Can Faith and Reason Coexist in the Search for Truth?

[Ivan Seeking]

I've been chuckling over this all evening so I decided to make a post. I have a good friend, in fact one of my best friends, who enjoys those slightly, or more than slightly heated philosophical/religious/science debates. Even though we have been friends for a long time now, I drive him totally nuts. I always have. He still hasn't figured out my real position on UFOs, and he thinks physics is way over the edge with ideas like string theory, hyperdimensional spaces, Schrodingers cat, etc, etc, etc. Also, he is an atheist and I'm a Christian. Tonight we got into the whole mess.

He started challenging me on the logic of faith. For the next hour I kept trying to explain that it requires faith to accept or to deny any such belief. We can never prove a negative, so even his position requires faith. He just couldn't see how this could be and it really started ticking him off. We went round, and round, and round, until finally he blurts out in disgust, "that would mean that we can't know anything!". Exactly, I said. So why believe anything? Because some of need to, I replied. Well that's stupid he says. Do you know why I believe in Christ, I asked. Why? Because I saw him on a UFO. I have to hang up now, he replied.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I think it could be days, maybe weeks, before he thinks of a response!

 

[franznietzsche]

I've been chuckling over this all evening so I decided to make a post. I have a good friend, in fact one of my best friends, who enjoys those slightly, or more than slightly heated philosophical/religious/science debates. Even though we have been friends for a long time now, I drive him totally nuts. I always have. He still hasn't figured out my real position on UFOs, and he thinks physics is way over the edge with ideas like string theory, hyperdimensional spaces, Schrodingers cat, etc, etc, etc. Also, he is an atheist and I'm a Christian. Tonight we got into the whole mess.

He started challenging me on the logic of faith. For the next hour I kept trying to explain that it requires faith to accept or to deny any such belief. We can never prove a negative, so even his position requires faith. He just couldn't see how this could be and it really started ticking him off. We went round, and round, and round, until finally he blurts out in disgust, "that would mean that we can't know anything!". Exactly, I said. So why believe anything? Because some of need to, I replied. Well that's stupid he says. Do you know why I believe in Christ, I asked. Why? Because I saw him on a UFO. I have to hang up now, he replied.

He might never have a response. Good stuff Ivan.

 

[Gokul43201]

Do you know why I believe in Christ, I asked. Why? Because I saw him on a UFO.

My little sister once proposed that JC was an alien sent to Earth in a covert attempt to colonize it. This alien drops in and does all these cool tricks (walking on water must have been a piece of cake, as she put it)... and now, nearly half of planet Earth's population is hoping for the alien to return and rescue us all.

A job well done, eh ?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There are now religions that pretty much teach this as the basis for their philosophy.

The worst of it; it is more logical than accepting visitations by supernatural beings. I have always found it fascinating that devout Christians often treat the ET advocates like their beliefs are irrational, but they assume that Christian beliefs aren't.

 

[franznietzsche]

There are now religions that pretty much teach this as the basis for their philosophy.

The worst of it; it is more logical than accepting visitations by supernatural beings. I have always found it fascinating that devout Christians often treat the ET advocates like their beliefs are irrational, but they assume that Christian beliefs aren't.

Well, YEAH. No normal person (normal not being a positive modifier) is going to admit that what they believe might be irrational, that might make it untrue, and god forbid that (literally, and figuratively).

 

[matthyaouw]

Oh man, that is a good one. I'm going to have to use that faith argument on some of my more anti-sematic(spelling? is it the right word, for that matter?) fiends.