Reason and Religion

Religion and Reason

Religion and reason are often thought of separately, and many times as opposing things altogether. Many people that claim to believe in a religion hold their faith in spite of scientific observation or logical reasoning. Within my own faith in Christianity, I have heard many people claim faith in Jesus Christ because they have “felt him.” Although they have every freedom to believe in Jesus because they feel like it, they don’t have such liberty in calling this logical, or even true, unless there is reason to support it.

My reason for believing in Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible is not because I feel it, or because I was raised to believe it. I diplomatically arrived at the decision that the teaching of Christianity is the only satisfying logical argument for what I have observed in the world around me. I wholeheartedly believe that Christianity is a reasonable faith, based in scholastic thought. Christianity encourages questioning and reasoning.

You can no more prove the existence of God than you can the existence of logic, but there can be reasonable proof for both. I contend that Christianity is the only worldview that has conclusive reasonable proof for the explanation of the observable world.

I have determined that a satisfying argument (one that is reasonable enough to hold it as truth) is one that answers the following questions:
The origin of life
The origin of energy
The origin of concepts
The origin of religion
An explanation for the supernatural
A reason for existence
The origin of evil

The origin of everything:

Before anything else was God. He existed (and still exists) as a supreme being needing neither beginning nor end because he is infinite. Infinity is a concept we understand as a figure eight, showing that there is no place to start or end, but simply continuation. It can also be viewed as a line (lines in geometry by definition have neither beginning nor end but continue on in both directions infinitely). This is the picture of God. The Bible describes God as unchanging. This characteristic is extremely important because if God changed he would cease to be infinite, for he would then be measured in time. Infinity is without time. Time is the measurement of change. Therefore, something infinite exists out of time because it does not change. God is described as such in the Christian Bible. He is the origin of all things (whether that be through a six day creation or the beginning of an evolutionary process is of no difference in this debate, since both opinions are widely accepted in Christianity).

The reason for existence:
As the Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “We exist to glorify God.” Contrary to popular belief, God did not create the world because he was bored, but rather because he desired for his glory to be known. God created the universe to show how great he is, and therefore be glorified.

The problem of evil:
God sovereignly allowed sin and evil to enter the world of humans because it is through this that he will be glorified. Great angelic beings worship God as he is enthroned in heaven, but their worship is in some way incomplete because they have nothing to contrast his greatness to. Humans can see the evil and the worthlessness of sin, and because of that can taste a greater grace, see a greater beauty, and know a greater love in God.

Explanation for intangible things:
In our world around us we observe not only physical things, but also intangible things like concepts. These include logic, mathematics, and morals. Many non-religious people contend that these things can be explained by culture and sociology. We observe that the vast majority of human groups have similar moral requirements, even though they have no contact with other groups. Although this contention is possible, it seems far less plausible than God’s explanation for the phenomenon. God says through the apostle Paul that, “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law unto themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” (Romans 2: 14-15)

In modern American culture, we would say it is wrong to eat another human being. Because this belief is not always held in all cultures, it is often said that the Christian argument Paul makes in Romans 2 falls apart. This however, is not a proper example for such a question. If I were starving and had a dead human body next to me I may eat it, and I firmly believe my conscience would be clear in doing so. If, however, that person was my best friend, I was not starving, and I killed him for the purpose of enjoying his flesh in spite of my lack of hunger, I can definitely say on moral grounds that this is completely wrong. I don’t think any person on the face of the planet would disagree with me. But why is it wrong?

Morality, like logic, is a stable concept because it is measured off of God. The world performs in logical ways (observable by the scientific method of observation) because God is the embodiment of logic. Likewise, God is the embodiment of morality, being flawless, and therefore morality is measured against him.

Explanation for other religions, miracles and the hardening of hearts:
A question I am often faced with, as a Christian today, is “how do you know your religion is right if every other person believes theirs is right too?” This question is a valid one that I think every person that claims a faith should confront, but I have never found a satisfying answer outside of Christianity. Another question is often asked in conjunction with it: “how do you explain the miraculous signs performed by other religious leaders or in the name of other gods?” Christianity contends that both that which is physical, and also spiritual affects this world. There is very real spiritual activity going on whether we notice it or not, on both the side of God (angels or messengers from God) and the side of Satan (demons). God allows spirits of both kinds to work in the world for the same reason as “the problem of evil,” which I discussed earlier—it is all for his glory. It is for his glory that he allows other religions to exists, and allows demons to do miraculous works in the name of others gods. These evils must be contrasted to his beauty to bring full appreciation to him.

All of these points come together to explain our observable world with only one logical explanation: the God of the Bible—a sovereign and holy God.