Imagine that the Apostle John approached you and said, “Believe in Jesus. Later I will tell you who he was and what he did.” What would be the content of your belief? Faith must be in something. A level of understanding precedes faith. Faith then opens the door for greater understanding.
A famous 20th Century theologian, Cornelius Van Til, argued the reverse. He argued that, unless God exists, no understanding can be possible to man.
In his guest post at The Gospel Coalition a couple days ago, Jason Helopoulos wrote on Evangelism, Reason, and Faith.
I enjoy reading Helopoulos, so I was surprised to find him setting up the false dichotomy between reason and faith. His article revealed a mystical approach to what knowledge is and to why we have faith in Jesus. My mission includes helping people value their own reason. I have to argue against Helopoulos on this topic.
In this blog I advocate the principle that “if we will live,” we must choose to value our own lives, our reason, and our faith. I seek to reproduce my philosophical convictions in other people. For the sake of clarity, I’ve created an outline of my system. This and future posts will expound my system.
A philosophical system must answer three basic kinds of questions: What kind of world is it? Why am I able to know it? How will I act? The central tenets of my philosophy are epistemological objectivism and a Christian morality of rational self-interest.
This page gives my answers to 42 of my favorite bad ideas in philosophy, along with my own condensed answers. It functions as an outline of much of my philosophical project, especially focusing on epistemology. Many future posts will elaborate on the points found here.
As you read the blunders, try quizzing yourself. If you know it’s wrong, can you explain the issue? Enjoy!
Faith comes at the conclusion of a reasoning process—not as the presupposition to it. Let’s look at the disciples for a demonstration.
The disciples saw Jesus heal the sick and bring the dead to life. They saw him walk on water and calm a storm. These facts convinced them to have faith in Jesus, believing him to be the Son of God (Matt 16:16).
