or some combination of the two?
2007-07-13 08:02:47 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I think it is hard to distinguish one as better than the other, for faith can be a very powerful energy, particularly when one is faced with bleak or dire circumstances, for example the "will to live" exhibited by people lost in the wilderness, caught in natural disasters and so forth. Also, reason gives us the ability to investigate, contemplate and make positive and meaningful decisions, especially when faced with the myriad moral and ethical dilemmas of modern society.
I believe the two are interconnected, and that one without the other is of less usefulness.
2007-07-13 10:10:41 · answer #1 · answered by MarkS 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would have to agree with the asker and say a combination of the two. I don't believe you can have faith without reason. It's just not logical. However we're here to not just live life but to flourish. What reason would you want to live life without faith? You have to have faith in something. The future, your fellow man, faith that the sun will come up tomorrow. What good would life be without faith??
2007-07-13 15:28:00 · answer #2 · answered by ***~BiGgDaWg~*** 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Faith for me. Reason isn't hard to come by. But sometimes things happen where the only thing you have to make a decision with is faith--faith in God, faith in your spouse, or where the only answer to your need is a miracle from God and you have found His promise in His holy word. You hold your faith before your God and know that He will not fail you.
2007-07-17 02:55:33 · answer #3 · answered by bsharpbflatbnatural 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith is more important until I have knowledge and wisdom of everything. Until this time the leap of faith gets me to the point of reason and ready to explore my next point of reason.
Let's look at the rising sun. I can reason that when I lay down my head to sleep that the sun will rise tomorrow. This "faith" allows me sleep. Without it, I may freak out, panic, and hug & kiss my loved ones for fear that tomarrow will never come. Reason tells me that the sun has rose before and will rise again. Reason also tells me that there are circumstances that I can't control that would prevent the sun from rising. Among these are nuclear war, solar flares that burn the atmospher, gamma-rays (burning the atmospher), a polar shift in the Earth causing turmoil, or even aliens. So, faith fills in where reason leaves dought ... and allows me to get my beauty sleep.
2007-07-13 15:14:14 · answer #4 · answered by Giggly Giraffe 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
It may not be fun, but it is possible to survive and even do well with no faith. I could name you any number of despairing artists, for example, who had no hope for anything but kept on with the grind nonetheless and went on to become wealthy, famous, and loved by many. Nor does no faith necessarily mean even despair... arguably all it suggests is no belief that is not rationally founded.
Except by sheer chance it would be impossible to live at all, much less live well, with no reason. We do, after all, have a word for those would little reason... several, in fact: mad, insane, loony, nut-cases, etc ad nauseum. And aren't some of the more atrocious crimes ever committed by people who had faith that things would work out (I seem to recall a not too distant case of a mother who drowned her children to send them to Heaven)? Irrational to the extreme, but full of faith.
Having at least a modicum of reason is necessary for survival. Having faith is not. Therefore reason is more important than faith.
This hardly means that reason should REPLACE faith, nor even rule over faith at all times. There are problems that reason is incapable of solving, but that faith is not. But there are a lot more problems that faith is incapable of solving that reason is not.
Peace.
2007-07-13 15:14:53 · answer #5 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Without reason you wouldn't be able to ask the difficult questions about your faith, so your faith would never be tested.
2007-07-13 15:42:25 · answer #6 · answered by jsardi56 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hey Doc, You can succeed in business and fail with your own family. You can gain the whole world and lose your own....
I reason without faith you will miss the big picture.
2007-07-13 15:31:25 · answer #7 · answered by BKS KC 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you don't have faith in your reasons what good are your reasons
2007-07-13 15:28:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
faith is not reason alone for man to leap out from a ledge
2007-07-13 15:13:29 · answer #9 · answered by thatsmissustoyou 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith. Hands down. No lo contendre.
2007-07-13 15:18:46 · answer #10 · answered by Jack P 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