> I guess the issue is when is it no longer possible to hold belief in
> Christ as properly basic (that is, needing no further justification)?
> For many of us, somewhere along the way we were faced with serious
> intellectual challenges to the faith, and we could not retreat to a
> fideistic fortress and believe "in spite of the evidence." Perhaaps
> Kierkegaard could, and many follow him, but I prefer the Augustinian
> tradition of "faith seeking understanding". As you noted earlier, we all
> must accept some postulates as axiomatic. But what makes it rational to
> accept just *those* postulates? That's where evidence and rational
> thought come in.
>
> And, I think, that's why John begins his 1st Epistle talking about "that which
> we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and
> our hands have touched," and Peter in the same vein says "We did not
> follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and
> coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his
> majesty.... We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we
> were with him on the sacred mountain" (2 Pe 1:16-18). Also, think of
> Paul's Mars Hill speech, his defence before Felix and Agrippa ("These
> things were not done in a corner"), as well as Luke's prologue.
>
> So there is a significant difference between a rational step of faith and
> an interplanetary journey. For the step we do in fact know where we are
> going (in terms of the supporting evidence), even if we may not (do not)
> know the whole pilgrimage God has for us.
Amen.
> BTW, I hope you do not read harshness into what I write. I thoroughly
> enjoy these exchanges, and know God uses it all to mold me too. I'm not
> about trying to "straighten you out."
Thank you. I think its becoming speedily ovbious that I'm playing
one side of my opinion waaaay to hard. I agree wholeheartedly with what
you have to say. The problem I percieve isn't this at all, but going
from faith based on evidence to faith based soley on evidence.
Ovibously, if God had not revealed himself to Man in the form of Jesus
who is the Christ, then this discussion would never have happened.
What I'm trying to say is that the facts are in pursuit of Truth,
which is something very different.
Stephen