Strong Rationalism - An Unreasonable Approach to Reasonable Belief?

I posted earlier this week the importance faith plays in religious belief. That post and the one I am writing today stem from my reading for my Philosophy of Religion class that I am currently finishing.

Strong Rationalism states that "in order for a religious belief-system to be properly and rationally accepted, it must be possible to prove that the belief-system is true"
(Peterson, Hasker, Reichenbach, and Basinger, Reason & Religious Belief, 3rd edition)

Prove - To define prove here we are looking to say that the arguments that support the belief system should be convincing to any reasonable person. This is not 100% undeniable evidence but a reasonable argument that comes to a reasonable conclusion, which the conclusion would be accepted by any reasonable person.

On the surface this doesn't seem to hard to accomplish. We are, after all, each one of us reasonable people right? But even the most widely accepted arguments face considerable opposition from a good number of "reasonable" people.

Strong Rationalism appears to be asking that even if we disagree with the conclusion of the argument, we as reasonable individuals would accept the argument and its conclusion as a possibility. The rub lies here. How might someone who fundamentally disagrees with the conclusion accept it as a possibility?

If it is a reasonable argument with a reasonable conclusion and yet I still disagree, wouldn't the conclusion be that either I am being unreasonable in my unbelief or that the argument and/or its conclusion are flawed at some point?

My question here for this post is whether or not you agree with the above statement or do you see a third answer? Is Strong Rationalism being unreasonable to ask for such a consensus that all reasonable people would have to accept the argument and its conclusion?

All In - Why Belief in God Requires a Leap of Faith

"All In - Why Belief in God Requires a 'Jump' start' or a 'leap of faith'"

Most people would say, in speaking of religious experiences, that when it comes down to proving the existence of God you either approach the answer by faith or through reason. This is a bit ironic though when you stop and think about it. To approach by faith one is essentially making a jump to belief. I say a jump because faith alone will not get you to a proof of truth. There may be experiences that will lead you in one direction, either closer to or further away from belief in God, but even religious experiences fall short of getting you all the way to proof. So at some point one must either refuse to go any further, turn away from the pursuit, or make a leap of faith and jump to a conclusion. Reason falls short as well. Reason falls short because it merely tells us whether or not a belief in God is "reasonable" to hold. Again reason will lead you in a direction, depending on the argument or train of thought you might be considering, but it fails to prove a conclusion beyond what one might reasonably believe; again it "proves" nothing.

So when you hear a Christian say that they know God or they know God exists the question the rest of the unbelieving world has is, "How do you know". Is it more proper for them to say that they "know" God exists or that they are absolutely convinced that He does? For those standing on the outside looking in the answer would most likely be the latter. For them, while the argument might be convincing and the experience compelling, they realize that not every witness in the trial has been called and not all the evidence has been fully scrutinized. For them there still exists the possibility that some new piece of information could leave the whole house of cards lying scattered on the table. This new piece of information could be anything from a new science that explains or allows us to interpret differently events that previously only had explanation by way of the supernatural to a better more convincing argument against the existence of God.

Each side may make the claim that they "know" something but the reality is that their conclusions are an extrapolation. While they may indeed come to the right conclusion they do not know it in the way that philosophers of religion define knowing. They perceive the truth and reality of their experiences and they have reasonable arguments that gird up and support their conclusions but, we, won't know the answer unless we meet God face to face, which is the hope that Christians hold on to.

Christians and others should not take the conclusion of this essay as a loss though or even as a sign that those who wish to share their experiences or who wish to continue to show that reason provides us with a leg to stand on when we talk about our belief in God. This essay only shows in what I hope is a thoughtful way that scripture is true. We do come to God by faith. Experience and reason may help lead the way but faith is what connects them to our conclusion.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God", Ephesians 2:8

Two illustrations came to mind as I was working through my thoughts on this, a courtroom and a good game of Texas Hold Em'. A jury in a courtroom may be convinced enough to deliver a unanimous verdict and still find themselves to be wrong. This is the danger some fear when deciding whether or not to make the leap. Those who have made the leap however are more like the person who has made it to the last round in a poker tournament and is looking at what he is convinced is the best hand on the table. There are others with good hands and some trying to bluff a bad hand off as a winner but they look at their hand and with conviction have went "all in". They've had similar experiences where a hand like theirs was a sure winner and all the reason tells them that based on what's been played its reasonable to believe they've got a winner, so, they go all in. Yes the river card is yet to hit the table and you really don't know what two cards are laying face down on the other end of the table but by faith and with confidence they put it all in the center of the pot hoping and believing that the risk will be worth it.

A Servant Leader

"Real training for service asks for a hard and often painful process of self-emptying. The main problem of service is to be the way without being 'in the way'. And if there are any tools, techniques and skills to be learned they are primarily to plow the field, to cut the weeds and to clip the branches, that is, to take away the obstacles for real growth and development. Training for service is not a training to become rich but to become voluntarily poor; not to fulfill ourselves but to empty ourselves; not to conquer God but to surrender to his saving power. All this is very hard to accept in our contemporary world, which tells us about the importance of power and influence. But it is important that in this world there remain a few voices crying out that if there is anything to boast of, we should boast of our weakness. Our fulfillment is in offering emptiness, our usefulness in becoming useless, our power in becoming powerless."

