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TRUTH IS REASONABLE

To argue that the Truth is reasonable does not mean that it is reasonable to the natural man who approaches the Revelation from the perspective of his own autonomy. But for the one who considers the Truth after accepting the self-revealing God who gives a self-authenticating Revelation, the Truth reveals a message that is reasonable. Simply put, it is the only message that makes sense. But it makes sense only to the one whose mind has been quickened and who has been given a measure of faith by God. Unbelief searches; belief accepts.

The proper approach is not from reason to belief but from belief to reason. Understanding follows faith, for reason is the servant of faith not the foundation for faith. Without Christian faith an individual has no comprehension or appreciation for the Christian teaching. “Without commitment to Christ in faith, the observer is not really in a position to appreciate the nature of Christianity” (Colin Brown, Philosophy and the Christian Faith, 47).

From the standpoint of belief the message cannot be anything but reasonable. Christian Truth is a picture of agreement between the parts; it message is one, and the message speaks to both the ethical and intellectual side of man. It is reasonable because it is consistent, unified, and adequate. That which is so obvious to the believer is obscure and hidden from the unbeliever. “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know” (Pascal, Pensees, IV, 277). The believer knows he is building on the Rock; the unbeliever does not know he is trusting sand.

Teachings that appear in the Revelation are consistent throughout the Revelation, thus confronting man with a unified system of Truth that is both adequate and reasonable. The believer cannot not have confidence in the Truth, for it is so obvious, so sure. He knows what he knows. To deny it would be like denying the sun at noonday. It cannot be done when one sees the sun in its piercing brightness. The unbeliever is mystified that one could be so foolish as the believer.

The unbeliever trusts his reason and, conscious of it or not, has made that his starting point. He denies the sun at noonday; it is reasonable to do so for he does not see the sun. But he does not see the sun because he is blind; and he does not even know that he is blind. The reason of the natural man cannot be trusted.

The believer begins at a different point and reaches different conclusions. With Theism there is confidence; with humanism there is insecurity, or perhaps a false security (see: Foundations).


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