A Reasoned Faith

Last spring I began spending some time with a Freethinker group here at MSU. Doing so has been very instructive to me on a number of levels, and has made me think about a common misperception that many people, particularly atheists, have concerning the understanding of the term “faith”.

I’ve often seen a consistent dichotomy presented, where one is either logical and reasoned in their thinking, leading invariably to an unbelieving or nontheistic perspective, or one adheres to a belief system without any reason or logic.

But is Christianity truly a belief system that is predicated upon a faith that is “blind”? In other words, does Christianity ask of people to believe or trust in Jesus Christ in a vacuum, without any sound argumentation or evidence presented?

The answer is a resounding “no”.

When I decided to call entitled my blog “A Reasoned Faith”, I entitled it as such because in Biblical Christianity the term faith is defined as a confident trust and commitment to the God of the Bible that is grounded upon solid evidence, sound reasoning and logic and effective argumentation.

Contrary to popular thought espoused by the likes of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, Christianity is not a belief system that demands blind faith—trust that has lacks sound reasons to support it (an example of which one can find here, where villagers want to erect a temple to this little girl). Quite the opposite is true. Almost 2,000 years ago the Apostle John wrote:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

John, as an eyewitness to the events his Gospel records, attempted to provide those that heard the story of Jesus sound reasons for believing that He was indeed the promised Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world. Far from demanding from people a commitment to believing in Jesus without valid reasons, John offered eyewitness testimony to Jesus’ miracles, death, burial, and resurrection.

Far from meaning “trust or belief without reason or evidence”, Christianity is “a reasoned faith”—a confident trust in Jesus Christ that is grounded upon solid evidence, argumentation and reason.

Amazing…I have not blogged in almost an entire year!

Well, I”m back…no longer single, happily married, and ready to jump back into this crazy blogosphere.

Yay.

Geez, has it been over a month since I posted last? Where’s the time go? Oh yeah, work, life, dating, writing, etc.

Not much has been happening of late. Working all day at Elderly Instruments, then working ‘til the wee hours of the morning writing for the second half of Route 66. Each chapter is going to be about 50 pages long, meaning I’m trying to write about a 300-page seminary-level handbook before the class begins (hopefully in March). Lots of work, but MAN am I learning a ton about the Bible. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a daze with all the information swirling around in the ol’ noggin.

Speaking of my most endearing feature…back in October I took the Mensa test on a lark. If you’ve never heard of Mensa, it’s an organization that requires you to score in the top 2% of the nation on an IQ test for admissions. Anyway, I decided to take the test just to see if I could pass it. I figured having “Mensa” on my resume’ couldn’t hurt.

So there I was, with a group consisting of about a dozen guys and maybe one or two girls, all of whom wore U of M clothing or had questionable personal hygiene habits or a combination of the two. There was even one guy who was making jokes about some advanced mathematical equations (I kid you not). I felt like I’d enrolled at Cal Tech…

Believe me, the exams are HARD. You walk out realizing that you’re not as intelligent as you’d like to think you are. Anyway, I had no idea whether I’d “passed” or not until I got a letter saying I’d qualified to be a “Mensan”. Needless to say, I had to share this with the folks:

Me: Hey, mom, guess what? I joined Mensa!

Mom: That’s nice…so what’s Mensa?

Bless my mom for help keeping me humble.

Anyway, I’m hoping that this could be a cool ministry opportunity. Religion in general and Christianity in particular is often looked upon with disdain in intellectual circles. Perhaps this might be an avenue to influence others for the sake of the Gospel who might otherwise be dismissive of the Bible and its message.

We’ll see.

A couple of weeks ago April’s Aunt Mary finally passed away due to a prolonged illness. Though it was difficult, April was given the honor to write up her aunt’s obituary:

Mary J. Fowler Lansing, MI On October 7, 2006

Mary experienced “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension” (Philippians 4:7) when she took the hand of Jesus and entered into the presence of our Lord. The valley she walked through was long and hard but in the end she committed herself and family to Christ, the Lord of her life. We look forward to the day that we will feast with her in God’s kingdom. She will be deeply missed by her husband Phil; 3 children, David, Doretta and Angie; mother, Mary; her sister, Helen; 3 brothers, Frank (Barbara), Bill (Nannette) and Len (ShuKei); her niece, April; and her beloved Bichon, Captain Mighty Marshall. She brightened all of our lives in different ways and we will never forget her smile, sarcastic sense of humor, and most of all her generous tender heart. Her family wasn’t the only beneficiary of her love and kindness. She served the community and people with her gifts in the beauty industry. For many years, she affected countless hearts and blessed a multitude with her compassionate touch and ability to make one feel beautiful. Her colleagues and clients have suffered a great loss, and she loved every one of them dearly. Funeral Services will be Thursday at 11:00 a.m. at Eastlawn Memory Gardens Chapel with Pastor Steve Sommerlot of Riverview Church officiating. Visitation is Wednesday 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at the Palmer Bush & Jensen Family Funeral Homes, Lansing Chapel. Condolences at www.palmerbush.com.

Published in the Lansing State Journal – October 10, 2006

April and I arrived at the hospital within a half hour after getting the call that she had passed away. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that night, walking into the ICU and catching glimpses of patients barely alive and connected to a variety of breathing appartatus. There, in the room where April and I had prayed with her aunt just 24 hours before, was Aunt Mary’s mortal shell. The grief and sorrow in the room was palpable. At one point April’s Uncle Phil asked me to pray, and a passage from the Bible immediately came to mind. Searching for a Bible, I was able to find one and read from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

I comforted April by reminding her that her aunt was more alive now in the presence of the Lord than she had ever been in this world. After a mighty battle with her illness, the Lord finally took her home to be with Him. She would one day have a new body, a magnificent glorfied body unlike the one that she had departed from:

It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second Man is from Heaven. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the One from Heaven, so too those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the Man of Heaven. (1 Cor 15:42-49)

One day April and I will see her aunt again. Until that time, we miss her, and look forward to that awesome reunion that we’ll have with her. I’m absolutely certain that it’s going to be a huge block P-A-R-T-Y.

Aunt Mary wouldn’t have it any other way.

O.k., I really hate to do this.

Lately the comment box has been clogged with spam. I’ve been force to spend a ridiculous amount of time deleting 30 to 100 spam comments every few days. Let’s just say that I’m not thinking very nice thoughts to those who are sending me this garbage.

So I’ve updated the comment box to require people to register and log in to post comments. I’m very sorry to have to do this, but it’s the only way I can think of to try to stem this stuff.