Faith and Reason (Part 1)

by Terry Ivy
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Throughout church history man has struggled with the battle between faith and reason. Most struggles end with one being superior, and the other one rejected. Humanists and secularists takes 'reason,' along with sensory experience (physical evidence) as the supreme sources for discovering truth. Many religious groups take 'faith' as supreme to the exclusion of reason. The former gets locked away into an intellectual constipation of sorts, ultimately denying the totality of the design of man. While the later yields to emotional and subjective non-sense with a 'make it up as you go,' religious paradigm.

We must tackle several questions when looking at this subject. What is faith? What is reason? Do they oppose each other? Are they compatible? If so, how? Can they work together to avoid both extremes which takes place when one is upheld at the exclusion of the other? Are there limits to reason? Are there limits to faith? We must properly understand the place of both faith and reason within our perception faculties before clarification concerning their relationship can be stated.
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REASON

Reason carries many variations depending upon the usage, but it generally means "an explanation or justification of an act, idea" and/or the use of "sound thoughts, judgments; good sense."

Reason differs depending upon one's understanding or acceptance of the sources of knowledge. This gets into the field of epistemology. Epistemology is the study of warrant or justification for holding a belief or claiming knowledge, or in short, how do we know what know? There are four main sources or origins of knowledge or belief: Sensory, Reason, Testimony, and Intuition. These four origins of knowledge/beliefs are what make us unique and special as rational persons. All four of these origins are legitimate within their own scope. Each one has a place within the function of our cognitive faculties to help us form justified beliefs. On the other hand, each one can lead us astray if we do not understand their limits and the need to see them tested and/or balanced by the other sources.

'Reason' holds a very unique place among these four sources. It functions, not only as one of the sources, but it also is a 'governing' canopy over each one. This unique role is difficult to explain, but let's look at it briefly. We can receive and form beliefs based upon 'reason' alone as one of the sources/origins of belief. Reason leads to the truth of the law of non-contradiction. For example, a statement cannot be true and false at the same time. Why? Because the truthful state of affairs does not allow such a ridiculous claim of absolute contradiction to exist. Take the statement, "God does and does not exist." Reason demands that both cannot be true! However, equally so, reason cannot, by and of itself, tell us which part is true. It must have input from the other three sources in order to properly evaluate the complete picture of reality.

Another example: The statement, "There is a green car in my driveway." I can not determine the accuracy of this statement using reason alone. This statement could be true, and with equal credibility, it may be false. In this example, reason needs the assistance of sensory (the perception of my five senses), or the help from the testimony of someone looking out the window to make a determination. If no one is around, I go to the window and look for a green car! Therefore, in the realm of mental speculation, reason functions as source of truth and is an important belief forming mechanism, but many times, it needs assistance from the other sources.

What about the other side when reason functions as a canopy over all four origins of belief? We use reason to receive and evaluate information which comes to us from every one of sources. We receive information from sensory, experience, testimony, intuition and memories. Then through reason, we work them together to form beliefs. The conclusion is that reason governs the input of these sources to help us decide which belief offers warrant or justification to be a truth claim. This is happening thousands of time a day and very fast during our day. The more important a belief is to us, the slower and more careful we consider all the inputs from the various sources before coming to a conclusion. (This is why a judge tells the jury to refrain from a verdict until they have heard 'all' the evidence!) Look at how Solomon mentioned this.

"He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him." (Proverbs 18:13)

Therefore, reason is a very important source and function for humans to form beliefs. In fact, it is impossible to think and form a belief 'apart' from reason. The issue, as I will address in another article, is not whether reason is good, but what type of 'reasoning' are we using? There are various rational equations which affect how our faculty of reason functions. Look for that post when it is finished. ("Understanding Rational Equations" It will distinguish between humanistic reasoning, cultic reasoning, honest reasoning and godly reasoning to name a few.)

FAITH

Faith, also translated 'belief' in the N.T., carries two main meanings. (1) a persuasion that something is true (mental assent) and (2) a personal surrender to that truth. For Christians, it is important to understand that whereas Satan has #1 (mental assent, see Jas. 2:19), only Christians have both #1 (mental assent) and #2. (personal surrender)

Therefore, when we speak of the 'faith' to become a Christian, we are referring to the surrender of our life to the truth of salvation revealed in the Bible. We are not just saying it is true, we are surrendering to that truth! (Secular men use the term faith to refer to the acceptance of a testimony apart from physical evidence. They fall into a trap of isolationism when they do this, but I will discuss this in another article.) For believers in the Christ of the Bible, faith is not a contentless or made up fairy tale, but rather a trust in the revelation and promises of God, confirmed by the Scriptures and witnessed by the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." (II Pet. 1:16)

Now an important fact: our exercise of faith in the propositional testimony of Scripture uses reason to evaluate and conclude that it is true. We accept God's Word as an accurate testimony which reveals the truth of salvation, then we accept Christ's atonement by trusting in His work alone. So, we have the mental assent of faith (I believe it is true), and the surrender of saving faith! (I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior) In short, the gospel passes every test which is thrown at it: critically, historically, scientifically and subjectively. The evidence for believing in Christ is overwhelming in every branch of epistemology. The only way a person will reject the gospel is if their belief forming faculties have been further damaged by their continual hostile rejection of God's testimony provided to them through creation, conscience and Scripture.

Because of His Grace,
Terry

Continued with Part 2