• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection It is not blind faith

It is not blind faith

Posted on December 22, 2015 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment


God's Undertaker

In response to the idea that religious faith is blind faith, I ran across this paragraph from John Lennox and thought I would share it with you.

“Unfortunately the two ideas – that all religious faith is blind faith and that science does not involve faith – are so deeply ingrained in the New Atheist’s psyche and thus so widely disseminated int heir writings that we need to emphasize strongly that they are wrong. John Haught writes: ‘At some point in the validation of every truth claim or hypothesis, a leap of faith is an inescapable ingredient. At the foundation of every human search for understanding and truth, including the scientific search, an ineradicable element of trust is present. If you find yourself doubting what I have just said, it is only because, at this very moment, you trust your own mind enough to express concern about my assertion. You cannot avoid trusting your intellectual capacity, even when you are in doubt. Moreover you raise your critical questions only because you believe that truth is worth seeking. Faith in this sense, and not in the sense of wild imaginings and wishful thinking, lies at the root of all authentic religion – and science. Haught rightly concludes that this ‘shows clearly that the new atheistic attempts to cleanse human consciousness of faith are absurd and doomed to failure.”

John Lennox in God’s Undertaker

We do not believe in spite of facts to the contrary; ours is not a blind faith. We believe in response to the evidence that is presented to us. Those who do not choose this interpretation see the facts differently. I cannot force anyone to see things the way I see them. The fact that they see it differently does not cause me to think less of them as individuals.

But on the other hand, I would hope that everyone would experience the grace that is found in Jesus Christ.


Filed Under: Bible Reflection Tagged With: atheist, blind, Faith, science

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Learning from our mistakes

The story of Ananias and Sapphira in illustrates the need for correction to take place in the church. If we believe what Paul wrote in Ephesians 4 concerning church leaders, we understand that God will arrange for elders to function as shepherds and teachers to keep the body of Christ on track.

Young Golfer

It is worth doing badly

The fact that I sometimes do the Christian life badly does not diminish the truth of who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish. The Christian life is worth living, even if I fall short of where I think I ought to be in my level of spiritual maturity.

Tim Keller on Freedom

“Luther preached that there was nothing more important for a person than to see that he or she could contribute nothing whatsoever to one’s own salvation. We can be fully accepted and counted legally righteous in God’s sight through faith in Christ, solely by free grace. To understand and grasp this is to finally know […]

Don’t play the Korah card

I have been in a couple of situations where concerns were brought to a pastor who then likened the one who brought the concern to Korah attacking Moses. While I understand the temptation for a leader to deal with a complaint in this way, that temptation must be resisted. Not only is it inappropriate, it does nothing to fix the situation (unless of course the leader’s goal is to eliminate any other opinion than his own).

Go and sin boldly

I believe it was Martin Luther who said, “go and sin boldly.” The point is not that we are to intentionally sin, but that we cannot allow fear of sin to inhibit us from living life.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
January 2023
SMTWTFS
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031 
« Dec    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in