Find Joel's podcast here.
You can learn more about Joel's ministry, The Think Institute, here.
Finally, checkout Joel's book here.
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
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Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
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I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!
For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.1
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
Footnote:
1. Galatians 1:6-12, CSV.
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"Ranational faith" is an oxymoron.
— Rich🇪🇺🏳️🌈 (@5317006) August 10, 2022
Recently, Apologetics Awareness was kind enough to share my review of Stephen T. Davis' excellent book Rational Faith. As the tweet above shows, "Rich" responded by claiming that the idea of "rational faith" is an oxymoron. I encouraged Rich to read the book, but alas, I was told he would not be wasting his cash. The irony here is that Davis' entire project in the book is to demonstrate the contrary! But is Rich right? Is "rational faith" an oxymoron?
At this point, it would seem helpful to define just what an oxymoron is. For simplicity purposes, an oxymoron is when one combines words that contradict one another. Examples would include a silent scream, jumbo shrimp or plastic silverware. You get the idea! So, Rich is basically claiming that if one claims their faith is rational, they are guilty of a contradiction. Faith, by definition, (according to Rich) is irrational. Rich is, of course, not the first the person to suggest this. The late author Mark Twain famously wrote, "Having faith is believing in something you just know ain't true.” And famed biologist and religious critic Richard Dawkins writes "Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence." But if the truth be told, these types of claims greatly misrepresent Christianity1 from both a historical and biblical perspective.
As philosopher and theologian Kenneth Samples explains, the historic Christian view of faith is very different from the stereotypical definition represented above:
"Reason is respected, even prized, within the Christian tradition. A powerful theological-philosophical consensus within the history of the faith has argued that the Christian religion involves knowledge, is compatible with reason, and is even the product of reason. This agreement has often been expressed in the common statement, 'faith seeking understanding.' Its most articulate and persuasive spokespersons through the centuries have been distinguished thinkers such as Augustine, Anselm and Thomas Aquinas."2
And what does the Bible have to say about faith? Samples explains:
"Biblical faith isn't synonymous with wishful thinking. The root words for faith in both the Old Testament (Hebrew) and the New Testament (Greek) mean 'trust.' These biblical terms convey a confident reliance on someone or something. But that trust must be placed in a credible (reasonable and/or reliable) source or object...biblical faith is never blind. Rather, for both traditional Jews and Christians, the believer must know that the object of their trust is trustworthy. Faith in the biblical sense is confident trust in a credible source; that source can be God, Christ, the truth, a parent or teacher, etc. Thus, scripturally speaking, rather than being in opposition to reason, faith's very definition includes a necessary rational component...[i]n Scripture, faith involves knowledge. For example, saving faith depends on knowing certain historical facts about Jesus's life, death and resurrection. Christians have faith in Jesus Christ by believing h is the Messiah (God's specially anointed servant), the incarnate Son of God, and the crucified and risen Savior of the world...[t]he Christian faith is directly connected to the rational knowing process.3
Theologian Alister McGrath says it best:
"Belief in God is not irrational, but possesses its own distinct and robust rationality. It represents a superb way of making sense of things."4
Indeed. Rational faith is not an oxymoron at all. A rational faith represents both the historical and biblical understanding of faith. When one asserts otherwise, they merely demonstrate their failure to understand their intended target.
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
Footnote:
1. As a Christian, that is the type of faith I am interested in correctly understanding and communicating. I will leave it to adherents to other faiths to defend their views.
2. Dr. Kenneth Samples, Christianity Cross-Examined: Is it Rational, Relevant and Good?, p. 60. For those interested in learning more about the deep intellectual heritage of the Christian faith, I recommend Dr. Samples book Classic Christian Thinkers.
3. Ibid, p. 60-61.
4. Alister McGrath, "Isn't Science More Rational than Faith?, as quoted by Dr. Kenneth Samples, p. 59.
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Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
Footnote:
1. Mark Galli, Jesus Mean and Wild, p. 16-17.
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Let us join together, praying for "abortion to become unthinkable" and that the "elderly and vulnerable" would be protected.
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
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According to Davis, here what we find in Paul's accepted letters about Jesus:
"His name was Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:1); he was a man (Romans 5:15 born of a woman (Galatians 4:4); he was Jewish, a descendant of Abraham (Galatians 3:16; 4:4) and David (Romans 1:3); he had brothers (1 Corinthians 9:5). He was sent by God to take on human form (Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:6-11); he was poor (2 Corinthians 8:9) and humble (Philippians 2:6-11); he suffered (Romans 8:17); he was loving and compassionate (Philippians 1:8); and he lived an exemplary life (Romans 15:3, 8; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:6-8).
Jesus gathered disciples, including Cephas and John (Galatians 1:19; 2:9), and taught people on various religious topics (1 Thessalonians 4:2), including marriage and divorce (1 Corinthians 7:10), how those who preach the gospel should make their living (1 Corinthians 9:14), blessing those who persecute you (Romans 12:14), repaying no one evil for evil (Romans 12:17), accepting all foods as clean (Romans 14:14), and his own ultimate triumphal return (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). On the night Jesus was betrayed he took bread, broke it, gave thanks and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' Then he took a cup and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me' (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Jesus was betrayed (1 Corinthians 11:23), was crucified by 'the Jews' (1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:14) and was buried (1 Corinthians 15:4). On the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4) God raised him from the dead (Romans 1:4; 4:25; 6:4; 8:34; 1 Corinthians 15:4; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Galatians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:14). He appeared to Peter, to 'the twelve,' to more than five hundred people, to James and then to all the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:5-7)...Paul insisted that Jesus would return (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) to be revealed (1 Corinthians 1:7) and to judge all people (Romans 2:16)."4
Davis concludes by explaining what Paul's writings about Jesus tell us about the reliability of the Gospel of Mark:
"...the authentically Pauline letters were all written well before Mark, and indeed within twenty to thirty years of the death of Jesus. Accordingly, what Paul said about the life of Jesus is much more likely to be reliable on purely historical-critical grounds than something written much later. And this reliability confirms the accuracy of later texts like Mark that largely agree with Paul on the life of Jesus. Mark does not appear to be myth or fable or fiction. What we have here, then, is an impressive reason for regarding Mark as reliable."5
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
Footnote:
1. Stephen T. Davis, Rational Faith: A Philosopher's Defense of Christianity, p. 58.
2. Ibid; these letters, according to Davis, include Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
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