Reason and Revelation

A detailed Summary of Reason and Revelation

Faith and Reason in Christian Ethics

To me Christian ethics is trying to distinguish faith and reason from each other. Others would say that these concepts, faith and reason can work together or that you can not have faith without reason. As a Christian, the main purpose in Christianity is to have faith. Faith is the hardest concept to grasp, but is the simplest task that a person can achieve. Today in our society people are looking beyond faith, to some kind of evidence that is physical in order to prove there is something more than faith. One example is the book of Revelation. First, it can be some of the most frightening things that you will read in the bible. Revelations is frightening because it reveals a person's future, or it can be a commitment from God that He will be returning. With reason comes fear because the person has no faith. A person can not trust in the concept of reason and begin to understand faith. There are many people who will not follow God because there is no evidence that will satisfy their reason. They cannot see that there truly is a God or an afterlife. Others also do not rely on reason, but on faith. They live their lives based on God's life and resurrection. Faith and reason are sepa

rate issues that have to be dealt with accordingly. There is not a way that these two concepts can work together because though they strive for the same end, they appeal to contradictory standards.

Reason is a tremendous barrier in trying to spread the gospel to other people. Reason has led to Christianity being rejected by people because reason has confused and consumed the individual. There are two hypotheses that Sztanyo talks about in his book Faith and Reason. The first hypothesis is the "as if" hypothesis. He states that "those holding this position generally maintain that there is no possible way to know whether God exist or not. Real faith is acting as if there really is an object of faith out there somewhere" (Faith and Reason). It is said that if there were something physical that Christians could show nonbelievers so that they could better understand God and His promises of having faith, then they would suggest them to read the book of Revelation. Revelation allows the individual to come to terms with God in a reasonable way, as well as the consequences of believing and not believing. As stated by Taylor from Revelation in why we should study revelation, "Revelation has a particular comfort to strengthen those undergoing persecution. Revelation also has a blessing to those who hear it and take to heart its message" (Revelation). What I do not understand is the fact that those people who are trying to analyze everything about faith and the bible, honestly believe that God should show himself in order for them to believe. As stated before, then faith would be unnecessary because faith is about believing in something you do not know is true. Having faith is the hardest part of believing in God and believing what He has done in order for us to have life. The second hypothesis that Sztanyo states is the probability hypothesis. This hypothesis says that "if the object of faith"

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Approximate Word count = 1290
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Religion