No.4 Referenced from ~ Part1 - Chapter 4 - Consideration 1 Things that are recognized as true by faith and things that must be recognized as true before faith is established
It must be carefully considered whether the nature of faith, "approval by will," which we learned from Thomas in the previous section, is acceptable as a reason for establishing of faith even when the historical facts about Jesus are uncertain. Certainly, faith is an affirmation of things for which there is no certain evidence. However, is it acceptable to say that because of the nature of faith the uncertainty of the historical facts about Jesus does not prevent the establishment of faith? This is probably not true. This is because the "approval by will" in faith is primarily an acknowledgement of things that are acknowledged by faith, such as "the existence of God" and "the world in which God's grace is poured out," and is not an acknowledgement of the facts that are the catalyst for the birth of faith before belief.For example, "God your Father will make the lilies of the field more beautiful than Solomon's temple" is something that can be acknowledged by faith, but whether Jesus taught this or not is not something that should be acknowledged by faith. It is not the faith of the disciples, but their experience. |