I Have Faith

In a recent conversation, I was discussing the conflict between faith and reason with a friend. The following quote was brought to my attention: “Faith is the crucifixion of reason.” I, being a person of devout faith, found that quote to be quite fascinating. It is truly an absolute statement to be make, although it does hold truth on many levels. It begs the question; can faith and reason truly coexist in one’s life? For me, however, the more appropriate question may be can you have one without the other? While faith and reason are often thought of as polar opposites that compete for precedence in the life of the decision maker, it has been my conclusion that the decision maker can not function properly without the use of both.
Humans are not all knowing beings. We never have been, and we arguably never will be. It is simply impossible for our brains to completely and wholly comprehend the vast nature of our universe, though we may make our best attempts. In fact, we spend the first twelve years or more of our life in a vigorous effort to learn and gather all information possible, that we may be educated decision makers who work under the banner of logic and reason. Yet even after extensive education, there are still so many questions that remain unanswered. Indeed, some of the most educated people I know are the ones who will be the first to remind me that we never stop learning—simply because there is too much information to fathom. As Aristotle once said, “The more (knowledge) you own, the more you know you don't own.”
If we as human beings are simply unable to understand everything, then at some point in our decision making, we must make a leap of faith—a choice based on insufficient information. Just as the deist requires faith to believe in the existence of God, so too an atheist requires just as much faith to deny the existence of God. Both of these opposite parties simply do not have enough information to prove their beliefs to be correct, so both must have faith. No matter what your belief may be, faith is required on some level to truly and fully hold to it.
It was said once a long time ago that faith is “the assurance of things hoped for and the certainty of things not seen.” By that definition I would confess that I have an incredible amount of faith, and I’m sure that you do as well. We all have hopes and dreams that we believe in. Is it provable that those hopes will become reality? No. But we must have faith that they will. Without faith, all the reason in the world is literally useless, because our faulty human condition does not allow us to realistically know all. Logic and reason absolutely hold appropriate place in the life of any decision maker. Knowledge is undoubtedly necessary in order for the individual to make wise and accurate decisions. Yet still at some point, human knowledge is insufficient. The human race needs to admit it—we don’t know everything and we never will. We all need faith