On Tuesday, December 23, 2003, at 04:39 AM, Don Winterstein wrote:
> We often hear statements like this from unbelievers: Believers "know
> because they believe."
Didn't Augustine say something like "I believe in order to understand"?
A Google search came up with this:
For I do not seek to understand that I may believe , but I believe in
order to understand. For this I believe that unless I believe, I should
not understand. ~ St. Anselm of Canterbury
In any case, I don't believe it's possible to have understanding
without belief. The experimental scientist believes that nature is
discoverable by the rational mind. The Christian has accepted Jesus
Christ as his Lord and Savior, and that is a gift from God. But in
defending his faith he can point to the testimony of the writers of
Scripture -- hundreds of people from all walks of life who testified to
God's reality over a couple thousand years, and to the testimony of all
the saints who have lived since biblical times. So it's improper to
claim that Christians "know because they believe".
Bill Hamilton Rochester, MI 248 652 4148
Received on Tue Dec 23 11:08:28 2003
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Dec 23 2003 - 11:08:29 EST