I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      The relationship between faith and reason has long been debated.

                                                             1.      Theists and atheists alike have argued that faith excludes reason or that reason excludes faith.

                                                             2.      The mistake that is made is the assumption that faith and reason are incompatible by nature.

a.       Faith is usually viewed by the atheist as irrational belief.

b.       Reason is often viewed by the theist as a distrustful attitude toward God.

c.        Neither of these is correct.  True faith is not irrational, and reason is not necessarily distrustful of God.

B.      Regarding faith and reason, there are two extreme positions to be avoided:

                                                             1.      The extreme position of “blind faith,” where one accepts what he believes without a rational reason for doing so (“Do not believe every spirit,” 1John 4:1);

                                                             2.      The extreme position of requiring hard evidence for everything that one believes (“Unless I shall see…I will not believe,” John 20:25).

C.      Any attempt to teach belief in the gospel by the concept of blind faith is very likely to fail.

                                                             1.      One reason for this is that convincing someone of anything without rational evidence is nearly impossible.  Most people need a reason to believe.

                                                             2.      Another reason for this is that the Bible itself appeals to reason and evidence to convince those who would learn.  If Christians fail to use reason and evidence, then they are not teaching as the Bible teaches.

a.       Simply teaching that becoming a Christian and obtaining salvation is a “better felt than told” experience will not convince someone to be a true Christian as described by the Bible. 

b.       Blind faith is very fragile and easily shaken.  Such faith is built on emotion and feeling, and it can easily be replaced with another faith of a better feeling.  However, true faith is built on solid evidence and is less likely to be shaken.

D.      On the other hand, belief in the gospel cannot be taught solely by means of worldly evidence and reasoning.

                                                             1.      Modern science will not explain the gospel.  True science does not conflict with the Bible, but it does not reveal it either.

                                                             2.      Considering nature will not reveal the truth of the gospel.  No one will ever view a forest and determine that Jesus is the Son of God (John 3:16) or that he needs to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  God is evident in nature (Rom. 1:20), but the gospel is not.

                                                             3.      Secular history will not explain the gospel.  Although archaeological finds and discoveries of ancient documents may give corroborating evidence to the history recorded in the Bible, those things will never reveal the plan of salvation or the unseen God.

E.       Therefore, it is necessary to understand the relationship between faith and reason.

II.      FAITH AND REASON

A.      Christianity is a faith, and that means it is built on belief in unseen things as demonstrated in Hebrews 11.

                                                             1.      The Bible defines faith in this way: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).

                                                             2.      This passage goes on to exemplify the definition of faith: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Heb. 11:3).  No man was present to see God create the world, so we can only believe it by faith.

                                                             3.      The rest of Hebrews 11 presents examples of faithful men and women who took action because they believed in that which they had not seen.  More than just believing, these people trusted in God, whom they could not see, and because of that trust they did things that they never would have done otherwise.

B.      If Christianity is irrational because it is built upon belief in the unseen, then many of the things we believe are also irrational.

                                                             1.      All of the history of the world that we accept as fact requires a degree of faith to believe because none of us was there to witness it.

                                                             2.      Opponents of the Bible try to discredit it by saying that it is too old, it has been lost in translation, and it has been altered from its original form.  By those same arguments, they will discredit all of history for there is more evidence in favor of the authenticity of the Bible than for almost any other ancient historical document.

C.      In truth, whether we are considering Christianity or history, reason and knowledge take us so far, and faith takes us the rest of the way to true belief in the unseen.

                                                             1.      Belief in the unseen does not require a “leap of faith” as if we jump into complete darkness without a reasonable clue of what is there.

                                                             2.      We take the step from what we know to belief in the unseen because it is the reasonable thing to do.

a.       When this process is followed in the fields of science or history, it is considered to be rational and intelligent.

b.       However, when this process is followed in Christianity, worldly minded people in their bias call it irrational foolishness and baseless superstition.

c.        In truth, objective study of all available evidence will show that it is more reasonable to believe in God than not to believe.

                                                             3.      Therefore, we see that faith and reason work together rather than against one another.

D.      There are many ways that we reason in order to arrive at knowledge and faith.

                                                             1.      Induction – This is the gathering of evidence.  For faith in God, we gather the evidence of nature, the Bible, and other witnesses.

                                                             2.      Deduction – This is processing the evidence in such a way that conclusive results can be obtained.  For example, if the ground is wet and the skies are cloudy, one can deduce (conclude) that there has been rain.

                                                             3.      Empirical data – This is acquired through direct experience.

                                                             4.      Credible testimony – This comes from witnesses who are trustworthy or cannot be doubted.  Of course, the more witnesses there are, the stronger the proof is.

                                                             5.      Intuition – This is knowledge that does not depend on hard evidence but is just as credible.  For example, we know that either God exists or He does not.  No observation is necessary to know that these are the only two possibilities.

E.       Therefore, faith in God cannot rightly be called irrational or blind if these accepted processes of reason are used to learn faith.

III.   LET US REASON TOGETHER

A.      No Christian should be afraid or intimidated by anyone who questions his faith in Christ.

                                                             1.      “And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” (1Pet. 3:15)

                                                             2.      Those Christians who are prepared to make a defense have nothing to fear, for they have ample evidence and solid reasons for why they believe as they do.

B.      Therefore, let us be certain that we know why we believe as we do so that we can always answer.

                                                             1.      Understand why you believe in the unseen God.

                                                             2.      Understand why you believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God.

                                                             3.      Understand why you believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

                                                             4.      Understanding these things not only strengthens your faith, but it also equips you to reason with others so that they will believe the same.

C.      Then we can be effective in teaching anybody, just as the apostle Paul was able to do.

                                                             1.      At Athens, we see that Paul was “reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present” (Acts 17:17).

a.       Thus we see that whether the people believed in God and His Scriptures or the idols or anything else, Paul could reason with them from their level of understanding and bring them around to faith in Christ.

b.       When Paul gave a sermon on Mars’ Hill (Acts 17:19-33), he was able to convince some of the people to believe by reasoning that Jesus was the Christ risen from the dead.

                                                             2.      We likewise can reason with anybody that faith in God and Christ is a sound belief, even though God is unseen.

D.      Therefore, let us consider the evidence, study it all, and reason together to a sound belief, which I believe is faith in God through Jesus Christ according to the Bible.