Faith and reason are not opposites.
Or, better put, faith and reason do not contradict each other.
In TV debates, newspaper articles, etc., people like to write off Creation by saying it's just faith. No reason involved. Just blind faith. Here's another something that might surprise you:
God does not even WANT us to have blind faith.
God is a very reasonable, logical god! He doesn't want us to follow him blindly. He doesn't want us to take everything every preacher says. He doesn't want us to take in the Bible without looking into it, testing it, questioning it. God thinks that faith and reason should go hand in hand!
Why have faith in something if reason says otherwise? It doesn't make sense, and our God is a VERY sensical God!
Evolutionists like to make God out to be like a grown-up version of Santa Claus. Santa makes little kids feel safe, watched, and loved by someone bigger than just their own family circle. The child has faith, and that's all that matters to him.
As the child gets older and is exposed to more ideas and opinions, he will be told that Santa isn't real. The child will, at first, think this is a horrible lie and refuse to look into it further. As the child gets older, he will probably preform a little expirement and stay up to see if Santa comes.
When the child sees his parents sneaking gifts under the tree, he will be faced with two options: one, stick with faith and continue to believe something he knows is a lie, or two, go with reason and give up his faulty belief.
If the child choses to believe in Santa despite what he has seen, people will probably put up with him, maybe even think he is cute, but they will not take him seriously. If he continues to believe in Santa into adulthood, he will probably be labeled insane.
So, is the God of the Bible like Santa Claus? Just a cute little myth that one must rely on faith to believe? One can defend a myth by saying that it gives comfort, and can even be morally and socially helpful if kept in its place. Even athiests worry about what will happen to society if religion disappears completely. Christians can even buy the tolerance of agnostics by using the "faith escape".
So, for all scientific and intellegent purposes, Christianity is classified as a "higher supersition", which is basically an irrational belief that's relatively respected in society.
But all this isn't true. Faith and reason are not opposites, they are not mutually exclusive, and they do not contradict each other.
I know what you're thinking: "Easy to say. Show me. Prove it."
Okay. I will.
Keep reading, because that's just what I intend to do. I refuse to be one of the Christians who believes in God simply because it's what they were always taught, it makse them feel better, and they don't want to explore other options. I refuse to take what I've always been given simply BECAUSE it's what I've always been given. I refuse to believe in God only because it makes me feel better about my life. God gave me a brain, he gave me resources to explore, and theories that need to be looked into.
I firmly and honestly believe that God is happiest when we challenge him, look into things for ourselves, test him. Wanna know why?
Because God isn't scared.
God has nothing to be afraid of.
God is the truth, so what IS there to be afraid of?
Why should we refuse to test God because we're afraid he won't stand up to it? If we're afraid to look too hard, if we're afraid we'll disprove God, why are we still believing in him? If God is a big phoney, DON'T YOU WANT TO KNOW?
That's why this series is not just for Evolutionists. It's for Creationists, too. Don't be afraid to test God. Don't be afraid to look into the Bible, asked the hard questions, tear apart Jesus's logic.
Because faith and reason are not opposites.
I was reading your post and up until about the sixth paragraph I was surprised to find that I believed strongly with what you said. I didn't agree with what you said about Evolutionists. (Surprise, surprise!) But to make sure this is heard, I really agree that faith and reason should not be opposites in religion. Although, "reason" is one of the reasons why I believe in Evolution.
ReplyDeletePlease don't group Evolutionists like you have been doing. Yes, some of them believe in the God you described. Many "believe" in God because they know religion benefits society. But that doesn't mean that all of us do. There are some Evolutionists that are more dedicated than Creationists. And, if I may be blunt, I think Evolutionist Christians are the ones who use more reason than Creationists, while still holding on to faith. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.
Well, did you read the first post in the series, Definition Distaster? It talks about falling into the trap that you might be falling into. When true Evolutionists say "Evolution", they don't mean it the way you do, even if they might pretend that they do. Maybe you should go back and read the post again?
