Faith does not ignore reason and knowledge; it is a level of understanding that operates in addition to reason and knowledge.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the evidence of what we do not see. It is not the denial of what we do see. That is lying.
Abraham knew that he and Sarah were both ancient when they had Isaac. They didn’t deny the fact that their bodies were as good as dead in that respect. What they did was acknowledge that there was an additional factor in the equation – God. They didn’t start going around claiming to be in their twenties all over again.
Faith is not wilful ignorance and it is not gullibility. To portray it as if it were is to turn it from a bold and effective approach to life into a fundamentally dishonest enterprise that seeks to make things up and invent its own alternative reality. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
I never said that it was. Stop putting words into my mouth.
I said that intelligence can be a barrier or detriment to faith for that precise reason. What you don’t know can’t affect you but the more you know the more you have to take into account.
I don’t imagine that I know what most people think, but I personally think that in the encounter with the rich man Jesus may have been giving the Apostles an opportunity to consider that He is God.
But am glad that the scriptures, in more places than the 2 I listed earlier, recognize some people as good and righteous.
This passage gives us a goal to aspire to: Matthew 25:23
His master said to him, ‘Welldone, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
I’m pretty sure that you didn’t mean to equate faith with wilful ignorance, Richard, and I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I thought you did.
But the fact remains that there are many people—both Christians and non-Christians—who do view faith as either being or demanding some form of wilful ignorance or other. Some of them view this misconception to belittle and denigrate faith, while others act on it and practice wilful ignorance in the name of “faith”. And some of us have actually had to face the consequences of having done so. When you say things such as this:
anyone who has, or who is recovering from, such a misconception will hear you equating faith with wilful ignorance, whether that is your intention or not. You need to understand that there is a difference between what you say, what you actually mean, and what people listening to you think that you mean. The goal of clear communication is to try to keep that difference as small as possible, and bearing in mind the presuppositions and assumptions that your audience make is an important part of that.
The whole point that I’m trying to make here is that faith and reason should be seen as complementary, not as contradictory. If someone finds that reason is undermining faith, it’s because they haven’t learned how to make the two work together and build each other up. They need to be taught how to do that, not to ditch one in favour of the other.
As someone who has had to rectify both scientific knowledge (sometimes a little knowledge is as difficult as major study) and notions of equality and ethics, with my Christian teaching, I am fully aware of the need for reasoning as opposed to blind acceptance of scripture or doctrine. However, I am a little envious of those who do not see the conflicts that I do…It does seem that too much knowledge can cause problems, especially when it is incomplete. There is something secure and safe about a simplistic faith. As a preacher, I have to be aware of disrupting faith by casting doubt on a literal acceptance of passages of scripture. There has to be an alternative answer ready if you are going to claim a view is wrong.
On the flip side, I have often been complimented on giving people something to think about.
So I guess what I have been trying to say is that ignorance can be bliss until it is confronted with new knowledge, then it can become a problem. So perhaps there is something to be said for being ignorant? What you don’t know, you don’t fret over.
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t recognize that they were a sinner. Sin is just falling short of God’s standards, and most people recognize they fall short of their own.
There you go cutting chunks out of the scriptures again! And not just from Paul; from John and the Psalms and from Kings . . .
Which is to say that faith requires knowledge. Unless you’re talking about the ridiculous New Age sort of faith which is just a nebulous positive feeling, faith requires an object, and there has to be knowledge about that object.
Hello St. Roymond. My name is Evan S Singh from Alaska and I have never sinned in my life. I have spent all my adult life giving more than taking. It bugs me that Christians hold me to some standard that they can’t define, that they cannot meet and expect me to meet.
I live my life unencumbered by unsupportable, often counter productive, prescriptions for me.
As I understand it the idea of forgiveness is to remove the feelings of guilt (as much as anything) so along comes someone without any sense of guilt and the first thing a Christian does is to try and burden him.
The idea that someone could not need redemption?
Matt 12: 9
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
hmm.
the problem here being that in throwing it he would blot his copybook as judging and condemnation are considered sinful by God.
Get off the stage… Matt 12:9 says: “Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,”
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." is Matt: 9:12.
Read Revelation 21 behold, i will create a new heavens and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more
You dont know your bible. It absolutely does preach global anihilationism.
And for further evidence, go back and read Nebuchadnezzars dream and tue interpretation in Daniel chapter 2.
44In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.
Anyone who knows their bible knows the dreams in Daniel point to the end times which are illustrated again the Revelation.
Then go back and also read Isaiah 65
17.For behold, I will create a new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
We have two major prophets of the old testament writing about this and its confirmed by the apostle John in the A.D 90’s (60 years after Christs ministry) when he wrote the book of Revelation.
What does he say immediately next? It involves making judgements and having good judgment: Matthew 7:6. He does so similarly in Matthew 16:6, and in the gospels of Mark and Luke as well.
