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Christian Philosophy?
May 19, 2008 |
Posted by ben hind · Filed Under Christian Philosophy, Prolegomena
I love philosophy. I can’t express just how much it has affected me as a person, especially in my faith. The one thing that someone can say that frustrates me is, ‘you can’t prove Gods existence, you just have to have faith’. I don’t think there is a more destructive statement when it comes to our faith that there isn’t any rational evidence or argument for it.
I don’t believe people can just put their ‘faith’ in something when the evidence and rational argument contradicts it. After all, couldn’t anyone claim anything on the grounds of? ‘I believe that God (namely Allah) has no son, and that Mohammed is His prophet’, ’so what makes you believe that?’, ‘oh, I just have faith’. What seperates you and your beliefs from a Muslim and their beliefs? If you say ‘faith’, that’s just self-defeating; as a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu or even a cult member could claim ‘faith’ as being their reason for believing.
So, what separates these views cannot just be a matter of ‘faith’ (though I might define faith a little differently than you do 
), but must be a matter of truth. Which view most accurately reflects the truth? How can we know, and how do we decide between them? Is there such a thing as ‘truth’, or are all beliefs relative? That’s where philosophy steps in.
Philosophy has had a bad press by the conservative Christian community over the years. And I understand where people are coming from when they say, ‘you just have to have faith’, or ‘just believe what the bible says’. It seems to be partially a reaction against Christian liberalism and the attack of the Christian worldview by philosophy, the scientific method and reason. And so over the years philosophy has been directly associated with an anti-God, anti-faith and anti-bible sentiment. Though I don’t believe that this is necessarily the case; philosophy is not anti-God… or anti-anything for that matter!
Everyone has a philosophy, whether they want to admit it or not. Do you believe that absolute truth and morals exist? Then that’s your philosophy. Do you believe in the Christian God? Then that’s your philosophy. Do you believe that the bible is a source of Divine truth? Then that’s your philosophy (and if you want to be more specific, that’s your epistemology). Philosophy is inescapable in everyday life, and so is doing philosophy.
We all make philosophical judgments and draw philosophical conclusions all the time. For example, I went to work today because I will get paid for it at the end of the week, which will make me happy. That doesn’t seem to be very philosophical, but actually it is a practical example of hedonism (the philosophical view that our fundamental moral obligation is to maximize pleasure or happiness).
We do need rational reasons and evidence for our faith. It’s the only thing that separates our beliefs from anyone else’s. Retreating to an intellectual passivity will only do damage to our witness. After all, who would want to believe in something that doesn’t have any evidence or rational argument to support it? And where does that leave Christians who have serious doubts? Are they just supposed to ‘have faith’, even when the evidence seems to suggest otherwise? I don’t think so. I would suggest giving them an answer to the question that they’ve been struggling with. Give them evidence to believe in. Show them how the Christian world-view is rational and that we have good reason to believe it.
I believe philosophy is an important part of our Christianity. We should be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within us. We should be rational. That’s how God made us… with a brain! I don’t believe that faith contradicts reason, and I think that both work together. Didn’t Paul reason with people in the marketplaces, convincing people that God exists and Jesus really did rise from the dead?
Let’s not be afraid to use our brains for a change!
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Here! Here! Unfortunately, as Mark Noll said many years ago, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind is that there is not much of an Evangelical mind” .. or something like that. Fortunately, here at renewing & other places, that is changing.
Steve,
Nervous as I was about posting this, I was even more nervous when I saw someone commented on it. Fortunately in my favor! Thanks for the encouragement, I really appreciate it. I was half expecting someone to start citing bible verses that draw very negative conclusions about ‘human ideas’.
Great quote, I think the evangelical mind isn’t so much non-existent (I think we all live and believe in a philosophy of some sort)… we just don’t like admitting that we can use it. Change is a-coming I hope.
- Ben
As a prologue to the parable of the Good Samaritan Christ questions a lawyer on the greatest commandment (Luke 10:27). This is a rough quote of Deut 6:5 (the shema). Luke records the lawyer states that we are to love the Lord with “…all your mind”. I’m convinced that modern Christians - me - need to start concentrating on making the logical arguments for Christianity and not just rely on catch phrases such as “ya just gotta believeah”. I think this is especially important now that America is quickly moving to a post-Christian culture (see William Lane Craig’s podcassts).
William Lane Craigs podcast: http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer?pagename=podcasting_main
I would recommend listening to the 9 ‘reasonable faith book’ podcasts from the ‘reasonable faith podcast’. He does a good job of explaining the relationship between faith and reason, and why we need an intellectually viable world-view.
Thanks for the suggestion eric.
- Ben
Thank you, Ben, for your blog, “Christian Philosophy?” I love listening to atheists and agnostics, explaining their individual perspectives, regarding “There is no God, because nobody has ever seen God. Or that God can’t be known or be proven to exist, etc. These are, of course, arguments, perspectives of those who don’t know The Word, reflective of scripture. One of the most literate, self-proclaimed atheists, C.S. Lewis set out to prove God didn’t exist and decided to use the Bible to prove his assertion. after sufficient investigative reading, Lewis experience a change in perspective. Subsequently, he became one of the greatest Christian writers of the 20th Century. Yet, how can one prove anything as abstract as a Supreme Deity of which the majority of our population have never perceived, beyond the reading of scripture, if at all? In that, the only means by which one may perceive, grasp, understand and comprehend the existence of a seemingly invisible, imperceivable God, besides personal experience in reflection of objectively defined meaning, is in and of and by The Word, The Word of God. All existence, all creation from the sub-atomic to the atomic to the molecular to the cellular to the substantive, in all that exists in containment of the Universe and beyond, it’s all energy. And, where there is consciousness of energy, that consciousness of energy is Spirit: this is how man begins to influence his environment! Definitively, Spirit is “an animating and vital principle held to give life to physical organisms.” And, you are that physical organism. In the beginning of man’s ascent to higher consciousness, he knew there was something, a “Numinous” far superior than his mere perception, beyond anything he could grasp, in perceiving all that he was able to discern of creation, knowing there is, was and shall always be more to life than simple existence. This became all the more evident in looking at the night sky filled with stars, as man began to reflect upon his purpose, relative to the Universe, yet, more importantly, relative to his surroundings. And, so, to define his existence: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 NIV. The Word is the vehicle, the means, the very symbol, as a tool to define that which exceeds human perception, human understanding, until one actually grasps definitive meaning as meaningful. As God defined His existence to the Apostle Paul, he wrote: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–His eternal power and Divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20 NIV. Being understood from what has beenmade of all creation, of all that is good and very good, of unfailing love, definitively known for one’s personal experience in the form of infinite, invisible energy this is God. May you discover Him for yourself. now in your eternal quest to find Him all the more, in reflection of your true self in the image and likeness of The Word that becomes the quintessence of the life in you. As you may discover yourself in living your loving of life, now in awe of all that exists as good and very good reflective of your true self. As I am with all God’s love!