Faith and Reason

[Ryker]

Can somebody tell me what do you get when you combine faith and reason? Why is it needed? Also to relate a quote with the two factors. Sorry if you’re confused I tried making the question as simple as possible. Thank you.

 

[Jeremy]

From the CCC

“50 By natural reason man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation. Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.”

“154 Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises (for example, when a man and a woman marry) to share a communion of life with one another. If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to “yield by faith the full submission of… intellect and will to God who reveals”, and to share in an interior communion with him. 155 In faith, the human intellect and will co-operate with divine grace: “Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace.””

I am not Catholic, but the way I would relate the two is: “The direct revelation of God to man is entirely consistent with reason but only fully understood by faith, which is ‘a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him’ which ‘makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth’.” (quotes from CCC 153).

 

[trogiah]

Ryker:

Can somebody tell me what do you get when you combine faith and reason? Why is it needed? Also to relate a quote with the two factors. Sorry if you’re confused I tried making the question as simple as possible. Thank you.

The question is confusing but I’ll try this.

Reason is a tool, A template I can use to manage money, build a house, plan a trip, many other things. I observe that “A” causes “B” so if I want B then I make A happen and if I don’t want B then I try to make A not happen.

Faith is what I commit to. I could put my faith in the Yankees. and if the Yankees win then I win and if the Yankees lose then I lose.

I could put my faith in reason but sometimes I might get tired of reasoning out the best path for my life or maybe I just don’t know enough about causes and effects to “reason” to very good choices.

I could put my faith in the Word of God, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and supporting scripture, and decide that if the Bible tells me I shouldn’t steal then I won’t steal. If the Bible tells me to love my neighbor as myself then I should do that.

Putting faith in anything requires some reasoning. Scriptures can be misunderstood, especially when some small quote is focused on in isolation from the rest of Scripture. But I think blind faith in scripture is not nearly as bad as some may suggest.

I don’t know if any of this helps answer your question but maybe it will help you clarify your question.

peace

-Jim

 

[Ghosty]

Reason is the highest faculty of the human brain, the physical gift of God to humanity.

Faith is the highest faculty of the human soul, the spiritual gift of God to humanity.

God created us in His image, and our existance gives glory to God. Therefore there is no higher glory that can be given to God than to embrace His gifts and use them properly. When we combine the two we are worshipping God in the absolute fullest. What we get for ourselves is a fully realized human person, the greatest of God’s creations on Earth.

As for quotes, the ones in the first responce are much better than any I could provide. It’s hard to beat the CCC. Hope that helps!