St. Augustine's ancient formula for "right faith" is worth pondering:
“The starting point of a good life,” Augustine asserts in Sermon 43, “is right faith” (43.1). Rather than ask to understand in order to believe, Augustine argues that we should “Believe in order to understand” (43.4). While faith and reason can coexist, belief necessarily comes before understanding.
As Billy Graham famously taught, "Theological understanding is the booby prize because it gives just enough spirituality to inoculate you against the real thing." By "the real thing" he of course meant authentic spiritual experience, a living vibrant, intimate personal relationship with Christ. The problem with beginning with a purely agnostic in ellectual quest is that it traps you in a set of assumptions that rarely get you to that experience. What works is to act on the assumption that Christian spirituality is true by living out that faith passionately but provisionally--passionately because only the accompanying set of assumptions allow you to experience the real thing, but provisionally in the sense that your understanding must then be allowed ti consider how you might be mistaken in many ways, so that your faith remains an evolving journey.
I have adopted this approach and it has allowed me to be surprised by many corroborating paranormal experiences, the spiritual application of which remains an ongoing quest.
“The starting point of a good life,” Augustine asserts in Sermon 43, “is right faith” (43.1). Rather than ask to understand in order to believe, Augustine argues that we should “Believe in order to understand” (43.4). While faith and reason can coexist, belief necessarily comes before understanding.
As Billy Graham famously taught, "Theological understanding is the booby prize because it gives just enough spirituality to inoculate you against the real thing." By "the real thing" he of course meant authentic spiritual experience, a living vibrant, intimate personal relationship with Christ. The problem with beginning with a purely agnostic in ellectual quest is that it traps you in a set of assumptions that rarely get you to that experience. What works is to act on the assumption that Christian spirituality is true by living out that faith passionately but provisionally--passionately because only the accompanying set of assumptions allow you to experience the real thing, but provisionally in the sense that your understanding must then be allowed ti consider how you might be mistaken in many ways, so that your faith remains an evolving journey.
I have adopted this approach and it has allowed me to be surprised by many corroborating paranormal experiences, the spiritual application of which remains an ongoing quest.
