Can reason lead the mind to the true faith?

[Mailman]

“Right reason, that is, reason rightly exercised, leads the mind to the Catholic faith, and plants it there, and teaches it in all its religious speculations to act under its guidance.”

• John Henry Cardinal Newman (convert to Catholicism)

Is the above view of JH Cardinal Newman consistent with the teachings in Scripture?

Here is what I believe. The Bible does not teach that our use of reason will lead us to the truth. On the contrary, it warns us against trusting on human reason for wisdom and understanding as it can only lead us astray. Notice the following Scriptures:

“Trust in the Lord… and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov. 3:5)

“There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12).

Human reason is equated with worldly wisdom. The Bible tells us that we need to leave our worldly wisdom behind if we want to seek the wisdom that will lead us to God.

“If any man seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God…” (1Cor. 3:18-19).

God’s Word warns us against using philosophical reasoning (the use of reason to arrive at the truth as the philosophers practice) when we try to understand spiritual things.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8).

The reason why we, by our own selves using our human reason alone, would not be able to find and know God is revealed in these Scriptures:

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes…” (Prov. 21:2).
“O Lord I know the way of man is not in himself…” (Jer. 10:23).
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…” (Jer. 17:9).

In order for us to find and know Him, we should first pray for a change in our hearts.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10).

And we must be CALLED by God.

“For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:19, 24).

“For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39).

The apostles and the early Christian converts were all called by God.

“You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you…” (Jn. 15:16).

“… the God of our fathers has chosen thee, that thou should know his will…” (Acts 22:14).

“For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1 Cor. 1:26).

No one can be part of God’s Church without being called by God.

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” (John 6:44).

Only the called of God are called to the truth.

“God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).

Spiritual truth is divinely revealed. It is not known by human reason or scholarship.

“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever…” (Deut. 29: 29).

“And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding…” (1 John 5:20).

Only God’s Spirit is the source of spiritual wisdom and understanding, never our human reason. This is the means by which God opens our eyes to spiritual enlightenment.

“…God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit… the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:6-11).

The only thing that reason can discover, when rightly exercised, is that there is a supreme being out there who is the creator and sustainer of all things visible and invisible in the whole, vast universe. But no amount of human reason, no matter how well exercised, can lead the mind to know that Supreme Being and His Truth. That knowledge must be divinely revealed.

 

[Leonius]

Is the above view of JH Cardinal Newman consistent with the teachings in Scripture?

Here is what I believe. The Bible does not teach that our use of reason will lead us to the truth. On the contrary, it warns us against trusting on human reason for wisdom and understanding as it can only lead us astray.

“Right reason, that is, reason rightly exercised, leads the mind to the Catholic faith.”

Notice the distinction, he does not say just reason but RIGHT reason, do you understand what is meant by right reason? Right reason has God as its source.

However the scriptures also never tell us that our reason can only ever lead us astray, you will not find such an extreme statement about reason anywhere in scripture, it is the ability to reason, the rational part of our soul that even makes it possible to have Faith in the first place, it is the rational soul that is eternal and separates us from the animals.

In fact ironicly you are using human reason to make your argument here, you do not even obey the scriptures you are posting, those scriptures are a condemnation of all protestantism with their private interpretation of scriptures.

To make decisions based on human reason and then to falsely claim divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit as the protestants do is a great blasphemy.

 

[Benadam]

True faith is relative to what we can know is true . Human reason is meant to lead to Truth.

 

[ac_claire]

God gave you reason when He made you. God also became a man who used His human reason along with His Divine omniscience. There isn’t a second in the day that you aren’t using your mind. I agree with the above poster, it’s ironic that you’d dismiss the mere human reason that God gifted you with so easily.

 

[JesuisSean]

REASON IS CAUSE AND EFFECT !

If you can master the understanding of true cause and effect, this will lead you to the grand truth. This will therefore bypass the need of faith. If you can not reach the truth directly, then faith becomes your best guide.

All is relative.

You can not have left unless there is a right, nor an up without a down, nor a good without a bad. Thus if you direct your faith toward the good, how can you possibly be going in the wrong direction. The journey is there. The journey toward the true good.

Faith is as much as many a people can withstand. If you instead actually meet the truth, then you become a warrior that defends others against the bad, you defend them against pure evil and 100% deceit. Few are capable of the magnitude of such responsibility.

Because of this, it best for the many to be religious believers instead. A belief is only required if you are at a distance from the truth itself. Thus being at a distance from the truth you must not experience the burden of withstanding acts of infinite evil being subjected upon you.

However, if you do make contact with the truth, you become it. You become the Son of God. One tough job indeed !

But who am I to say?

 

[johngh]

I wasn’t raised any religion. I wasn’t even raised to believe in God. But through reason and observation, I find myself now a Catholic.

I think that reason used properly will lead you to the Truth, which I believe is the Catholic Faith.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

One of my college professors was a convert. He was an exceptionally brilliant man [name any subject from baseball to Egyptian hieroglyphics and he could name you three books on the subject and a brief summary of them.] He said that he was intellectually convinced of the Catholic Church for several years before he entered. He believed that the gift of Faith came separately from the knowledge, and conversion was not possible without that gift.

 

[Benadam]

One of my college professors was a convert. He was an exceptionally brilliant man [name any subject from baseball to Egyptian hieroglyphics and he could name you three books on the subject and a brief summary of them.] He said that he was intellectually convinced of the Catholic Church for several years before he entered. He believed that the gift of Faith came separately from the knowledge, and conversion was not possible without that gift.

Joe, it could be that faith and knowledge are contingent on each other in the case of the professor. It could be that the knowing was a necessary prerequisite to recieve the gift.

 

[juliamajor]

So the more reason free, the more ignorant you are the better Christian you are?Reason, intelligence, learning don’t have to be obstacles to faith but can be an adjunct & enhance one’s Spiritual Life.God and your relationship to Him shouldn’t be a intellectual exercise but thank God we have an example in Thomas Aquinas whose brillance never got in the way of his relationship with God.You can have the best of both worlds, you can have a relationship with Christ that is mind and Spirit, intellect and faith- they are not diametrically opposed.
There are some Churches in the US that have a decidedly anti-intellectual bias, why?- I don’t know but I find that very disturbing- and they go so far as to discourage higher education-JW’s come to mind.Though I understand this edict from Watchtower has altered a bit.But ignorance is not bliss, neither is it faith, nor devotion.