Reflection About Faith

We started speeding down the road to meet the ambulance. Upon meeting them I was rushed to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, bumping my dad from the operating room right before he his knee surgery. I wasn't suspected to make it, as I had lost seventy percent of my blood. But somehow, with the help of God, I underwent several surgeries and within the next few days I was stabilized and discharged from the hospital.

I finally woke up feeling better than I had the day before and I instantly knew the plans God had for me. He gave me an unbelievable amount of strength that I had no idea one person could obtain. I finally accepted that adversity was inevitable and I was no longer going to let it break me. Overcoming adversity is one of the biggest challenged in life and when we finally have the courage and strength to face it; then we will see the purpose God has for us. God will never give up on you and he will never leave your side. I continued to pray until I was no longer in such a bad state of mind. I learned to accept what God had put me through at such an early age as the best blessing I have ever received. Suffering built perseverance and hope that I never thought I had, he took my dark time and turned it into a gift. My experience is not a misfortune, it is something God gave me to be able to serve others. In times of difficulty, no one knows what God is doing with their life but he made me realize what I was capable of overcoming if I trusted in him and never lost faith. He turned something so terrible into something amazing. This showed me that he is always there even when I feel alone and he is never going to leave me in a hard time. I am blessed to be able to be there for others in times like this and give them advice or just be someone to talk to. This experience has influenced me to take on a career in psychology so no one ever

An ambulance came and carried out my mom. I didn’t know what was going on, so many questions running through my mind, what was wrong with her, was she going to be ok. I was scared, more scared then I had ever been. My sister Sheridan who was 8 asked me “what’s happening?” through tears. On that day a little piece of me began to change because if I let her see my fear that would not help anyone, and so even though I didn’t know what was happening I responded “everything is going to be ok” even though I did not trust my own words.

Faith and reason can be viewed as opposites. Faith is an element of belief, something an individual does not necessarily require a reason for accepting without reason. For example, an individual’s reason for believing in God may not seem too rational when they are trying to explain them. They may not even stand up to criticism. On the other hand, reason is constructed as a formula. Faith is basically something we believe in, like something we learn in church. Reason is something we learn in school, such as a math formula.

One argues that today we have a crisis of belief, not a crisis of faith. To explain this crisis, I will briefly examine the relationship between faith and belief, explain why cultural shift is important to note when trying to understand religious issues, go into detail on the three hallmarks of each of the two cultures by showing how they compare to each other, show how Tillich’s notion of correlation deals with this idea of culture and a crisis of belief, and explain how Marsh’s notion of a “theology of negotiation” (33) fits with Lonergan’s definition and allows him to argue that film can help us raise theological questions.

I went into the hospital room with my mother, got undressed, and changed into a hospital gown. A woman came into the room to put an IV into my arm, then I turned on the Food Network on the hospital TV. A few doctors came into the room, asking for my name, birthdate, and other questions for identification purposes. Later, my two aunts came into the room. A few minutes later, my surgeon walked in as well to tell me that she’d come back in about twenty minutes to wheel me away to the operating table. This made it even more surreal and made me even more anxious.

Saint Augustine, Aquinas, and Dante are all philosophers that question and analyze the balance between faith and reason in human life. All three men are on personal journeys to better understand not only themselves, but their faith as well. Although the three have different writing styles, Augustine’s The Confessions, Aquinas’ Summa Contra Gentiles, and Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, all share the common theme of faith and reason. These pieces of writing are extremely influential, which are why they continue to be studied today. Faith and reason will always be a popular topic for discussion. It can be difficult as a Catholic to accept the connection between the two However, these three writers have used each other’s ideas to build and create theories to show the importance as to why both faith and reason need to work together.

In this week’s forum we are to incorporate faith-based perspectives that can improve or enhance the sequential framework for practitioners. First, I will begin with defining faith-based followed by perspectives. In my own words, I would suggest faith-based as thoughts or decisions that are affiliated with a religion. For instance my input for this discussion will be based off a Christian faith-based. I would suggest that perspectives is an individual’s view or outlook on a particular subject. The three stages that I will discuss will be stage one, stage two, and stage five.

September 11, 2001 was one of the most shocking and horrifying days in United States history. There had never been a terroristic attack of this magnitude on U.S. soil ever before, causing panic and confusion among United States citizens. Two planes hit the two towers of the World Trade Center, while another hit the Pentagon later that morning. This caused commotion and panic by American citizens. They did not know what would happen next. Would another plane now hit a well-known American monument or building center again? Would more innocent people be killed? This day not only raised doubts of what else would happen on American soil, but it raised doubts about faith. This is portrayed by the men and women featured in the documentary “Faith

Faith is important in the world and topic of religion. Since there is not a whole lot of hard evidence within the world of religion this causes many to question their faith. Along one’s journey with their faith they might run into times when they are questioning their faith but it is important they keep looking at Scripture for that hard evidence. The basis of faith is involved with scripture, tradition, and personal experience. Throughout this paper the topics of basis of faith, the subjective and objective knowledge of faith, the need of verification of faith will be discussed.

We all have faith in something, whether a mainstream religion or trust that the lights will turn on with the flick of a switch. Every single person on earth has a faith that is tailored to them based on what they know, have been taught, have seen, and experiences they have been through. No two people’s faith are the same, and I saw this when I interviewed my friends and family about what they believe themselves. Even though everyone I interviewed was a Christian, we didn’t believe the same things on every topic, and on some we rattled off answers like zombies. No matter the question or the answer, seeing someone else’s faith, and my own, from a new perspective was interesting and awakening.

The Dynamics of Faith is an in-depth look at what faith is from a theological perspective. Tillich seems to be replying to all of the writers we have read thus far and placing their arguments within the context of faith. Nowhere is this more apparent than on page 24, in his discussion of community. He rightly acknowledges that faith is usually seen in its sociologic setting. He then proceeds to sort out the different claims, saying that

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

Entering the ancient discussion about the tension between faith and reason is not an easy task. Of course, when engaging in tensions it is always important to define terms. For the sake of consistency I will refer to Oxford’s online dictionary for both the definition of faith, as well as reason. Faith is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” Reason is “a cause, explanation, or justification for an action or event.” These are the definitions that will be used throughout this paper. From the above definitions, the conclusion that is logically deduced is that reason precedes faith.

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