Journey Home - Open Line - Marcus Grodi with Dr. Scott Hahn and Kimberly...

Atheism and Theism: Part 2 - Philosophical Mistake 1

Mistake 1: Faith has nothing to do with reason. Reason is based on empirical evidence whereas faith is based on sentiments of emotion and subjective experiences.


Reason without faith is like cutting off a branch you are sitting on. Faith and reason are not the same but are both necessary in learning Truth. If I believe science will teach me all truth, then my faith is based on sentiment, because science itself, can not and will not, ever prove anything, all science can do is provide evidence for further investigation. Evenmore, how would one know if science has revealed all truth? In order to even ask a question one has to believe in something, for example, how can I say God doesn't exist if I don't believe in his non-existence? In order to prove or disprove something, both possibilities have to be explored. Science and Religion both start with accepted truths in order to build reasonable explanations about creation and the Creator respectively. Proponents of science rather than religion are inevitably making science a religion, replacing God and Natural Laws with the Universe and Newton's Laws.

Atheism and Theism: Part 1 - Five Philosophical Mistakes

Before beginning my series of notes on Atheism and Theism, I believe this video clip by Father Barron is relevant, so please watch it.



This will be an ongoing series of notes I will be writing. Fundamentalism on any side of the debate leads to ignoring the broad scope and complexity of Truth. God and the universe can not be reduced to fundamentalism, both are infinite and mere finite words will never define either, but if absolute truth exists then there has to be a path in knowing this truth. Later I will discuss the issue of multiple paths to the same truth, but for now I want to address five philosophical mistakes often made by Atheists and Theists. I have listed these below.


1.Faith has nothing to do with reason. Reason is based on empirical evidence whereas faith is based on sentiments of emotion and subjective experiences.
2.The existence of God cannot be deduced from science.
3.Darwinism removes the necessity of God in the origin of life.
4.If evil exists, then God could not be all knowing, all loving, and all powerful.
5.Man and Animal are both qualitatively equal.

The Papacy: Scriptural Arguments

This was a great dialogue on Catholic Answers Live on 7/19/2010
http://www.catholic.com/audio/2010/mp3/ca100719b.mp3

Listen to Catholic Answers Live!

Apologetics for a Catholic Learning His/Her Faith

I do not have the Bible Memorized, the Early Church Fathers Memorized, The Encyclicals and Church Documents known by heart, but I know where to find the answers.  The New Evangelization through our highly connected communication systems allows me and others like me to work as the Church Millitant and combat the lies, half truths, and misrepresentations with ease.  All we have to do is go to Catholic.com, WordonFire.com, newadvent.com, chnetwork.org, etc. and find our Catholic Answers.  It is testament to evangelization, that we are mere farmers spreading seed provided by God.  These seeds are not products of our own rationalizing and deduction, but established truths from the Creator of All Truth.

Baptism: Is it necessary for Salvation?

Baptism was and always has been performed using water.  Throughout scripture baptism is placed with washing away our sins.  Some Protestant groups claim that baptism is not necessary,

For example Billy Graham,

"Make it happen now. …If you are willing to repent for your sins and to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can do it now. At this moment you can either bow your head or get on your knees and say this little prayer which I have used with thousands of persons on every continent: O God, I acknowledge that I have sinned against You. I am sorry for my sins. I am willing to turn from my sins. I openly receive and acknowledge Jesus Christ as my Savior. I confess Him as Lord. From this moment on I want to live for Him and serve Him. In Jesus’ name. Amen. …If you are willing to make this decision and have received Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savior, then you have become a child of God in whom Jesus Christ dwells. …You are born again (pp. 168-169, How to Be Born Again).  "

If you were to learn from Early Christians what Baptism is and how its done, who would you follow Billy Graham or the Early Church?

The Didache

"After the foregoing instructions, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living [running] water. If you have no living water, then baptize in other water, and if you are not able in cold, then in warm. If you have neither, pour water three times on the head, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Before baptism, let the one baptizing and the one to be baptized fast, as also any others who are able. Command the one who is to be baptized to fast beforehand for one or two days" (Didache 7:1 [A.D. 70]). "

Hippolytus

"When the one being baptized goes down into the water, the one baptizing him shall put his hand on him and speak thus: ‘Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?’ And he that is being baptized shall say: ‘I believe.’ Then, having his hand imposed upon the head of the one to be baptized, he shall baptize him once. Then he shall say: ‘Do you believe in Christ Jesus . . . ?’ And when he says: ‘I believe,’ he is baptized again. Again shall he say: ‘Do you believe in the Holy Spirit and the holy Church and the resurrection of the flesh?’ The one being baptized then says: ‘I believe.’ And so he is baptized a third time" (The Apostolic Tradition 21 [A.D. 215]). "

Justin Martyr

"As many as are persuaded and believe that what we [Christians] teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, and instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father . . . and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit [Matt. 28:19], they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, ‘Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:3]" (First Apology 61 [A.D. 151])."

