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Are
Christians supposed to think about the basis for their beliefs?
This question can be answered “yes" with certainty.
Christian beliefs are generally products of:
-
Blind faith in a learned person (authority figure)
-
Hegelian
synthesis based on feelings, intuition, and emotions
-
Classical
logic based on the evidence of Scripture, tradition and personal
experience
Which
are acceptable; which are not?
If
the dentist informs you that one of your fillings is cracked and you
allow him to replace it even though you don't have a toothache, then
your belief in his truthfulness is based on blind faith in a learned
person. In our complex
technological society, we must base some decisions on blind faith
because we can't become experts on everything.
However, we don't generally use blind faith as a basis for our
beliefs if a mistake could be life threatening or financially ruinous.
When a false belief can have grave consequences for ourselves or
our loved ones, we may consult available experts or “learned
persons" but, ultimately, we weigh the evidence ourselves and
personally make a decision about what is true or what represents the
best course of action. Consider,
for a moment, the interesting possibility that you, as a person, may
continue to exist after the death of your physical body.
Consider the additional possibility that this existence may be
either meaningful or meaningless depending on what's in your heart when
you die. Given these
premises, a false belief about what should be in your heart will have
grave consequences. If you
deal with this possibility like you deal with other important issues,
you will not blindly accept the opinion of a learned person.
You might consult a parent, teacher, pastor, priest, rabbi, mulla
or guru but, ultimately, you will personally weigh the evidence and
personally make a decision. Blind
faith in a learned person is not an acceptable basis for any religious
belief because the stakes are too high.
Hegelian
synthesis based on feelings, intuition and emotions is equally
unacceptable as a basis for Christian beliefs because a very basic
Christian belief is that the human heart is too deceitful to be trusted
(Gen 6:5; Ps 14:1; Prov 12:15, 14:12, 20:9; Isa 32:6; Jer 17:9; Mat
15:19; Mark 7:21; John 5:42; Acts 28:27).
The Bible never encourages us to trust the human heart.
What
about classical logic based on the evidence of Scripture, tradition and
personal experience? Some
believe the Bible teaches us to replace reason with blind faith. In truth, the Bible encourages us, from cover to cover, to
analyze the evidence using classical logic!
The following examples will illustrate this point:
| We are encouraged to use
classical logic to distinguish between a false prophet and a
prophet of God. “If
a prophet makes one mistake then the prophet is not getting his
or her information from God" or, what is the same thing,
“If a prophet is of God then the prophet always speaks the
truth." |
| We are told God wants to
reason with us. |
| We are informed that we can
be destroyed by lack of knowledge. |
| John the Baptist sends two
of his followers to Jesus with the following question, “Are
you the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?"
Instead of saying, “Yes, I am the one whom you have
awaited," Jesus performs miracles in full view of John's
followers. After a while, Jesus sends the followers back
to John with information obtained by first hand observation.
Jesus says for them to tell John what they've seen so he can
deduce the answer based on the evidence of first-hand
observation. |
| We are invited to look
carefully at each of the things around us - an incredible level
of information stored in the most primitive DNA, a universe
expanding at nearly the critical rate to avoid recollapse,
abstract thought along with love in the mind of man - and try to
explain these things without invoking the existence of God. |
| Christians are
advised to think like adults. |
| Christians are advised to
carefully examine everything. |
| Christians are advised to
always be ready to defend their beliefs by providing a sound
basis. |
| Christians are advised to
test every prophet to determine if he or she speaks for God. |
| Christians are encouraged
to contend earnestly for the faith. |
The
fundamental beliefs of Christianity should be the product of classical
logic based on the evidence of Scripture, tradition and personal
experience. Christian beliefs
should never be based on blind faith in some authority figure or on
Hegelian synthesis, which, no matter how cleverly disguised, is no more
than a blind leap of faith based on someone’s feelings, intuition and
emotions. |