We must build up our faith!Irrational: not endowed with reason or understanding.The charge that faith is irrational:It is not based on observable evidence.It is not based on reason.It is not verifiable by experimentation.It is a blind leap of faith accepted on the basis of revelation.It amounts to superstition.People believe because they want to.The response of the Bible:The charge that faith is irrational is a dishonest effort to stigmatize believers and cut off debate.This is an ad hominem attack and is not reasonable at all.Acts 26:24-26Name calling does not prove anything.One man’s reasonable is another’s crazy.Religious faith is in fact based on observable evidence.Romans 1:19-20 – The invisible attributes of God can be seen through what He has made.Acts 14:16-17Believers cite lots of evidence.We see the same things as unbelievers.We reason to a different conclusion.Two interpretations of the same evidence.Religious faith is based in part on reasoning from the available evidence to a logical conclusion.Acts 17:2-4I Peter 3:15We reason from the evidence.We conclude faith is more reasonable.Does unverified mean irrational?Faith may not be verifiable at the present but many things in science are accepted as possible or even likely without current verification:Dark matterGravity wavesBlack holesCertain sub-atomic particlesLife on other planetsBasic assumptions of science:There exists a single unchanging set of laws which govern all events in the universe.Human beings are able to understand the workings of the physical universe.The laws which describe the universe are describable by mathematics.The response of the BibleMuch religious faith is based on revelation, but revelation itself is a type of evidence.John 20:30-31Acts 1:3II Peter 1:16It’s called testimonyIt’s the basis on which we “know” just about everything we know.Equating our faith with superstition is disingenuous.John 7:45-46Luke 24:32Faith does not involve choice that goes beyond observable factsHebrews 11:1John 20:29The evidence only takes us so far.There is a moral or spiritual choice that takes us the rest of the way.Faith is reasonable but not provable.God has intentionally made it this way. I Peter 1:8-9; Hebrews 11:6
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