Basil the Great

"This then is what it means to be ‘born again of water and Spirit’: Just as our dying is effected in the water [Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12–13], our living is wrought through the Spirit. In three immersions and an equal number of invocations the great mystery of baptism is completed in such a way that the type of death may be shown figuratively, and that by the handing on of divine knowledge the souls of the baptized may be illuminated. If, therefore, there is any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of water, but from the Spirit’s presence there" (The Holy Spirit 15:35 [A.D. 375])."

The Apostolic Constitutions

"Be ye likewise contented with one baptism alone, that which is into the death of the Lord [Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12–13]. . . . [H]e that out of contempt will not be baptized shall be condemned as an unbeliever and shall be reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says, ‘Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ And again, ‘He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned’" [Mark 16:16] (Apostolic Constitutions 6:3:15 [A.D. 400]).

Augustine

"It is this one Spirit who makes it possible for an infant to be regenerated . . . when that infant is brought to baptism; and it is through this one Spirit that the infant so presented is reborn. For it is not written, ‘Unless a man be born again by the will of his parents’ or ‘by the faith of those presenting him or ministering to him,’ but, ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit.’ The water, therefore, manifesting exteriorly the sacrament of grace, and the Spirit effecting interiorly the benefit of grace, both regenerate in one Christ that man who was generated in Adam" (Letters 98:2 [A.D. 412]).

"Those who, though they have not received the washing of regeneration, die for the confession of Christ—it avails them just as much for the forgiveness of their sins as if they had been washed in the sacred font of baptism. For he that said, ‘If anyone is not reborn of water and the Spirit, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven,’ made an exception for them in that other statement in which he says no less generally, ‘Whoever confesses me before men, I too will confess him before my Father, who is in heaven’" [Matt. 10:32] (The City of God 13:7 [A.D. 419]).

A Christian's Perspective on Ethics

What is good? What is evil? How do you know? It has been said if your actions lead to an outcome you desire such as “happiness,” then you are making ethical decisions. There is obvious fault in this. If your desires disturb the happiness of another then it would be selfishness on your part. Is selfishness good if it impedes on another’s happiness? In order to determine a set of actions as good in an absolute sense, without God, it would be a process of trying to make everyone happy with one set of “rules” so to speak. This is obviously a prodigious task of endless trial and error. Is it even possible? Should we settle for each individual to make a relative set of rules that defines what is “good?” If it is left to the individual person to decide, then the outcome will inevitably impede the happiness of another due to our finite existence. We would have to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient to know the effects our decisions have on all stakeholders.




There are many who go through great pains to rule out God in deciding what is good and what is evil. They want to do “good,” but not because they are told to do so, rather because they want to. I ask such as these, “Why do you want to do “good?” Again, we spiral back to the pursuit of happiness, doing “good” leads to happiness. How do you know you are happy? Well, happy is a feeling you have when your lot in life is befitting a desire you possess. Joy on the other hand is much different; it is an assurance that seizes the heart in response to doing what is right in the absolute sense.



Ethics is the pursuit of happiness or is it the pursuit of joy? By pursuit this implies the goal may or may not be reached, but the mode of reaching it, is Ethics. This mode is a labyrinth we travel through blind folded. We come to a dead end and turn around and try another route. Our ethics may lead to happiness, but if we are not happy then we conclude we are doing something wrong in our lives, something unethical, we must have taken the wrong route. I ask you, if we are suffering is it because we are unethical? The Jews of the New Testament believed this, this is why they scoffed at lepers, tax collectors, Samaritans, and the like, “Those unclean, untouchable, people are suffering because they sinned or their ancestors sinned.” Could this really be how things work? We know the story of the Good Samaritan; it is often the person humbled by suffering and sin that turns out to be the most unselfish and empathetic to the plight of others. Is ethics more than a pursuit of happiness then? Is happiness just a possible, but not guaranteed, byproduct of doing what is right and good?



I am a mathematics teacher at a public high school. I feel educating someone is a righteous pursuit, an ethical one. Many days I am quite unhappy though, but there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that a few kids know more than they did before. My unhappiness is most often due to unmotivated, unappreciative, and emotionally neglected students. I put all my effort and heart into giving them something divine (knowledge) and they treat me like I am a prison guard. Is this an implication that I am unethical for educating, or that public education is unethical in its current form? The real point is, just because we are doing good does not mean we will be happy, but we will have a certain amount of joy.



Who decides then, what is good? Is it us individually through trial and error? It may be if we do not read more than one book. We may just travel the labyrinth of ethics blindly running into walls and falling into crevices that we may never escape due to ignorance. We may gain sight through reading a couple more books, but still wonder aimlessly through the maze. We may find larger insight through studying and discussion, but still be found wanting. Instead of all this, we may finally discover there is a route through this maze that leads to a discovery of a joy beyond our past finite experiences, something so profound that it is worthy of the title GOD. We may actually discover that this route can only be accessed through humility and faith rather than our merits alone.

"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." - Abraham Lincoln