The islanders were all ears as Ron solemnly addressed them.
“Reason is the faculty that deals with the perception of reality, while faith is the claim to a non-sensory means of knowledge. Principles and values derived from faith are often accepted without question even in the face of contrary evidence, while reason deals with facts and employs the method of non-contradictory identification.
Faith has been used to further ignorance, enshrine irrationality, and exploit people. With faith, there is no necessity for justification. Force is its corollary.
But if one's personal faith holds reason as its top value, then, faith and reason are not incompatible. If one's personal faith holds the life, freedom, and happiness of each human being as the most sacred of values, then, reason and faith can coexist, parallel to each other, in the same man.
This man uses reason for everything that can be explained, while his faith holds on to dreams that inspire him to live.
Faith in a God who is all-good and all-loving, who treasures each man, endowing him with a mind capable of understanding man's nature, the Earth, and the universe.
Faith in a God who so loves man that He respects his freedom of choice.
Faith that God shares the most sacrosanct of values: each man's life, his freedom, and his happiness here on Earth. Faith that Heaven and Earth are one and the same.
Faith that human life goes on until eternity, that everything is possible to man. Faith in miracles -
Think of a miracle. Believe that God has given the means to achieve it. Think, and find out the facts. Think, with the clarity of purpose. Let the vision of a miracle be a beacon to guide your actions. Think, and then act. Act with the confidence that miracles do happen to doers who strive to actualize them.
Rejoice! Angels do exist in our midst, though it takes the highest of virtues to recognize them.
Heaven on Earth can be achieved when reason reigns.”
Alisa gazed at Ron adoringly. “A good man,” she thought. “His mind matches his looks.” Ron was six feet and three inches tall. He was proud and joyously confident.
Ron continued, “I respect the freedom of each man to celebrate the holy month, but I do not hold humility as a virtue. I think self-sacrifice is evil, suffering has no value, and one’s own happiness is the purpose of life.”
2 comments:
Can reason and faith coexist, parallel to each other, in the same man? Part 2: Objectivist-Thomist
http://ilynross.blogspot.com/2009/11/can-reason-and-faith-coexist-parallel_29.html
From Joseph Dizon: "The author is not a Christian. He was an atheist and a neurosurgeon who lived totally by Science. His major research interests:
1) Advances in 3-dimensional imaging capabilities for enhancement of intraoperative management of intracranial tumors and vascular lesions, including image fusion between CT, MRI and SPECT, magnetic stimulation preoperative cortical mapping, and the Intraoperative MRI (MR/T) Project with the General Electric Corporation
2) Development of technical advances in the use of stereotactic radiosurgery using a modified linear accelerator and the proton beam in the treatment of neoplastic, vascular and functional lesions in the central nervous system
3) MR-guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery for the treatment of tumors (benign and malignant), clot dissolution in stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage, neuromodulation, creation of focal brain lesions, and precise targeted delivery of drugs and genes within the brain.
Watch the author's video for less than 3 minutes at
http://www.lifebeyonddeath.net/eben-alexander-video
Dr. Eben Alexander is living proof of an afterlife."
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