Blind Faith Is Not Enough -- FIRST REASON, THEN FAITH

C DeSalvo

Blind faith in atheism, any religion, political party or other belief system is foolish, and blind faith in any person, sports team, celebrity or movie star is also foolish or worse. Blind faith in anything is mistaken because blind faith is not based on evidence and careful thought. It is based on emotion, hopes, feelings. Reason-based faith (faith based on reason and evidence) is sensible faith.

The 9-11 hijackers had great faith – so much faith that they were willing to die for their beliefs. They were true fanatics (blind believers). But their faith was without any reasonable, evidentiary basis. Theirs was blind faith that was the result of being indoctrinated or brainwashed by their mullahs. Blind faith also can occur because people have such low self-esteem that they will attach themselves to an idea or personality in order to achieve some sense of self-worth.

Opponents of God will dismiss the Resurrection evidence of the 11 Apostles as ancient hearsay, superstition, religious propaganda, etc. They will point to the 9-11 airplane hijackers, religious fanatics, willing to die in support of foolish religion. The 9-11 hijackers did die for what they believed to be true. People sometimes are willing to die for what they believe to be true.

But people don't die for what they know to be false. If there was no Resurrection, the Apostles knew it. Then why would 11 of them lie, say there was a Resurrection and die to support that lie? What would they gain?

The 9-11 terrorists’ actions clearly showed how cruel, senseless and horrible blind faith can be when it is faith in something false. Fortunately for the general public, blind faith often combines with blind luck to select something good for fanatics to believe in.

Are people fortunate whose religious belief is based simply on blind faith? Are they happy that they don't need to read, study or think deeply? No. If blind faith is the reason for belief, then belief in Christianity is no better than belief in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, or any other religion. It is belief in whatever makes someone feel good. And one person’s blind faith in something is no better than another’s blind faith in something else. However, if reason is used to fairly examine evidence, to convince oneself that God exists and that Jesus was God, then reason-based faith automatically develops. Then one has faith grounded in reason. That is how Jesus led the Apostles to have reason-based faith in him. Jesus did not ask for blind faith.

The Apostles first observed the miracles that Jesus performed. Their reason told them that no ordinary human could perform such wonders. In addition, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament predictions that had been written long before the Apostles were born. Thus their reason led them to believe Jesus was God. And as final evidentiary proof, they met with the resurrected Jesus several times during which they conversed, touched, and ate with a man who had died and then lived again.

These extraordinary experiences convinced them that Jesus was truly God. With faith forged from reason, they accepted and believed mysteries that were beyond human understanding (e.g. that bread and wine could become the body and blood of Jesus).

Why do children ultimately obey their parents even when they don’t understand why they must suffer an inoculation or drink bad-tasting medicine? Because their experience has given them reason-based faith that their parents love them and would not harm them maliciously.

So when a young adult asks, “Why should I believe in God?,” don’t answer, “Because the Bible says so.” That answer may have been effective with Sunday-school children but it will not be compelling to modern youth who have been brain-washed by teachers, professors and the secular media to believe that the Bible is simply a collection of fairy tales designed to inhibit their selfish enjoyment of life.

Instead answer, “Because tradition, history and especially science proves that God exists.” The youth’s response might be, “How does science prove God?” That’s an opportunity to relate science’s fantastic story of the Big Bang creation of the universe, the implausible complexity of the first cell of life and the incredulity that inert matter alone could become life, the horrendous leap from single-celled life to multi-cellular life, the missing historical and modern-day evidence for Darwinian evolution, the impossibility that aging and natural death evolved, the exquisite construction of species and of organic, cellular and molecular systems of complex life (i.e. Intelligent Design), the impossibility of accidental development of the DNA language, its duplication and its “spell-checking” for new cells, the use of DNA language to specify recipes for proteins, the willingness of the Apostles and many others to accept torture and martyrdom rather than deny the Resurrection, the existing miracle called the Shroud, and other evidences for God.

Encourage the youth to express arguments against God or initiate such discussions yourself. Gently explain the flaws and weaknesses in those anti-God arguments. And after analysis has overcome their false anti-God notions with pro-God evidence, and they have built up a reasoned-based faith in God, there will be a greater willingness to accept the authenticity of the Bible and the mysteries of Christianity that no human understands. Mysteries that we can accept and believe because our faith is based on evidence and reason.