Basis Of Faith Reflection Paper

In Clifford’s universal demand for evidence he states that you base all of your beliefs on evidence (138). Clark utilizes this premise to restate the argument in which he will eventually will give reasoning to why the claim is false. In the article he foreshadows the problem with Clifford’s demand for evidence by saying, “ No one would disagree: some beliefs require evidence for their rational acceptability. But all beliefs in every circumstance?”(139) Clark is somewhat supporting the demand for evidence. However, he does not find it rational to believe that evidence is required in every situation.

My father and uncles’ instilled a statement in my head from a young age that I will never forget. This statement is closely related to the Law of Legacy and very relevant to being a leader in the modern business world. The statement only consists of a few words, but these words are very powerful and if this statement is followed, your reputation as a leader will be respected and hopefully emulated. The statement is, “Lead by example, do what is right, be the best you can be, and treat others the way you would like to be treated.”

It is easier however; a belief is something that is not ALWAYS based on society or what society thinks you should doing or putting your time into. A belief is something that can be personal to you. A belief can be something that you choose to believe in regardless of what others must think or say about it and that is what makes a belief strong it is simply you are choosing not to give up on it. With there are beliefs that people must follow society that just seem to make sense based on the evidence these people claim to have. But who is to say that the evidence that is provided should be credible. It is then still left up to you and whether or not you think this person is liable. Take the example of the things you begin to believe in as a child such as God or an all-powerful all mighty being. When you are young you choose to believe this because it is something that is maybe told you orally, or maybe you even practice your religion and believe in it because your parents have told you this is what you have to believe in and you believe your parents to always tell you the truth or to be that person who is liable. When you are young you may not ask any questions and may even completely give in to the theories you parents have thrown your way because they are your parents are you are told to listen them. As you get older however you may

The idea of a miracle and its context depends on the definition in which it is used; the first definition of a miracle is a “transgression of the laws of nature” such as walking on water. This was used by Hume who stated that for a miracle to occur a law of nature must be broken, with this focus on laws of nature he aimed to show that it is irrational to believe in miracles because it is irrational to believe in a violation of any natural law, as by believing in this God becomes redundant. He puts forward the method of proportioning the belief to evidence – if you weigh up the miracle against another option what is more likely? That a miracle, a transgression of a law of nature, has occurred or

When attempting to justify why they do or do not have a particular belief, many people today often have many opinions rather than reasons. (Ham 1)

Most of our actions originate out of our beliefs, and we often will act on a belief whether it is true or not.

William Clifford argues that we should never “believe anything on insufficient evidence” (Philosophy of Religion, p. 103)1 and if we do decide to believe in God without any evidence it would be considered “wrong,” however, William James’ The Will to Believe essay argues, in response to Cliffords essay, that believing anything without sufficient evidence is “an irrational rule” (James, p. 109)2. James’ essay suggests that there is some level of truth to the fact that no one can decide what it is that you truly believe in because if that were to be true somewhere along the way someone else probably forced those beliefs on you, either directly or indirectly. He suggests that your true beliefs are the ones that you have without any rhyme or reason. James goes to say that it is better to believe in something wholly, even if there is no evidence to prove it because that may be the only way to find your true faith, while Clifford believes that it is safer to believe in nothing until you have clear evidence so you do not have to run the risk of possibly believing in a inauthentic belief.

Blind faith is not a biblical notion, as the prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New Testament, constantly present evidence to substantiate belief and validate their message. For example, in the book of Exodus, God empowers Moses to conduct three miracles as a means of authentication (cf. Exodus 4:1-9), thereby providing a rational basis for faith in Yahweh. Similarly, Paul presents a reasonable case for Christianity to the philosophers in Athens (cf. Acts 17:16-34) and offers evidence to support the claims of Jesus’ resurrection (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-7). Peter instructions Christians to follow Paul’s example, calling them to engage in apologetics as well (cf. 1 Peter

The bible is a book, used as a guide, and the vital proof of the faith of many

Pope John Paul II once said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (Fallible Blogma) Based on this significant and powerful quote, one can infer that faith and reason are directly associated and related. It can also be implied that the combination of faith and reason allows one to seek information and knowledge about truth and God; based on various class discussions and past academic teachings, it is understood that both faith and reason are the instruments that diverse parties

Throughout history, philosophers have been trying to come up with a clear way to provide the justification of our beliefs and knowledge. Noah Lemos offers readers explanations of both foundationalism and coherentism for theories of justification. These two different theories offer very different ways to explain the basis of our beliefs. For a foundationalist, they believe that all of our beliefs can be broken down until we reach a basic belief. This belief would be largely independent of other beliefs and not derived from other beliefs. A coherentist feels that a belief can be reasonably justified if it is coheres with our other beliefs.

Faith and reason were two modes of belief that dominated the history of Western Civilization. Both faith and reason were popularized as tools to understand the universe in Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian eras. By conflicting with each other, these two modes of belief sparked a lot of controversy. Reason or rationality is belief based on concrete evidence and logic. The development of one’s reason relies heavily on observation and questioning. Greco-Roman philosophers believed in the power of the human mind to understand the world. So in order to find ultimate truth, Greco-Roman philosophers dedicated their lives to perfecting their reasoning skills and encouraged those around them to do the same. Contradictory to reason, faith is the

If God exists, he wants people to believe in Him through faith (If A, then B).

Although many cannot articulate their reasons for believing in the existence of God, their faith is nonetheless definite

To understand where I am now in relation to Catholic theology I feel that it is appropriate to look back on the thoughts and ideas that I had when I first started this THEO 1001 class. Honestly coming into college I have thought about my faith very little and studied the bible and what it means even less. In my mind I have always thought that theology was primarily a group of people just sitting around reading the bible repeatedly and then coming up with ways on how to interpret certain beliefs and messages in it and what they mean to us as Christians. Now I understand that theology has many more aspects to it than just the one example I gave earlier. The fact that this class was just about Catholic theology doesn’t really have a meaning to me because I haven’t studied other religions or denominations theology. Diving deeper into what I thought about how Catholic theology impacted my life will be a very shallow dive, given that I am neither Catholic or a theologian I honestly thought that this class was going to be a history of how Catholics are the greatest Christians and their way of looking at the bible. Thankfully I was very wrong about both those things and have learned about some very interesting topics throughout the class, one being the fascinating section we did about anthropology and what role it plays into theology.