Faith or Logic?

Question

Is this a fear or death, or the need to feel important or loved?

Your thoughts and interpretations.

Answer 1

Exactly, you cannot have both.
(when talking in terms of faith in god, which I assume because you are in R&S)

I chose logic.

Answer 2

I have lived a full life. I've played music and drank for years and never felt fulfilled. In 1985 I was married, lived in a nice house and was so drunk and miserable most of the time, I had only one thing one my mind and that was committing suicide. I had no fear of death, I thought death was the logical choice since I was so miserable. I hung myself and was resuscitated and still didn't change my life after this failed attempt. I then began taking drugs, steroids, got involved in the fighting seen, anything to bring fulfillment.

I eventually went to church with my wife in 1994 and after a while my life began taking on new meaning. God began opening up my eyes to the truth in His Word, the Bible. He has allowed me to feel His love and increased my faith in Him and His great love to the point I want everyone to have this joy in me.

Faith over Logic, any day.

EDIT: since that time my wife and I have raised several children, two are our nephews from a broken home. All play instruments and are faithful to church.

The choice I thought logical, almost cost me a lifetime of joy I have in my children and my parents a lifetime of grief over a son who committed suicide.

Answer 3

Your question, if it is meant to be a choice, is misguided.

All humans by nature use logic and when a person's logic does not suffice, he/she uses faith as a default. By nature, people have a difficult time excepting the unknown. So faith and logic are both used differently in an attempt to define the unknown.

Answer 4

I'm not sure what the second part of your question means, but why, exactly do you think that faith has to always exclude logic?

It depends on the object of your faith. If your faith is in aliens who visit earth from billions of light years away that is illogical, especially if you have a purely naturalistic or materialistic worldview.

If your faith is in your legs to allow you to stand up from a chair, you know from long time experience that you can trust in your legs a good portion of the time. That's pretty logical.

If your faith is in a Creator who designed you, look at the evidence. It's not all that illogical.

Your question also depends on your definition of logic. Man's finite & quite possibly flawed logic or God's infinite & perfect logic?

The mistake you make in your question is to assume that human logic or reason is paramount; that logic presupposes naturalism or materialism. No, where do you think our ability to think came from in the first place? There is a logic or wisdom that is far above ours.

So, as a Biblical Christian, I can have faith in a Triune God: Father Creator God, Redeemer Jesus Christ God & Comforter, Sustainer Holy Spirit God and that is still very much within the bounds of logic--even human logic standards (barring the possibility that there's presupposition of naturalism or materialism in that logic).

You don't have to dump logic to have faith in the God of the Bible. That's what is so lovely about authentic Christianity--it is spiritual, realistic & logical all at the very same time. One of the greatest lay theologians of our day, Gene Edward Veith Jr. writes in *The Spirituality of the Cross*:

"At different times in my life I have embraced liberal theology, accepting whatever is progressive and crusading for social justice, and I have been a raving, miracle-expecting fundamentalist. My liberalism proved spiritually vacuous, while my fundamentalism proved shallow. I have sat zazen, until I found the most that Buddhism promises, namely emptiness. Mysticism and activism were both bitter disappointments.

"What I needed was a spiritual framework big enough to embrace the whole range of human existence, a realistic spirituality. I needed a spirituality that is not a negation of the physical world or ordinary life, but one that tranfigures them.

"I found it in Christianity, a religion that is not about God as such, but about God in the flesh, and God on the cross."

Okay, trying to address the second part of your question...Can I clarify to get at what I think you're asking? Is faith in a supernatural God equal to a fear of death? Well, sure if all you know about God is that He is the Creator, you should fear that He not only has the right to give you temporal death, but eternal death too. Human logic alone can lead you to a belief in a Creator God. This is called general revelation. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,..."

However, God is not just our transcendent Creator in the person of the Father. (He created us to be loved by Him, so that is natural.) He is also our immanent (read Immanuel--God with us) God, in the person of "Jesus Christ His only Son, who for us men & for our salvation (from sin, death & the devil) came down from heaven" to suffer & die on the Cross; to be raised in order to give us eternal life. Not only that, but sends us the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit to sustain & comfort us in this earthly life. These things are the specific revelation graciously given to us in God's Word (The Holy Bible). 1 John 4:18 tells us, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love (read God's love for us through Jesus Christ) drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

Answer 5

I love God so i not fear of him 1 john 4:18
or death or need strange feeling...

Answer 6

It isn't about feelings. It's about objective truth. And what is more logical than to accept the truth from one Who is infinitely knowledgeable and incapable of either error or dishonesty??

Answer 7

Logic..because it exists. Think about that for a while instead of just blowing it off.

It is tangible. 2+2=4 no matter where I go in the universe. Religion varies by parish...

What does that tell you.

Answer 8

Logic trumps faith every time.
Faith is like fools gold. It makes you THINK that your holding onto something beautiful, but it is ultimately; worthless.

Answer 9

Personally my logic lies in my Faith.

Answer 10

First proof read.
I trust Christ. I don't fear death.