One man's onslaught on the power of reason.

[peter...@gmail.com]

To paraphrase the New and the Old Testament...I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the Lord." Also,
'put not your faith in the strength of horses.' - and what is the
biggest strength of the beast called man? I'd argue reason...so why
put your faith in reason?

Some days I wonder, "If I reject reason, does that make me mad?"

I've been told that we can use reason to know with certainty that God
exists by looking at creation. Faith is not required. I've been told
that this teaching is irrefutable. To disagree is heresy. Whether or
not this is true, I do not know. I'll say that it is true based on
what I've been told. Strangely, I admit whenever I read anything from
the Vatican...my eyes glaze over...due to the fact that they take a
lot of words to say very little...have the scribes and the pharisees
taken over? Maybe. So, I must say that I have no inclination to find
out if my view is heresy.

Can I refute the irrefutable?

For starters, I don't know of anyone who took creation and used reason
alone to determine that God exists. Reason is not knowledge. Reason
is the use of knowledge. A computer has near total recall, but no
reason - no IQ.

So to determine that a man can know with certainty through reason that
God exists...we'd have to find someone with absolutely no prior
knowledge of God. From there we'd have to ascertain if said
individual can deduce God's existence from creation.

Finding this individual is like finding one needle in a million hay
stacks. Then try proving that he can know with certainty. The
closest case I can think of is Adam. Did he use creation to determine
God's existence? I don't think so. Judging from Scripture, I think
God made himself known.

After God makes himself known, we can accept this knowledge and His
teachings. This act of acceptance is our first act of faith. Strange
that faith leads me to heresy.

Some other things to contemplate. Faith is a part of creation and
can't be separated from it. Also, the fool says in his heart that
there is no God. If I remember correctly, a fool is by Old Testament
definition - one without knowledge of God.

Enough on this. Any comments or questions?

God Bless you all,

Pete