One of the ideas that has been ingrained in us is the idea that faith happens in the absence of knowledge. Alvin Plantinga quotes Mark Twain "faith is believing what you know ain't true". We talk of a 'leap of faith' and easily accept that faith is the opposite of reason.
And what has been the result? A contempt from the intellectual and scientific community towards those who have faith in God. If I understood that faith walks hand in hand with ignorance and was divorced from reason, I wouldn't want it either. But what if the opposite is true?
Certainly Alvin Plantinga argues the point.
He contends that "if naturalism were true, ....there would be no such thing as knowledge. That's bad enough, but there's worse to follow...(I'm going to put it in my own words here)...He (the naturalist - the atheist, the evolutionist, etc) can't trust his brain and thinking ability to actually hold true beliefs." (BTW, if you want the actual quote - I'll put it as a footnote)
I love it. Basically he's saying that whether or not theism actually is true, at least it allows for belief, for knowledge, for truth itself and warrants faith. One might say it doesn't disprove itself...but is reasonable.
And by contrast, explaining things like belief, knowledge, and truth without God is actually unreasonable and does not warrant faith - really in anything at all!
from page 1 - "I'll argue that the naturalist is committed to the sort of deep and debilitating skepticism according to which he can't trust his cognitive faculties to furnish him with mainly true beliefs; he has a defeator for whatever he believes, including naturalism itself. And I'll argue that naturalism, insofar as it implies materialism about human beings, has no room for the essential features of our mental life, including in particular belief." - Alvin Plantinga, Knowledge of God
1 comment:
Good post!
Re: "result... A contempt from the intellectual and scientific community towards those who have faith in God."
This contempt has been prevalent, particularly in Canada, throughout my entire adult life. The intimidating, superior attitudes and influences of the likes of David Suzuki, CBC broadcasting,
and other Canadian "intellectual" media, have so affected Christians in this country, that unfortunately most are totally ashamed to admit to being Christian. This is sad and has gravely hurt the potential for Christian influence.
Having said that, there are also some public belligerent Christian (so-called/claimed) leaders in pulpits who behave so arrogantly, disgracefully, and foolishly, that true Christians are ashamed or embarrassed to be associated with their ilk. Also sad, and also hurtful.
Thanks, Andrea, for your thought-provoking research.
Twila
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