From "Reaching Out" by Henri J. M. Nouwen

I haven't posted anything here for a while now but sitting here at the end of our first day at the National Youth Leadership Initiative I found it appropriate to take a step back to consider the type of leadership that God calls us to.

New Series for Sundays - Making a Case for Giving Your Best

Coming to the Jackson First Church of the Nazarene

Making a Case for Giving Your Best - November 27th, December 4th, and December 11th
(Series based on a reading of the "Life a Work" Book Series)

Week 1 - "A Case for Character"
Week 2 - "A Case for Skill"
Week 3 - "A Case for Service"

Looking to this weeks message I've read many quotes on character. One of my favorites was definition of character that says, "Character, like integrity, is who you are when no one is looking."

What is your favorite quote?

Leave it here or at my facebook page.

Perfectly Poisoned

Aside from all the swordplay, my favorite scene in The Princess Bride is the scene where the Man in Black enters into a battle of wits with Vincini. Vincini is the mastermind behind the kidnapping of the princess. He accepts the Man in Black's challenge. The Man in Black hands a small container to his adversary and has him smell it. Vincini says "I smell nothing". "What you do not smell" responds the Man in Black, "is iocanine powder. It is orderless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in water and is among the more deadly poisons known to man".

I'll save you my quoting of the rest of the scene. Suffice to say, iocaine was the perfect poison. You can't smell, see it or taste it but its there. It could be placed in my wine or yours or both as see in the movie. As I have been thinking about the message I plan to preach this Sunday this seemed like a great illustration to lead into it.

We find in Genisis that God has created a garden, a perfect place for His perfect creation. There's just one thing you needed to be careful of, don't eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That fruit is poisioned so to speak. Eve speaking to the serpant about the fruit says that "It is pleasing to the eye" and there seemed to be nothing forboding about the fruit other than God's command not to eat it.

This poision was perfect. Even with a warning from God it appears that Adam and Eve neither one saw what was coming. This poision was so perfect that it affected them all the way down to their DNA, which has been passed down to each generation right to us today.

We are fallen, broken, shattered in some way. We are a pale reflection of what we were ever intended to be. Sin has so taken us that there is not one area of life that is not affected by it. We are poisioned, perfectly poisioned.

There is an antidote though that can save us from certain death. But society, including some Christians, has tried to treat the symptoms that arise from our being perfectly poisioned instead of showing and helping to administer the antidote.

Whare are some ways you see those around you trying to treat the symptoms instead of offering the complete cure. What happens when we only treat the symptoms of our perfectly poisioned state?

Drawn

Not pulled. Not pushed. Not draged. Drawn. What is it to be like drawn by God? Do we go kicking an screaming? I don't think so. Are we diving head first into something without checking the depth of the water? I don't think that's it either. When I think of what it means to be "Drawn" by God there is a very different imagery in my mind. I imagine someone walking through woods or even in a city and they have that look as though they can hear or see something that they just can't help but want to investigate. But that noise that sound or sight that has caught their attention is too soft and too far away for them to make it out. Its intriguing and fasinating but just too far off to fully appreciate. So that person begins looking for the way to get closer, to get a better view or better understanding of what has caught their attention.

I believe that's what God does for us sometimes. He's speaking in that still small voice or He is showing us something He has for us and we just but we can't make it out just quite right from where we are. We must move closer if we are to hear what He is saying clearly or if we are to see all the details of what has caught our attention. We realize that if we stay just where we are we might miss something. Who knows how long before its just not there anymore. We are drawn closer. Moving cautiously so as not to miss our target destination. No one is forcing us to go but we just can't help ourselves. We have to check it out. We are just drawn to what He is showing knowing that it could be something great and knowing my God it just might be.

In what ways have you felt drawn by God?

Life Happens

Last week was supposed to be the week I got all caught up, with my posts here, with my class, with stuff at the church... Well that didn't exactly happen. It seemed like the harder I tried to push ahead the more life just pushed back. That's not to say that things were hectic or crazy, just crazier than normal. But there was a lot of good stuff happening. Last week was a week to build bridges as well as relationship, to push ahead, and find our balance. I praise God for everything that was accomplished last week. But there is still much work to be done. I'm understanding from a different perspective the scripture, "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it.". I am trying to take great care in the foundation that I am putting down knowing that there will be someone who will have to build on it.

Still working on converting sermons to google docs and uploading. Also hoping to start uploading audio at some point. If you have been following the messages in our "Consumed" series we had liberating service touching on the topic of guilt and how to be set free from guilt that doesn't belong to us and from the idea that we are somehow on God's "B-list". Coming up this Sunday we will be dealing with bitterness. As a special treat on Sunday July 17th Jon Hensler will be concluding the series with a message on "Being Consumed by the Holy Spirit". I am looking forward to what God is going to continue to do as life continues to happen.