February 26, 2005
-
faith and irrationality...
Here's an interesting quote... comments welcome...
"If the contents of the Bible did not correspond with the truths which God has revealed in his external works and the constitution of our nature, it could not be received as coming from Him, for God cannot contradict himself. Nothing, therefore, can be more derogatory to the Bible than the assertion that its doctrines are contrary to reason. The assumption that reason and faith are incompatible; that we must become irrational in order to become believers is, however it may be intended, the language of infidelity; for faith in the irrational is of necessity itself irrational....We can believe only what we know, i.e., what we intelligently apprehend."
Charles Hodge, principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878] Systematic Theology, 3 vols., reprint (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 1:83-84.
Comments (1)
I mostly disagree. What is meant by saying "its doctrines are contrary to reason"? Reason, as I understand it, simply means explaining. People seem to like to throw "reason" and "logic" around as though they are absolutes and the source of all light... it just means we try to answer 'why?'
What, then, is "irrational?" Something without a reason? Without actual reason, or without apparent reason? This echoes some of the discussion about God's "reasoning" in condemning many people to hell. Is there a reason? I think so... I believe so. But, do I see it, completely? Do I "intelligently apprehend" why God wanted to and is good for making a world in which people go to hell when he certainly had the capability to make one in which they didn't? Haha, no. I can give half-reasons, ie, the ones the Bible tells me to. But I can't argue that I "intelligently apprehend" them. In the end, I just trust in God's goodness, and that He had a good reason, or that His good pleasure was reason enough.
Comments are closed.