ReplyDeleteI think I got that post pretty down pat. (I like using that phrase when no one can use it against me.)I usually refrain from mixing those up. I also understand that usually the more agreed upon talk of E-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N is usually uncapitalized.
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant in my last comment was that I do believe in the capitalized Evolution--that is, the alternate from Creationist genesis. But I also believe in a caring God. And even though I believe in a different creation than yours, I still see no reason why Evolutionists cannot believe in a caring God.
I'm honestly not sure how you can be an Evolutionist and still believe in a Caring God, because, unfortunately, "Evolution" BY DEFINITION means that there is no god.
ReplyDeleteEvolutionist: "a person who believes in or supports a theory of evolution, esp. in biology."
ReplyDelete-Dictionary.com
Theory of Evolution: "a scientific theory of the origin of species of plants and animals."
-Dictionary.com
I must apologize for two things. One: that I had to resort to dictionary.com for definitions. Two: that I took your last phrase so literally. I included those definitions because nothing about that implies that there is no God or that there isn't a caring God. Seriously, anyone who disagrees can suggest that. I believe in the Theory of Evolution. I believe in a God. I don't see how those contradict.
I don't think you meant it maliciously at all, but it was still somewhat offensive. It doesn't anger me when you say you support Capital Punishment. It doesn't anger me when you say you're a republican. But it does anger me when you say things like that. Sorry my comments always have to be contradicting yours. I will say now that I think you're a really good writer and your blog is fun to read. Thanks!
I very sincerely appologize for offending you in any way. That was not my intention at all, and I'm very sorry.
ReplyDeleteAlright. If you believe that God created the first few organisms and then let things happen, that's fine. What this series is trying to show is that unfortunately, that isn't what scientists believe, and it isn't what is being taught in the public school system. What is being taught in the school system is this:
Evolution: "An unsupervized, impersonal, unpredictable, and natural process of temporal descent with genetic modification that is affected by natural selection, chance, historal contingencies and changing environments."
That is unfortunately what the scientific theory states. That's obviously not what you believe, so when I say "Evolutionists" in this series, it will not apply to you. When I compare and talk about Evolutiontionists in this series I will be relying on the definition above.
It means a lot to me that you think I'm a good writer! That is the highest compliment for me. Thank you for reading, and even more for commenting. I really sorry if I've ever offended you; I do not mean to. I enjoy "debating" with you and hearing your perspectives.
~Kendra
I see you don't particularly enjoy debating with me, but I can't blame you. I'm more hard core than my ole' pal Christopher. I believe that the definition of evolution that is being taught in the public school system is perfectly accpetable. I don't believe in teaching any form of creationism in schools because it really has no basis in science. I don't think that creationism had no place, but I think one place it should not be is in the classroom. You will find that many of your Republican gods also agree with me. Am I an Evolutionist or a evolutionist as you called Christopher? I really hate how you keep grouping them. Very narrow minded, but then again I can't expect much more from this post. (Sorry about that last part, I'm in a bit of a bad mood today)
ReplyDeleteI enjoy debating with anyone :)
ReplyDeleteThe definition being taught in public schools is perfectly, except for the problem of it being untrue. I can see why you say that Creationism is not scientific and therefore doesn't belong in the classroom. However, what I will show in following posts is that as much as scientists like to brag on their "evidence" for Evolution, there's really nothing to comfirm it. Look closely at the "evidence", and you will be surprised.
When all the facts are checked, Evolution (capital "E", mind you) is actually harder and less scientific to believe in than Creation.
Personally, I'm not demanded that Evolution be taken out of the schools, but I do believe it should not be presented as though it is hard and true science and the only option. I think Creationism should be taught along *with* Evolution.
Hopefully you'll stick around for the rest of the series!
