A Christian World-View: Faith or reason? Heart or mind? Spiritual or religious?

We hold that there are credible, honest answers for honest questions. There is no, “don’t ask
questions, just believe.” That approach of “easy believism” has been very damaging, for rather
than building faith it can undermine faith. It results from a kind of anti-intellectualism that
unwittingly destroys the foundations for faith of intelligent consent. This popular notion assumes
that both thoughtful and reasoned faith and disciplined theological inquiry are impossible, or
even spiritually harmful. This derives, in part, from the notion that faith is only a matter that
concerns our souls, but not our mind.

Correspondingly, in our day, there is the widespread belief that secular science provides
“facts” while religion only affirms “values.” This is what is called the sacred/secular divide. We
suggest that this is a myth born of the devaluation of the concept of truth as true to all that is.
Indeed, truth can not only be about “values.” For it to be truth it must concern total reality.
Further, secularism is itself a religious world-view governed by disbelief in God.

The same can be said of all such dichotomies that govern modern thought: private
versus public; heart versus mind; belief(nonrational) versus knowledge(rational);
faith(emotional) versus reason(rational); religion(public) versus spirituality(personal); and
romanticism(religion) versus realism(scientism). Each of these dichotomies reinforces the false
notion that beliefs belong only in the private realm of personal values, and not in the totality of
our life. We must ask, however, what value is belief if it is merely private, if it is only a matter of
emotional, nonrational, personal opinion for my own individualized “spirituality”? In contrast,
truth, as understood in biblical faith, is a unified and overarching system that touches every fiber
and atom of our existence and universe. It is no merely academic concern, for it has a direct
bearing on all social issues, science, technology, family, politics, anthropology, the arts,
psychology, history, philosophy, theology, etc. It relates to the ultimate questions of life, as it
provides a framework for human dignity, meaning, significance, freedom, as well as knowledge
of God and his purposes.

What this means is that biblical faith gives us a world-view that is radically liberating from
the narrow constraints of personalized and privatized religion. It provides a trustworthy map by
which to live, think, work, and believe. This is a powerful antidote to the purposelessness that
results when we unwittingly compartmentalize faith as irrelevant to much of life. When faith is
comfortably compartmentalized, it is thought that it will not conflict with the public, the mind,
rational knowledge, religion, and science. Consequently, compartmentalizing one’s faith is to
miss the profound beauty of God’s truth touching directly on all that is thought, said, and done in
this life. Faith that is relegated to the realm of personal values is not biblical faith at all. Many
people quote Blaise Pascal’s quip that “the heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of”
in order to prove that faith has nothing to do with human reason. Yet, Pascal’s entire book of
“thoughts” (Penseés) is a reasoned defense of Christian faith.

As noted, seeking “spirituality” has become very fashionable. Yet, in much of this search,
it is assumed that belief with “objective” doctrinal content is a threat to spiritual health. Since
belief is understood as strictly private, personal, and about ones values, spirituality (and
morality) is personalized, individualized, and consumer-designed from diverse sources, since it
can really only be “true for me.” This notion is completely self-defeating, since it reduces truth to
little more than personal preference and opinion. Such spirituality forces one to live as though
beliefs can have no truly significant bearing outside one’s internal life. One of the ironies of such
an idea is the corresponding materialism of our times, which may somewhat be the result of
divorcing the spiritual life from the material life, beliefs from knowledge, and faith from reason. In
contrast, biblical faith calls us to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength.
Any calls for less are substandard, and they will result in a largely privatized faith that must
concede to the secularists’ vision of a faithless public square.

Another consequence of privatized “spirituality” has been an increasing rise of

irrationalism in religion, philosophy, aesthetics, culture, morals, and academia as a whole. This
irrationalism is manifesting itself most profoundly in the rise of ancient Gnostic religious views
that exalt the goddess Sophia but desecrate biblical wisdom, that embrace impersonal and finite
gods and exemplifies mysticism while rejecting linearity and rationality. In contrast, biblical faith
represents the view that there is only one personal and infinite God who made the heavens and
the earth and who has given us sufficient and rational coherence and meaning for all of life
through revelation and redemption. Biblical wisdom is thus beautifully suited to all peoples in all
times, and most poignantly so in a time of tremendous confusion.

Many have used the term “postmodernism” to describe our times of privatized spirituality,
relative morals, and total subjectivism in faith, as well as the loss of community. In the wake of
this swiftly passing postmodernism, many have been left searching for a unifying principle or
integration point for their life and experiences. In the myriad of choices in the search for such
meaning and purpose, a common deduction is often made towards hopelessness. This indeed
highlights the universal timeliness of the ancient biblical testimony to the teachings, life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have certainty that his unique claims will provide the
only ultimate and unifying answers by which to construct true and lasting hope.