take my notes and create a series of quick answers to these hard questions, but I got sidetracked by the first question: Aren’t faith and reason contradictory terms?

The question took me back to college when I first began to wrestle with this question.

Implied in that question is an assumption that the only rational conclusion of reason is disbelief in God. Reason is defined by Merriam Webster as “the power of the mind to think and understand in a logical way.” Faith is defined as the “strong belief or trust in someone or something.”

Note that faith is not defined in relation to evidence or reason, and this common definition of faith is not antithetical to evidence of reason either.

Reason (logic) depends on a premise, and premises are often tautological. Many premises are susceptible of proof, but many are not. The premise that the natural world is the totality of all reality is a premise many believe to be true, but it is not susceptible of proof (at least not scientific proof, unless one believes that science, which is limited to the study of the natural world is capable of proving that nothing other than the natural world exists though it is limited to the study of the natural world).

Continue reading “Are Reason & Faith in God Contradictory Terms?” →

Belief in God is not Blind Faith; Encounters with God

Faith is not blind or irrational. It is evidence based, but it does take some risk to act in hope and confidence on the evidence.

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Ryan Sun

Paul said that he is not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16) Belief (faith), therefore, is obviously central to spiritual life in Christ.

What is meant by faith, though? Is faith “blind”, as some describe it? Is faith is antithetical to science? Does science discount faith? Does faith require the suspension of intellect? Does faith require us to abandon obvious evidence to the contrary?

I have not found any of these things to be the case. Faith does require a “leap”, but faith is not like jumping out over a yawning chasm. The gap is much shorter, and the landing is much more sure than one might suppose.

Continue reading “Belief in God is not Blind Faith; Encounters with God” →