Oh, I'm not going anywhere! I have look at the evidence and have attended several exhibits about evolution, and all the vidence I needed was there. Did you know Charles Darwin was a devout Christain and actually postponed his paper on evolution because he feared it may hurt the church? The only reason why he did release it is because someone else was beginning to discover something similar. This brings me to ask the question, why would a man who is a devout Christain and Creationist discover something that may be different than the theory of creationism if it wasn't true? He wasn't looking for a theory different than creation, he just discovered it because it is the truth. There is a lot of evidence to support evolution. How do you explain the skeletal remains of dinosaurs and neanderthals? It just doesn't make sense that God literally created the Earth! How is it harder to believe than creationism? The only proof of Creationism is the bible which although is a very important book, it does not truly convince me to believe in creationism.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did know all that about Darwin. I also know that he practiced some not-so-Christian things and was not exaclty your ideal role model morally.
ReplyDeleteHopefully all that will answered in the upcoming posts.
Thanks for reading!
Hmm...it really makes me sad when people debate like this. No offense to either of you, but it shouldn't be personal and it shouldn't be so attacking. I sound like a nagging parent, but that's just how I feel.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to sound like a wounded child. You didn't offend me. But, just like I nagged before in my first paragraph, it shouldn't be personal. That's it. You're okay.
To clarify: yes, I believe in that definition of Evolution you just gave us. I also believe that God inspires it and controls it in a more indirect way that we can't really understand. I don't think God interferes in the way that many people think he does. I can't understand how Creationism is more scientifically sound than the Theory of Evolution. I'm not saying Creationists are wrong, but I will be bold enough to say that it has no scientific evidence. That doesn't mean it's wrong. But I can say that it has no scientific proof.
About public education, I think it's okay for them to teach that. It depends whether you believe that America really belongs to the Christians. If not, then it's no more fair to teach than any other religous account. Bye for now!
America was founded on the principle of separation of chruch and state, so teaching creationist or even somewhat creationist thoeries in public schools really goes against what we stand for as a nation. I also think Christopher is correct about Goad and his influence. It's not like you can really explain it, but you have faith in it. And there's more faith in that than there is in creationist theories. My debating is more like attacking because that's just the kind of person I am online. I actually think I;m a pretty nice guy and if you met me in person who probably won't "recogonize" me so to speak. And yes, Darwin did questionable things, but no one's truly perfect and for me he was a role model. And guess what (this will really make you mad) Obama's a role model of mine too!
ReplyDeleteContrary to popular belief, the Constitution says nothing about keeping seperate Church and State. All it says is this: "Congress shall make no law respecting and establishment of religion or prohibiting the free excercise thereof."
ReplyDeleteAll that means is that the government can't control what people believe in.
Haha, about your being a "nice guy", the same goes for me. I'm really not this argumentative in real life.
Having Obama be your role model is your business, it doesn't make me angry, just sort of...puzzled.
How puzzled? Unlike many Presidents, in a few hundred years he will still be remembered. My kids will probably have him as a question on a history exam. But that's beside the point. Answer me this though. Are you a supporter of Sarah Palin? I won't judge, just curious.
ReplyDeleteThe nation was founded on that belief of seperation of church and state, and really athiesm is a belife in no God and you have faith in that, so that syaing that the government can't controll what people believe does mean seperation of chruch and state because athiesm is a belief and therefore the government can't interefere with it. Plus, ask anyone and they'll tell you church and state even if it isn't the cconstitution. It's just a belief that no one can change. And nowadays, it's very rare for any religious holiday to be celebrated in schools because in America people have religious freedom from someone elses religion or their lack of it.
It seems to me that there is a missing piece in this discussion. Christopher says he believes in evolution and he believes in a caring God. Now, ignore the knee jerk reaction to question this pairing. I would like to ask him the sources of his belief. In other words, the evidences for evolution, and the theology he has accepted. Does he believe in the God of the Bible, or just "God"? If not the God of the Bible, then what has he heard or read which taught him about God?
ReplyDeleteIn short, while we are defining our terms, let's not forget to figure out whether we agree on who and what God is. Let's find out if we agree or not on what the Bible says and whether it is true.