Faith vs. Reason?

In class the other day, we had a pretty interesting discussion of the topics of faith and reason, and the two combined, so I thought it would be a good idea to take a careful look at each of these topics, separately, and see if there is any way that we can make these two mix.

Faith.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” –Hebrews 11:1

For the most part, if you ask people what Faith is, they will tell you that it is a system of beliefs, a specific religion, or something else along these lines. According to Hebrews, it’s a bit more than that. It is being SURE if what we hope for, and CERTAIN of what we do not see. Faith isn’t just something that we believe in; it is something that we have no doubt in. True faith is a belief that is not just an aspect of our life, but it is strong enough to define who we are.

I’d like to examine another passage of scripture from James 1:14-26

“What good is it, my brothers if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Supposed a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and set them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead”

The point that I am trying to show you here is that faith is not merely belief. Our faith is something that defines us and what we do. Whether we believe in God, Buddha, Gandhi or Star Wars, it is nothing at all unless it is the basis for how we live our lives.

Reason.

Reason is the process of logically breaking something down so that we can understand it. It is based on known facts and experience. It is a God-given ability that is one of the many things that sets us apart from other creations. We were made in God’s image, and our ability to reason is one of the many proofs of that. Reason is used in a variety of different ways, whether that be in solving a math problem, proving a case against a criminal, trying to find lost keys or debating the reason for our existence.

Do they work together?

I think that it is foolish of us to look at these two topics as if they were opposites. Reason does not contradict faith, and faith does not contradict reason.

I’d like to share with you a quote from Pope John Paul II.

“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves”

I think that his Popeness is on to something here, or at least being CLOSE to being on to something. I think that faith and reason are both given to us by God to be used to understand Him better (although not fully).

Conclusion.

I believe that faith is our life-guiding certainty in God, and that it is strengthened by reason. Yet at the same time, reason is our process of understanding God, and our faith guides it.