But there is further reason I have for taking issue with the common understanding of faith as belief without evidence. I don't think the Bible advocates blind faith at all, but rather, it encourages critical thinking. First of all, 1 Peter 3:15 says, "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." In this passage, we are admonished to "give a reason" for the hope we have. Before we can give a reason for why we have hope, we have to first HAVE a reason for our hope. So this passage presupposes that our faith not be blind or arbitrary. It must be based on reasons. 1 Peter 3:15 is where the ministry of apologetics comes from. The Greek word translated as "answer" here and as "defense" in the NASB is "apologia," from which we get "apologetics," which involves giving reasons for thinking Christianity is true and answering objections to the Christian worldview. It's something that according to 1 Peter every Christian should do, but that requires them to engage the gospel on an intellectual level and not to be content with mere blind belief without reasons.
Part 3
1 comment:
Steve,
In the early years of the church, contrary ideas were not met with anti-intellectualism. They were met with intellectualism. You can see this especially in the writings of the second century (e.g. Justin Martyr). Christianity had no real power in those days to enforce any point of view. They had nothing but arguments. It wasn't until later years, when Christians gained political power, that they began to use that power to silence alternate views rather than debate them.
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