I've also heard people say that faith "surpasses understanding", which I think means the same thing as "beyond reason". Either way, I'm stumped as to what these expressions mean. Please enlighten me.
2007-01-11 16:49:36 · 13 answers · asked by Subconsciousless 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The bible says that faith is "the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld." We do not see the wind, but we know it's there because of the effect it has. Faith is similar. It would be irrational to believe in something not seen if you had no basis for that belief. People who study the bible and look for evidence of God around them, even if they cannot see him, have a basis for their belief. They have that "assured expectation." I would think that most people with faith would agree that they have reason for it; in that respect "beyond reason" makes no sense. Perhaps they mean beyond scientific reasoning, since faith and God cannot be tested in a laboratory with the scientific method.
2007-01-11 17:02:18 · answer #1 · answered by balletgal 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Those are just feel-good phrases taught by the church to placate the sheeple into believing that faith is a useful quality, when faith really is nothing more than illogical, silly, wishful thinking. A child may have all the faith in the world that Santa Claus really will come down the chimney and leave presents under the tree; this is no different than a Christian having all the faith in the world that God really exists and really will take him away to heaven some day, or heal him of gall stones, or give him a new car, or whatever it is God is expected to do for those who believe enough. As Mr. Rogers once said, "No kinds of wishes can make things come true."
Neil, the examples of "faith" that you provide ARE based on reason. I know the sun will rise tomorrow, based on the fact that it has risen every single morning since the day I was born. I also know that the sun does not literally rise, but the Earth spins, creating the appearance of the sun rising from my viewpoint on the moving Earth. Thanks to science and reason, I know that the world is not likely to stop dead in its tracks overnight, therefore the sun will--as Little Orphan Annie used to sing--come out tomorrow.
This is not the same as having faith that there is an invisible entity way up in the sky someplace, watching everything you do and rewarding you if you're good. You have no reason to believe this, since your communications to the entity do not yield consistent enough results for you to draw the conclusion that your faith is justified. Your faith in the entity is therefore not based on reason, but on wishful thinking.
2007-01-12 01:01:41 · answer #2 · answered by Antique Silver Buttons 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a very intelligent person with an IQ of 148. I am anything but irrational. I always tell people this. What makes more sense to you? That some things were floating around in space and hit each other and banged around and created a world or that God did it with His hands? Does it make more sense that some little worm was swimming in the water and got on the ground and turned into people or apes and then people, or that God reached down and formed man in His own likeness? See, one is just as reasonable as the other. All it took, and this is fact, is for a scientist to come up with a theory on the creation of earth and everything else, and for another scientist to agree with him on that was how it happened for it to become fact.
2007-01-12 00:56:31 · answer #3 · answered by The Nana of Nana's 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Reason cannot tell you that the next step you take will be on solid ground, or that the sun will rise tomorrow; this requires faith (even if educated). It is impossible to function without faith of many kinds, all though religious faith is not one of these forms. Therefore, faith (in certain forms) is a rational choice, though it goes beyond what reason can provide.
2007-01-12 00:58:27 · answer #4 · answered by neil s 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Faith surpasses understanding because no one can understand it fully. It's like believing in what you can't see or understand.
In the world today people want to know the reason behind EVERYTHING. That's why faith is different. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" Hebrews11:1
2007-01-12 00:57:22 · answer #5 · answered by controlfreak 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Faith is personal to each and every individual and cannot
be explained to someone else in full because that someone
else can never understand it. The only thing another can
understand about faith, is his own personal faith.
Belief in God is not irrational. Yet it goes beyond human reasoning because we can't see HIm, touch Him, as we
do animate objects and people on earth. It's the same
way.
2007-01-12 00:56:09 · answer #6 · answered by Northwest Womps 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Faith is spiritual understanding that enlightens your reason. In faith you have something more than just logic alone to understand those things that are beyond our ability to reason out.
2007-01-12 01:13:48 · answer #7 · answered by hisgloryisgreat 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because faith is just that. Its like when you sit in a chair, you dont know for sure that it will hold you up, but you put faith in it that it just will. Its a gut thing, the truth is in our hearts.
2007-01-12 00:53:57 · answer #8 · answered by pixelchix 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are lying. Faith IS irrational. They are saying that people who do not agree with the basis of their faith for LOGICAL reasons simply do not have the capacity to understand the nature of faith...which is a bunch of garbage and is insulting.
2007-01-12 00:51:57 · answer #9 · answered by ? 6 · 4⤊ 3⤋
reason being factual, quantifiable Irrational being completely indefensible I.E believing the world is flat
2007-01-12 00:56:09 · answer #10 · answered by ingsoc1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