Reason and Faith
I believe that there should be stability between reason and faith. Reason should not overtake faith because reason can cause one to hesitate or act hurriedly. Proverbs 3:5 states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.” This text does not forbid a person to reason; it discourages all from becoming dependent upon rationalization.
In Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus in the third chapter of John’s gospel, Nicodemus had difficulty understanding the process of spiritual rebirth. “If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things (John 3:12,NRSV)? In truth reason is limited by one’s own understanding. Because we are finite beings and our understanding is limited, we perform better under the operation of faith.
Mary was told that she would bear a son. In her wonder, she asked the question, how? Understandably, she was a virgin. The angel told her that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her. She believed. Mary accepted what she understood. She then believed all that she did not understand.
Zechariah was told that his prayer had been heard and that his wife would conceive. He believed that God could perform this miracle; however, his reasoning weakened his faith. In Luke 1:18, Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." Now Zachariah did believe that God could give him and his wife a child; however due to his understanding of the aging process as well as the birthing process, he reasoned that God would not give them a child at this time in their lives.
1 comment:
I think your blog definitely is helpful in keeping people from straying and relying on other sources than the true source. God is really great in letting us know when to be silent, and providing words of comfort through us if we only trust and follow that guidance as we receive it. More people today, I agree want to really know God by having a closer relationship with God rather than vicariously through there pastor or minister. So, I think they want to hear more about how to have this relationship, and in what ways this relationship affects their lives on a daily basis. For example, getting to know their spiritual selves better and how to recognize and commune more spiritually. They want to hear more pragmatic ways to use, understand, and know about what they're reading in the Bible. This is why I think Joel Olsteen is so popular and good. Also, all the prosperity preach ers as they are called.
Let's see, you're poor, have nothing to show for your years of working hard, tithing, reading the bible. Everyone can sense something is wrong with this picture. Most of the old traditionalists preachers are still constantly preaching about everyone being sinners, and everything being better in the by and by. People get preached at constantly about all the things that are going wrong in this world today, and not enough about how it can be changed. This is why people perk up when they hear about the law of attraction via The Secret via change your way of thinking, versus you reap what you sow, and/or stories in the Bible without the straight up all the way home to where one is today. Example, like what you said about Mary accepting what she understood and believing what she did not understand. Many pastors and ministers leave it at that, expecting people to understand how that applies to them. Unfortunately, many people just think that's a story being preached to them to explain about Mary and fail to see how it relates to them.
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