Unconscious Faith: The result of divorcing Faith and reason

     Several months ago I was invited to teach at a youth forum. At the end of the forum they had an open discussion where the youth were given the opportunity to raise questions, comments or issues that were of concern to them and we as the speakers were to give biblical responses addressing their concerns. One of the students raised her hand and said "I believe in God because my parents and my pastor talk about Him and I believe the Bible, but sometimes I doubt he exists. How can I know that God really exists?" One of the speakers responded, "You can't prove God's existence, you just have to accept it by faith." My argumentative nature quickly kicked into gear making me forget the virtues of being patient and slow to speak, I quickly interjected, "I don't think that's true." As soon as those words left the tip of my tongue, I felt like I just completely uninvited myself. Given enough time, in a different setting, instead of a 10-15 minutes open discussion I could have expounded more on my interjection and proved to them that I was not an atheist or a Secular humanist but in fact a Christian; however, time did not permit. The forum quickly ended. I don't know if it was because of what I said, but I left the forum looking like a heretic because I did not agree that faith alone was not a sufficient nor a satisfactory answer to the question "how can I know that God really exists."

     Those who are familiar with Reformed theology, often hear the phrase, "Sola Fide." This is a Latin term originated during the reformation, quoted by many of the Early Church Fathers, a term which means “Faith alone.” Let me say this now before anyone begins to assume I am a heretic. I believe 100% in the doctrine of “Sola fide.” It is by faith alone man can be justified. So if we are using the term "faith alone" in a salvific sense, I have no objections to that. However, if we are taking the position that reason is irrelevant to religious belief, rational or scientific arguments for the existence of God are fallacious and have nothing to do with the truth of Christian theology, it is by “faith alone” we accept the Christian worldview, then we have an unconscious faith. Faith alone does not make a system of religious beliefs or worldview true. I could have faith that unicorns exist but that certainly doesn’t make it true. Similarly, one who adheres to a religious system could have “faith” but that does not validate their beliefs.

     There was a time in history when the “Christian mind” had a huge impact on shaping the thinking of culture. The discipline of philosophy, reasoning, and rationalizing challenged many people and inspired them to explain such things as time (the past, present, and future), reality, what/who god is and creation. Christian philosophy offered the most logically consistent, coherent and plausibly realistic understanding of life and the world. But it seems as if the discipline of “reasoning” in Christianity has taken a few steps backward. Rather than Christians being the intellectuals of culture, the intellectual culture of our day is for the most part profoundly non-theistic. An unhealthy approach to “Sola fide” has resulted to Fideism, the idea that faith and reason are incompatible with each other.

     When you divorce reason from faith, when one makes religious claims involving absolute certainty and personal commitment that goes beyond what can be rationally justified and seeking evidence is irrelevant, that faith which is not both reasonable and logical will only be as strong as we feel at that given moment in time. The strength of that faith then rests upon our own strength and will likely increase and crumble depending on our circumstances. However, faith that is founded on reason that is both reasonable and logical has many outside evidences to support it and strengthen it. Understanding the rational and logical foundations of our faith in Christ helps to lay a very solid foundation that will help us withstand life’s storms. Understanding the rational and logical foundations of our faith also enables us to be effective evangelist. While we cannot prove God’s existence scientifically, we certainly have ample evidence of His existence in creation alone.While we cannot convince individuals to accept Christianity with logic and reason, we can present a faith that is consistent, coherent and true and to deny that, is foolish.

     In conclusion, the definition of faith for the record is not “an unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence.”  That is not a Biblical definition, that is Webster’s. The Biblical definition of faith is “being sure of what we hope for and evidence of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)” Though Webster's says we don't need evidence to have faith, as Christians we do have evidence for our faith and we can give good arguments that God exists. Unfortunately, this blog was not intended to address arguments for God’s existence, rather my intent is to draw attention to the Christian community. This culture needs Christians who have a conscious faith. We need Christians that are prepared to make a defense and give a reason for the hope that is in them. We need Christians that can articulate well not only the truth claims of the Gospel but also a coherent, consistent and plausible realistic understanding of Christianity.