I share your concerns. What you’ve pointed out is the defect within human reason (due to our fallen and sinful nature) that leads to gross moral evil in our world. However, it is important to remember that it is our human reason in conjunction with our Faith that leads us to God. Furthermore we have to be mindful of tipping the scale too far in regard to favoring God’s Divinity or His Humanity. The extremes lead to heresy.
I remember Peter Kreeft (Boston U. prof) giving a talk wherein he told a story about taking a Muslim student to Mass with him. After the Mass the Muslim asked him, “Do you really believe that the bread and wine becomes God?” Professor Kreeft said, “Yes.” The Muslim responded, “If I believed that I would fall to floor and prostrate myself before God and would remain there for all eternity.”
The point of the story is to emphasize the nature of man. If we did as the Muslim did and attempt to worship God in such a manner it would be a denial of our humanity for we are incapable in our human form of such worship. It is the same with our reason which is extended into the arts and other forms of expression. We can’t deny it and we should embrace it, particularly when it does glorify God as you stated.
Man as the measure of all things goes all the way backs to the Greeks and throughout the centuries in rationalistic enlightenment thought. But up until that point I don’t believe it was the dominant form of thought. People didn’t say, “That’s your truth, I have my own thank you very much.” People who knew the truth oriented their lives to it. Today in our post-enlightenment modern world it is seen as optional. A sad state of affairs. But it was not always this way. I figure we’ll go back someday, if we make it to that point.
Anyway enough babbling. Peace be with you.
Dr. Kreeft is at Boston College.
This article isn't about favoring His Divinity over His Humanity at all.
It's not addressing misconceptions about the nature of God.
Sheesh, Catholics have such a knee jerk reaction to what they perceive as the slightest whiff of *heresy* that the minute they think they see it, their mind shuts down and that's all they can focus on.
However, in our culture, there needs to be a greater focus on His Divine nature. People have indeed lost sight of just who God is, His holiness and righteousness and all the other attributes of God.
God is God and we need to stop thinking or Him and treating Him as s sugar daddy.
I don’t have the time tonight to reply to your post, but I will as soon as I can.
I’m sorry it took a little time for me to get back to you. It’s of the highest importance to, though, I believe, considering the topic. From what you’ve written here, it seems to me that you belive in looking at things through your own reason as the final authority. Correct me if I’m wrong. That means using whatever appears true, whatever the source, and giving it the value it seems to have.
As I said, correct me if I’m wrong on that, but your statements on faith and reason suggest that - the ideas of our reason “leading us” to God, and not favoring God’s Divinity or “Humanity.” (Cont’d)
and I now deserve an end of punishment and to have a good life, most people just wouldn’t accept that, even if the murderer could show all sorts of good deeds. The point is that in the destruction the murderer did, something irreplaceable was lost. The murderer could receive a good life through mercy and forgiveness, but never because he “worked off” his debt, and it would strike people as an abomination for him to suggest that.
And that is the same reason why we cannot work for salvation in any way. According to God Himself, we deserve Hell eternally, something immeasurably worse than a temporary punishment here. That speaks to God’s view of the seriousness of our sin. (Cont’d)
And what we should also consider about salvation and Hell is that our response to God in which we accept Jesus as our Savior isn’t motivated from “reason,” as though we are comfortably sitting in a classroom considering and debating different academic theories. It comes from self-interest and a fear of Hell, so that we see that we need a Savior. Paul wrote that “knowing the terrors of Hell, we persuade men.” And no one talked more about Hell than Jesus Himself. When someone is in a burning building or drowning, “allowing” oneslef to be rescued is nothing to boast about, especially when it costs the rescuer his life. (Cont’d)
And that’s especially true when it was the sin against a holy God of the person being rescued which put them in the fire or water to begin with.
And then, consider this, too. God is in control. To the extent that we respond to God from ourselves, it’s only with what He gave us in the first place! The Bible says, “why do you boast as if you didn’t receive,” And in Romans 9, Paul explains the way it is. He says God shows mercy on whom He shows mercy, and He hardens whom He hardens. Whom He decides to have respond to Him in faith, He makes sure they will, and whom He hardens in their sins, He hardens. Paul brings up the objection, then, of “why does He still find fault, then, since no one can resist His will?”, but he says who are to ask that of God? From all Paul write, His answer is that we don’t understand everything here, but God can do no wrong so we must trust Him, even on this. (Cont’d)
God is not a man that He should lie. And He is simply infinitely good, powerful, and knowledgeable. He has revealed to us in His Word reality as it truly is, past, present, and future. If we depend on our selves, we’ll go wrong. If we depend on Him as we should, we’ll receive blessing.