{"id":17844,"date":"2022-01-28T09:53:18","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T14:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=17844"},"modified":"2022-01-28T10:47:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T15:47:22","slug":"faith-and-reason-both-gifts-from-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/faith-and-reason-both-gifts-from-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith and Reason: Both Gifts from God."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sometimes it seems religion and science describe two different worlds. The world of science and nature is the one that roots us in our daily lives. Religion, on the other hand, is about a world we hope exists but we cannot see. (Unfortunately, science sometimes discredits the knowledge Faith gives.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some think when we talk about religion we have to put our knowledge of this world on the shelf (Eg. our knowledge of astronomy.) Our Faith tells us Jesus \u201ccame down from heaven\u201d, \u201che suffered death and was buried . . . and rose again\u201d, then he \u201cascended into heaven\u201d, and \u201cis seated at the right hand of the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words seem to indicate a heaven situated a few miles above us, from which he \u201ccame down\u201d and then \u201cascended\u201d back. It\u2019s like a palace in the air with two chairs set side by side. One chair is for God the Father (he\u2019s the older looking one with the silver hair); the other for the Son (who\u2019s a youngish man (33) wearing sandals and a beard. This is Heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add to this Jesus saying, \u201cin my Father\u2019s house there are many mansions. . . I am going to prepare a place for you.\u201d Jn. 14:2<\/a> and one can imagine a place not unlike Candyland. There\u2019s the Candy Castle and there on his throne is King Candy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not trying to be a smart aleck here. This is what the words of the bible can cause us to imagine about God and Jesus and heaven. And these imaginings can seem childish next to the hard and sometimes scary facts about the limitless cosmos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can we say to help here? I think the first thing to remember is the difference between believing<\/strong> and imagining<\/strong>. \u201cI believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.\u201d This is a statement of faith . . there is one God, and all that is, comes from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then we imagine. \u201cWhat did making the earth look like?\u201d Michelangelo tried his brilliant best in the Sistine Chapel. Remember that painting of God the Father on the cloud reaching out with his divine finger to touch the finger of the sleeping Adam? Did it really look like that? No. But does it convey a truth? Of course. God created us out of love. How exactly? We don\u2019t know. Science can help here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or the story of Adam and Eve, the Serpent and the Apple. Did the \u201cFall of humanity\u201d look like that? No. But is it true? Was there a moment, when, by the actions of the first human couple, we have become strangers to God and to ourselves? Absolutely!! (Read St. Paul\u2019s Letter to the Romans Ch. 7<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, two things are happening here. The WHAT<\/strong> of Faith and the HOW<\/strong> it happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n