Jan sent this across the email. Sounded interesting. Thought it might generate a comment or two.
smitty (the poet)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Fact, Faith, and Feeling
"Kreeft recounts a famous saying about Fact, Faith and Feeling walking along a wall. Fact goes first, then Faith, then Feeling. As long as Faith keeps his eyes on Fact, they all make steady progress. But Faith keeps turning around to see what’s going on with Feeling, and he gets unsteady. Faith and Feeling both end up tumbling off the wall, while Fact walks on alone."
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So what happened to Reason? Usually he's right there walking beside faith, discussing what both Facts and Feelings are up to. If I had to guess, I'd say Faith and Reason had conflict and Faith asked Reason to leave. Without Reason pointing Faith to Facts, Faith found Comfort, who is always following somewhere, with Feelings.
ReplyDeleteThis is sounding a lot like John Bunyan wrote this.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder why it is that faith and reason seem to be pitted against each other so often? I don't think it should be that way. The same God that commands us to walk by faith is the same God that gave us minds! More on this topic is forthcoming, I plan to review John Piper's "Think" in an upcoming post, but for now, I think the reason that faith is so weak in Christians is precisely becuase we don't use our minds in pursuit of God.
You are spot on. I tend to think of reason and faith as bitter enemies, when in fact, the one should re-enforce the other. God created us as reasonable beings, and all roads of reason should lead us to Faith in Him. However, sin gets in the way. Depraved thinking forces us on detours that we were never intended to take.
ReplyDelete~smitty
Smitty - "However, sin gets in the way. Depraved thinking forces us on detours that we were never intended to take."
ReplyDeleteSo then where does that leave us? In the depraved state we find ourselves, are reason and faith again bitter enemies?
Yeah, in most cases they become and remain enemies; or working against each other, if you will.. The Holy Spirit has to move on us and enlighten us to salvation. There are evidences all around us: nature, our conscience, the moral code written on our heart, etc., as laid out it Romans. But until that "reasoning" or "general revelation" is met with the "special revelation" of the Holy Spirit, reason will win out, and faith will take the back seat. It is like we are lying there in our spiritual coffin-motionless, breathing but not living, eyes open and yet blind-until the Holy Spirit comes and takes our reason by the hand and our faith by the other hand and becomes the bridge between the two. I just think faith and reason will be unreconcilable without that "special revelation". What does everyone else think?
ReplyDelete~smitty (the poet)
Help me understand. It seems to me that you are saying two things here 1) Faith and reason are, in most cases, working against each other. In and of themselves, they cannot be reconciled and 2) reason alone cannot lead a person to God. While I wholeheartedly agree with your second posit, I don't think it necessitates the first. If reason is inadequate in its pursuit of God, does it follow that reason and faith are in opposition to each other? Why can't they work together?
ReplyDeleteJust a thought, but would reason ever be ok with believing something without evidence?
ReplyDeleteI guess that would depend on your criteria for evidence. In my mind, reason is dependend on evidence, though evidence isn't necessarily limited to material.
ReplyDelete