Faith vs Reason

REL 401 – Essay 1

10 Jul 10

The definitions of faith and reason mean different things to different people. In my opinion, faith believes in something that can’t be proven or shown and reason is simply having proof or evidence of belief. Again, these words are defined differently by different people. To rationalists and materialists, faith is a harmless opinion about matters that aren’t real. Reason, on the other hand, is based upon faith.

To Christians, both faith and reason lead to the belief in God and that he created the universe and all that’s in it. Materialists and determinists conclude that the universe is closed, meaning there is no flexibility and natural laws are how the human beings evolved. Even though they seem to have two different views of faith and reason, they actually both realize the same reality and law of nature but in different ways.

Faith and reason are influenced by tradition. For instance, a person has been told for most of their life that when people die, they are in a better place. Most will continue that tradition because that’s all they know, it’s all they were taught. There is not any proof that when we die, we are going to a better place, but those who have faith believe that because God created the heavens and earth and told to us in the bible and that if we live our lives according to him, we will dwell with him in heaven. That is the reason and proof behind why we have faith because the bible (our proof) tell us so.

The role of reason in theology couples with our faith and our personal and religious experiences as truths in providing the reasoning for our faith. It justifies our beliefs because it based on our faith. Our experiences provide us with a testimony that further drives our faith. Reason cannot be separated faith.