I just finished one of my favorite Christmas gifts; "Truth With Love:The Apologetics of Francis Schaeffer" by Bryan A. Follis. The book was excellent and provided much to chew on and ponder. Francis Schaeffer was such an amzing man of God and had such an awesome and comprehensive apologetical style. His love and compassion for the lost is inspiring. The time he took with people is convicting. Does the church today care about the lost or are we just content to live in our Christian sub-cultures?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
Faith Exceeds Reason
I attended a lecture over the weekend entitled, "Is Faith Reasonable?" given by my church's resident scholar. The lecture was very interesting and provided much to chew on. I believe that the question can only be answered once you have identified the object of the faith. Certainly not all faiths are equal and not all faiths are true. The conclusion of the lecture demonstrated that faith and reason are complimentary, at least in Christianity but that faith exceeds reason. This is true. I was asked later what my Christian faith is based on and I said the Bible and gave some explanation as to how we can know the Bible is true. My faith is based on God's word, however it did not originate with my study of the Bible. So the question is how and where does saving faith originate?
"The true faith, the saving faith is something God gives us. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God(Eph 2:8). You don’t have the faith that saves, it’s not natural. It’s not natural to believe in something you’ve never seen, it’s not natural to believe in someone you’ve never seen...
We’re not talking about that kind of faith based upon experience because when you came to Jesus Christ you put your faith in something you had never experienced. You were just desperate enough to do that. But you believed the promises of the Bible. Why? Because God supernaturally granted you the faith. This is not human faith. This is the faith that God works in us and although the truth of the Gospel is confirmed by many evidences, human nature is predisposed to reject that truth because it wants to see and experience before it believes. But then a sinner comes to the greatest level of desperation and it’s always almost comical when he happens to be some kind of scientific atheist who in a matter of moments has his atheism shattered, which he has had a whole life time to accumulate through his supposed logic, and embraces Jesus Christ in the desperation of his desire for forgiveness. And all of a sudden he’s able to believe without any proof. That’s the gift of God and then once you believe you go back to the Word of God and you begin to see the reasonableness of what you have come to believe through the pages of scripture. Apologetics is mostly for Christians to strengthen their faith. The miracle of saving faith is a miracle." -John MacArthur (Read entire article at http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/80-169.htm).
Faith and reason compliment each other but faith does exceed reason and saving faith is the gift of God.
"The true faith, the saving faith is something God gives us. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God(Eph 2:8). You don’t have the faith that saves, it’s not natural. It’s not natural to believe in something you’ve never seen, it’s not natural to believe in someone you’ve never seen...
We’re not talking about that kind of faith based upon experience because when you came to Jesus Christ you put your faith in something you had never experienced. You were just desperate enough to do that. But you believed the promises of the Bible. Why? Because God supernaturally granted you the faith. This is not human faith. This is the faith that God works in us and although the truth of the Gospel is confirmed by many evidences, human nature is predisposed to reject that truth because it wants to see and experience before it believes. But then a sinner comes to the greatest level of desperation and it’s always almost comical when he happens to be some kind of scientific atheist who in a matter of moments has his atheism shattered, which he has had a whole life time to accumulate through his supposed logic, and embraces Jesus Christ in the desperation of his desire for forgiveness. And all of a sudden he’s able to believe without any proof. That’s the gift of God and then once you believe you go back to the Word of God and you begin to see the reasonableness of what you have come to believe through the pages of scripture. Apologetics is mostly for Christians to strengthen their faith. The miracle of saving faith is a miracle." -John MacArthur (Read entire article at http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/80-169.htm).
Faith and reason compliment each other but faith does exceed reason and saving faith is the gift of God.
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