The Christian faith does not call for us to put our minds on the shelf, to fly in the face of common sense and history, or to make a leap of faith into the dark. The rational person, fully apprised of the evidence, can confidently believe.
Interpretation
Faith and reason can coexist; belief should be based on evidence rather than blind acceptance.
In this quote, William Lane Craig emphasizes that the Christian faith is not intended to disregard rational thinking or historical context. Instead, he suggests that a well-informed and rational individual can engage with their faith confidently, drawing on evidence and logical reasoning rather than making unfounded assumptions or blind leaps into uncertainty.
In practice
During a lecture on the intersection of faith and science, this quote can illustrate the compatibility of rational thought and belief.
Therefore, when a person refuses to come to Christ it is never just because of lack of evidence or because of intellectual difficulties: at root, he refuses to come because he willingly ignores and rejects the drawing of God's Spirit on his heart. No one in the final analysis really fails to become a Christian because of lack of arguments; he fails to become a Christian because he loves darkness rather than light and wants nothing to do with God.
Our churches are filled with Christians who are idling in intellectual neutral. As Christians, their minds are going to waste. One result of this is an immature, superficial faith. People who simply ride the roller coaster of emotional experience are cheating themselves out of a deeper and richer Christian faith by neglecting the intellectual side of that faith.
No one in the final analysis really fails to become a Christian because of lack of arguments; he fails to become a Christian because he loves darkness rather than light and wants nothing to do with God.
It's no longer enough to teach our children Bible stories; they need doctrine and apologetics.
Scepticism, ironically, draws its life's blood from claims to have a good deal of knowledge. For example, your friends claim to know, 'Since every possible option has not been explored, nothing can be said for certain.' That statement is itself a claim to knowledge!
Life will be wonderful when men no longer fear dying. When the last superstitions are thrown out and we meet death with the same equanimity as life. No longer will children's minds be twisted by evil gods whose fantastic origin is in those barbaric tribes who feared death and lightning, who feared life. That's it: life is the villain to to those who preach reward in death, through grace and eternal bliss, or through dark revenge.
Before a brain can register a thought, a mind must think it... every step of the way is mind over matter... We override our brains all the time.
Best of an island is once you get there - you can't go any farther...you've come to the end of things.
Would you take a billion dollars, if as part of the deal the Earth were made uninhabitable a year after your death? ... well, of course not; you care about your friends, above all your children, any grandchildren. But ... what if the deal calls for the planet to be poisoned a thousand years later? We feel strong obligations to generations in the near future - should we not feel the same way about our children's great-grandchildren and generations beyond them?
A simple man with Scripture has more authority than the Pope or a council.
As long as there are rich people in the world, they will be desirous of distinguishing themselves from the poor.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.