Reason

11 Commentsby   |  02.01.11  |  Pre-Renaissance (Part I)

Plato was a firm believer in the rational mind.  He believed that you found truth through reason and that reason was everything.  In class when we discussed the Christian view of the role of reason I really began to think about the differences in Christianity and Plato.  If you could only find truth through reason then how could God be truth?  You cannot see or touch God and many of the stories of miracles and healings are not rational or reasonable.  A very large part of Christianity is faith; “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).  We must believe in the unseen God in order to be a Christian, which is not reasonable to many people.  Christians believe in the importance of reason, but they know that reason is not enough.  Faith is sometimes believing in the unreasonable.  It is important that we know how to balance faith and reason.  We must remember the command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).  This verse reminds us that not only must we trust our heart and soul but also our mind.  We must trust the rational part of us as much as we have faith that God exists.  I think that Plato was correct about the importance of reason, but he was wrong that reason is the only way to find truth.

Comment

11 Comments

  1. Alison
    11:14 pm, 02.01.11

    I definitely agree with what you’re saying; Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard had a lot to say in this matter. He was very big on what he called the “leap of faith”; he thought reason could only get you so far, but that you must take that leap of faith, even if it seems crazy to everyone else, in order to fully experience Christianity. If you don’t, the paradoxes of Christianity are impossible to resolve; for instance, how could Jesus have been both fully human and fully divine? Reason is not so helpful in solving that dilemma– we must take a leap of faith in order to understand.

  2. Bradye McQueen
    11:58 pm, 02.01.11

    I also agree with what you are saying. Faith is sometimes believing in the unreasonable. That makes so much sense! Reason does not trump faith. Plato was close, but I think he missed the mark.

  3. Anna Brinkman
    9:56 am, 02.02.11

    I like that you put up this dilemma between Plato’s reason and Christianity because it is something that I think a lot of Christians confront in their spiritual journey. I think that we as humans attempt to find some reason in every thing, for example Christians may accept the idea of God to find reason in life. I think the question you posted, If you could only find truth through reason then how could God be truth?, is something that deserves to be thought about because it is such a dilemma in our lives.

  4. Taeyanna Pannell
    12:00 pm, 02.02.11

    This is so true. We as Christian do believe it what others deem as unreasonable but that just goes to show that we do have faith. Other people have faith in other things that cannot be seen but still believe in it. You also make a another valid point with reason and we balancing it out with faith. This is something that we need to try and do because reason does not overcome faith and faith should not completely knock out reason. We need both of these to have an everyday life.

  5. Adrienne Lackey
    12:50 pm, 02.02.11

    “Faith is sometimes believing in the unreasonable.” I think this quote accurately sums up your entire post. It also reminds me of the movie Alice in Wonderland, “I sometimes believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” As Christians we are sometimes asked to believe in impossible things, but the unlikeliness of them happening only makes them that much cooler when they do come true.

  6. Natalie Fleet
    5:13 pm, 02.02.11

    I would have to disagree that reason and faith, at least for Christians, are pinned against each other. I believe that our reason as Christians, is our faith. Like the passage from Hebrews 11, “By faith…” Abraham, Noah, Abel, and so forth, followed God and sought His commands first. To these men of great faith, their reason is their faith.

  7. Brady Campbell
    6:07 pm, 02.02.11

    I don’t know if I could say that faith is believing in the unreasonable, but perhaps believing in the unexplained, unprovable, controversial, difficult, or something more like that. I am not so quick to accept that reason is defeated by faith. I would like to think that they compliment each other in order to open our eyes wider when working together. However, I also am not so quick to accept that I have the wisdom to be confident in this thought. Further study is required…

  8. Lacy Hanson
    6:09 pm, 02.02.11

    I really like how you put Plato’s beliefs and compared them to Christianity, which is essentially believing in the unseen, untouchable, and “irrational”. Faith is a large part of our lives as Christians, but we must also have the reason that Plato speaks of. It’s like the two sides of the yin and yang…neither can live without the other.

  9. Brittany Rexroat
    6:11 pm, 02.02.11

    I like the way you framed this into a Christian aspect. I completely agree that sometimes it takes faith in something not necessarily valid reasoning to support it in order to make it true.

  10. Tiffani Johnson
    11:47 pm, 02.02.11

    Good point! I think one thing that we must remember when thinking about Plato’s belief about reason and faith is that in his time the gods were made tangible, they were elements (wind and water) and experiences (war).

  11. Derek Mar
    11:54 pm, 02.02.11

    I like where you said. “It is important that we know how to balance faith and reason.” I think as college students we are being trained to ask questions and reason through things. But as Christians we must find that balance between faith and reason.

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