Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Faith, Reason and Certitude: The Modern Question


LINK TO THE THEME SONG FOR THE UNITY CONGRESS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQU2rty-WE0



UNITY CONGRESS V – APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF NORTHERN ARABIA (KUWAIT)

YEAR OF FAITH 11 OCTOBER 2012 – 24 NOVEMBER 2013
DOOR OF FAITH – PORTA FIDEI Pope Benedict XVI


24th September 2012

Faith, Reason and Certitude: The Modern Question
Rev. Fr. Mathew Vekathanam



Blessed Pope John Paul II released an encyclical letter on faith and reason, entitled Fides et Ratio.*
The encyclical is called "Faith and reason" - not "Faith or reason" - because the two work together. There is a profound unity and harmony that the late Holy Father says are, "like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth." There is a false dichotomy that is commonly posed between faith and reason which leads to an undermining of both when in truth there is no opposition between the two.

 THE ARGUMENT AGAINST FAITH

Science requires that facts be verified and this is done through sense perception as well as experiments that seek to prove that we stand on solid ground.  However, in matters of faith, there can be no certainty instead we are asked to submit ourselves to the authority of the Church through the submission of our minds.  It is through verifiable knowledge alone that we can be led to the freedom of enlightenment.  Religion and monarchy call for submission and in doing so there is an element of slavery present.  The tyranny and bigotry of religion and monarchy perpetuate the enslavement of the mind.  Voltaire said that man will never be free until the last king is strangled by the entrails of the last priest – both must perish.

The reign of reason and the eclipse of religion and God.  The consequence of this ideology was seen in the French Revolution which resulted in the brutal tyranny of the mob.

Bertrand Russell:  Christians hold that their faith does good but other faiths do harm what I maintain is that all faiths do harm.

Faith is a firm belief in something for which there is no evidence whereas when there is evidence no one speaks of faith.  We speak of faith when we substitute emotion for faith.

The prevalent attitude of religious critics is the tendency to give a very distorted portrayal of faith since it is their idea  of faith which cannot be subjected to the scientific method.

Faith they say is the infantile emotion on the level of emotional fanaticism and is ultimately disassociated from reason.

Faith is holding firmly on to something for which there is no evidence it, therefore, degenerates into obscurantism.  It is a case of the blind leading the blind.

REFUTING THE ARGUMENT AGAINST FAITH

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

The general Greek translation of the Word is Logos but it is also translated as reason.

Now let us look again at the above verse replacing the word, ‘WORD’ with the word REASON’

“In the beginning was the Reason and the Reason was with God and the Reason was God.

We humans participate in the Great REASON WITH OUR little, small and finite reason.  Anything against reason is against God.  A religion without reason, a faith without reason is not worthy of belief.

EVIDENCE FOR FAITH

Empirical evidence is based on experience, experiment, observation, and practical application and has formed the basis of man’s knowledge for centuries.  Science, scientific evidence and proof came much later it is therefore not the most prevalent source of certitude.  God created man with reason – He created a rational human being and this is what served him centuries before scientific enlightenment.

There are other types of evidence for faith.

Wisdom of the ancients, traditions, hereditary, inherited wisdom proved by time and therefore is reasonable to believe.  We cannot limit ourselves to scientific evidence.

Testimonial Evidence – reliability of the witness.  Cannot err and has no intention of misleading.  Trusting another is not slavery. Man depends to a great extent on others as a source of knowledge.

In interpersonal relationships belief is possible when we entrust ourselves to each other.  This belief based on trust that what the other has declared or revealed is true.

Intuitive Evidence:
In the field of esthetics – beauty, poetry, love.

The beauty of a rose cannot be proved scientifically in a laboratory.  A piece of art requires the intuitive ability to recognize it as worthy of appreciation.  So also symphonies, music – we know intuitively what is harmonious and melodious and what is not.

Love is not dependant on reason.  The  heart has reasons that the mind does not comprehend.  There are many ways by which we can come to the knowledge of truth.

Reasonable / Rational:
There is a difference between the two.  It is the privilege of human beings to be both reasonable and rational  but rationality alone is unreasonable as it considers human reason as superior.  There are realities above science and human reason.

FAITH:

Normally speaks of God and supernatural realities.  Faith is natural and makes life possible.  It is the most important element of our experience.  It is the driving force of our daily life without which we cannot live.  Faith drives the conviction that all things are possible.  Natural faith drives conviction.  Desire without conviction is day dreaming.  Faith enables us to put our talents into operation.  Faith leads to success. It is the power and drive of conviction which urges us on to achieve our goal.  Without it human progress is impossible.  Faith comes first operation follows.  Science and technology can do nothing by themselves, they are blind, it is what man’s faith directs them to do that makes it possible to produce its effects.

SUPERNATURAL FAITH  in the context of natural faith.  There are areas of desire that are beyond human limits.  Life can be made better but not perfect.  There is within man an infinite horizon.  He is never satisfied and is constantly wanting more.  His cravings go beyond anything that the world can offer or satisfy.

The craving for God is in every human person.  God is not within a man’s natural disposition only God can make Himself availab"MsoNoSpacing" style="font-fafor us ignites our quest for him.  We are created for God.  The self giving of God is at His disposal, His revelation of Himself. His self-giving is at His initiation.  Faith is trust in God.  The promise of God is the giving of Himself which is engraved in our hearts by our quest for Him.  The revelation of God’s love becomes visible in the incarnation of His Son.

Trust in the promise of God which is engraved in our hearts is supernatural faith.  Nothing fully satisfies, GOD ALONE SUFFICES.  We enter into a personal relationship with God who makes this relationship with Himself possible.  We cannot escape this experience. 

REASON AND FAITH (Fides Ratio)

Faith and reason cannot be separated they are as two sides of  a coin.  When reason is devoid of faith it becomes unreasonable.  When faith is stripped of reason and denies man’s natural intellectual ability it becomes groundless and leads only to personal preference thus the very possibility of believing anything or anyone is destroyed.  Reason and faith go together as reason prepares the way to faith and lays the foundation for it which makes revelation believable/credible thus reason becomes the common ground between believers and unbelievers.

Faith without reason withers into myth or superstition.  Without reason, faith is left with only feelings and experience and thus loses its universality.







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