Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Either Faith or Reason or Both?

Either Faith or Reason or Both?: It would seem, at least on the surface, that faith and reason are two fundamentally incompatible concepts. Faith begins precisely where speaking ends. And if the spoken word is one of the major signals of reason, then it would appear that faith constitutes a diametrically opposing idea to reason. In fact, faith is often viewed as a primary tenet of the irrational side to the human experience. Aside from speaking, faith also begins where thinking ends. In effect, the mind has to shut out all possibilities of the "other" in order to engage fully in the process of faith. Defining the "other" is important insofar as it relates to faith. Basically, the "other" is anything that seeks to attack, disprove, or unravel faith. Scientific proofs and other forms of hard data are the common ways that humans attempt to shake and test faith. For this reason, it is rather simple to see the rise of science and technology as a potential barrier to building and growing one's faith. And if what French mathematician and Catholic apologist Blaise Pascal says is correct, then God is "infinitely incomprehensible," and therefore, Christians cannot rationally defend and/or explain their faith.

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