Apologetics

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REASONING FAITH


It appears that error often consists in pairs of opposites, so that when we attempt to escape one danger we fall prey to a contrasting one. As if walking along a ridge, keeping back from one slope we slip down the other. So it was that I recently authored Reasoning Faith (E-BookTime). As such, drawing upon my background in teaching Christian apologetics.
As a case in point, some emphasize reason at the expense of faith, while others accent faith with neglect of reason. This suggest that we opt instead for a reasoning faith. In greater detail, the following consists of two brief excerpts from the above mentioned text.
“If God gave us a mind, he apparently meant us to use it,” the gifted counselor Don Tweedie concluded. It troubled him that Christians often seem to advocate the elimination of reason with their accent on faith. Meanwhile, friends continued to hold him up before the throne of grace.
All this changed when he sat in on a lecture by the erudite Edward John Carnell, a spokesman for the Evangelical Renaissance Movement. On another occasion , the latter addressed a group of pompous Boston businessmen. Introduced in demeaning fashion as a product of the sawdust trail, with reference to revival services, he addressed them in an exceedingly profound manner. After which, he condescendingly observed: “Now I will speak to you in terms even you can understand.” While not advocating this approach, it served to establish his credentials.
Now things changed for Tweedie. Years later he would allow, “It was not anything particular that Carnell said, but his reasoning process that impressed me.” Subsequently, he embraced and became a stalwart apologist for the Christian faith.
Which brings to mind an occasion when he and I were eating lunch in the college cafeteria. A student shortly paused at our table. When invited to join us, he asked guidance in the selection of a major. “It doesn’t matter,” Tweedie responded. “Discover a professor who has learned how to engage life, and learn as much as you can from him.” As a matter of priority, rather than to exclude other legitimate considerations. While coupled with the notion of a reasoning faith (pp. 7-8).
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In due time, God proposed: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fishes of the seas and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over the creatures that move along the ground” (Gen. 1:26). As faithful stewards of all creation, and as a benevolent expression of divine sovereignty.
Consequently, they are richly endowed for that purpose. In what manner? They were manifestly sensate, rational, and volitional creatures. As elaborated in the Psalter, “There are the threshold feelings of the night—the coolness against his flesh, the soft whisper of air after a drying day, the earth oozing between his toes, the sound of a distant dog protesting an intrusion, the sparkle of light against the pitch-black sky” (Morris Inch, Psychology in the Psalms, p. 22).
In addition, “There were the intuitive feelings of the soul—the sense of unworthiness, the awareness of danger, the presence of God, the joy of being. There were feelings accompanying understanding—the glory of the God who revealed Himself, the safety of the people for whom he does battle, the perfection of God’s purpose and plan for man.” These and more.
Not sensate alone, but rational as well. Able to understand divine instruction, realize something of its implications, and share insights. So that to exercise reason is in keeping with divine intent, and not to be disparaged.
Along with a prime condition. That it is along the line of reasoning faith. That which allows for God’s gracious purposes, and seeks to implement them. Accordingly, it serves as a reality check.
Humans are also volitional. For better and for worse. So it was that God planted a garden in the east, for humans to inhabit. And the Lord God caused “all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” While alerting them, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:9, 16).
(Nevertheless, the original couple chose to disregard the divine warning.) So God banished them and “placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” Lest they partake of it and perpetuate their despicable condition.
While not the best of situations, neither was it the worst. While fallen, they were assuredly not forsaken (pp. 30-31). (Now the creation narrative and that concerning the fall appears to have been written, not only to explain initial conditions, but our current state of affairs. If so, then as an appeal for reasoning faith, rather than reason to the exclusion of faith or the reverse.)

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