Relation of Faith and Reason

                A Long time ago, I wrote an essay on A Higher Power through Technology. In there, I stated it was not a proof for the existence of a God but that the idea is reasonable. Some people however, may see it as a proof because it addressed something they had difficulty grasping, how it was reasonable. It proposed a situation in response to the question, “Where did God come from?” The concept of the question itself is interesting, but I will get to that later. All of this led to this essay’s theme of the relation between Faith (in general) and Reason.

                Faith is an interesting thing. It appears to break the rule of “Can only give what you have” due to its immaterial nature. Like said above, it could be that I don’t believe it, but that does not stop anyone else from coming to believe because of it. Another example is how some Catholics cite C.S. Lewis for their Faith but C.S. Lewis was not Catholic. Perhaps an argument could be made that everyone has a potential for Faith and that’s what is given and then it just happens to blossom in the receiver. For example, a man may not have a cherry tree, but he has the seeds though the soil and environment he has is not suited for them. He can give them to another who has the right soil and environment and the seed will become the tree. The same example can also illustrate the idea that the person always had the potential, but was just missing some piece the other had.

                One misconception is that there is no room for Faith when you have Reason. In dealing with actions there is always Faith. There is Faith that what you know is true, that you have accounted for everything. Concerning probability, there is Faith that the number representing your desire will come up. If the odds are 70 % in your favor, you act on faith that the other 30% won’t win out. It can also work the other way, either way you are acting on faith.

                Reason can actually give faith, the greater the odds, the more assurance you have the result you are hoping for will happen (or is true). However, it is not always the case. Some people, despite all reasoning, won’t have faith. I saw a clip of an Atheist debating with Piers Morgan, who claimed to be Catholic, about aspects of Catholicism. Here, the Atheist was actually defending Catholics (to Piers’ surprise) by showing how it was perfectly reasonable.

                There is another way of giving faith is by living it. Sometimes people ooze with an abundance of faith and optimism that it is almost impossible not to feel its effect. Sometimes people just need to see that something is possible.

                Another tenant of faith is how it is necessary. There are some situations where the risks are to high unless there is absolute certainty (or faith) in the results. Someone can have a great product but the publisher still needs faith that it will sell. They know that even though it is great, there is the chance and the examples that it won’t sell.

               Another instance of the necessity comes with dealing with the dual nature of man. While man might be reasonable, there is also the unreasonable side. It’s the side of man that gets trapped by fear.  Consider the building on fire scenario.  Now the person at the top has the choice to jump into the fireman’s arms or stay and burn. There is absolute certainty that the building will go down and will die if stay, but there is the fear of falling that keeps them from action. Faith in the fireman (and self to an extent) plays in finally making the move. Sometimes it’s not even the fear of the jump but that someone else might not make it. This could be seen in the movie Airforce One where family shows some resistance until the lead tells them he’s “Right behind them”.

                Faith is an interesting subject. It’s interesting to see how often we practice it. I’ve been playing a game where the odds are always given to you, but you still have to make the decisions and moves. In that game, there are many situations where I’m hoping the 5% will prevail while another time yelling at empty space why it did. That game is Fire Emblem. Anyone who has played that game series intensely would know what I’m talking about and why it becomes so important. It certainly brought to my attention that Faith is always present and necessary, whether I know it or not, despite its relation to Reason.

               
                Now for the part I promised and outside of the main essay because I don’t see too much of a relation besides what I mentioned (maybe I’ll just do an essay on the general mistakes made in discussing the existence of a God by both sides). One thing I was thinking about for that question for “Where does God come from?” was has to be the assumption. Either way, whether the argument is a God or just matter or the god particle, the argument is being made on the assumption that there is something to be the “First Mover”. To take away this idea would be making it far more complicated and actually sort of against the “evidence” scientists found.

                Anyways, the thing that entered my head today when I considered that was, “What would be more reasonable to assume acted as the First Mover, some matter or a higher power outside of our world?” To me, as much as I could argue that it would be matter, it does not eliminate that a God used that matter in that way. That’s all I have for now. I probably will do that essay sometime after contemplating it a little more.