Is Christianity unreasonable as critics claim? They say it is because according to them, faith contradicts reason. Many believe this and as a result we have seen many within the Church divorce faith from reason, a concern that many evangelicals are addressing, such as J. P. Moreland in his book Love Your God With All Your Mind, and others. This is a charge leveled by those who don’t understand how the Bible defines reason and what is says about the relationship between faith and reason. Neither do they know what orthodox Christianity has historically held and taught concerning this whole issue of faith and reason. Just because they don’t understand the relationship between the two doesn’t make faith or Christianity unreasonable. If only that which we fully understand is reasonable, then most of what we hold to be true in our lives would have to be labeled as unreasonable, isn’t that unreasonable?
God is a rational being; therefore we are rational beings as well since we are created in His image. There are a number of passages in the Bible that clearly teach us that we are to worship God and bring Him glory through our use of reason, we show God that we love Him by using our minds (Deut. 6:4-5; Matt. 22:37).
Faith is unreasonable they say, but why? Not because faith is unreasonable but rather because to them faith is foolish (1 Cor. 1:18). To prove that faith and reason are inseparable, just consider the doctrine of salvation, the threefold nature of saving faith: knowledge, assent, and trust. The point being, we respond to the Gospel through the use of reason, by using our minds.
To the dismay of many who don’t understand Christianity, Christianity doesn’t call people to exercise the type of faith that requires them to take a blind leap in the dark. That which Christians believe and hold as convictions is supported by a great deal of evidence, in fact, Christianity throughout the centuries has survived all sorts of scrutiny, precisely because it is a reasonable faith.
Although it is true that we cannot fully comprehend everything the Bible teaches since the finite mind is incapable of comprehending certain mysteries, this does not render faith/Christianity irrational.
God is a rational being; therefore we are rational beings as well since we are created in His image. There are a number of passages in the Bible that clearly teach us that we are to worship God and bring Him glory through our use of reason, we show God that we love Him by using our minds (Deut. 6:4-5; Matt. 22:37).
Faith is unreasonable they say, but why? Not because faith is unreasonable but rather because to them faith is foolish (1 Cor. 1:18). To prove that faith and reason are inseparable, just consider the doctrine of salvation, the threefold nature of saving faith: knowledge, assent, and trust. The point being, we respond to the Gospel through the use of reason, by using our minds.
To the dismay of many who don’t understand Christianity, Christianity doesn’t call people to exercise the type of faith that requires them to take a blind leap in the dark. That which Christians believe and hold as convictions is supported by a great deal of evidence, in fact, Christianity throughout the centuries has survived all sorts of scrutiny, precisely because it is a reasonable faith.
Although it is true that we cannot fully comprehend everything the Bible teaches since the finite mind is incapable of comprehending certain mysteries, this does not render faith/Christianity irrational.
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