RATIONALITY OF FAITH

Argument of this kind may appear to be simple, but they are invested with deeper meaning. For this reason, they have been relied upon as much in the past as today. Philosophical Argument The second kind of argument is that first propounded by Greek philosophers. Based on pure logic, it was so popular in the medieval ages that Jews, Christians and Muslims all incorporated it into their theological system. Commonly known as the First Cause, it may be summed up as follows: The world man observes with his senses must have been brought into being by God as the First Cause. Philosophers have argued that the observable order of causation is not self-explanatory. It can only be accounted for by the existence of a First Cause. This First Cause, however, must not be considered simply as the first in a series of successive causes, but rather as the First Cause in the sense of being the cause for the whole series of observable causes. The Prime Mover or First Cause theory, although obviously very sound, has constantly been under attack from secular circles, and critics have raised a variety of objections. To begin with, they say that it is only guesswork, and not an undeniable fact. Some critics also object that the actions or free will of subatomic particles are uncaused; so, why not also the world as a whole? Moreover, even if all things in the world are caused, this may not be true of the world itself, because no one knows whether the whole is sufficiently like its parts to warrant such a generalization. Spiritual Argument Yet another argument is that which is based on spiritual experience. Some people who engage in spiritual exercises and have spiritual experiences say that when they reach the deeper levels of the human consciousness, they find an unlimited world which cannot be described in limited language. They insist that this limitless, unexplainable phenomenon is nothing but God Almighty Himself. Critics say that even if this spiritual state is as real as is claimed by those who enter it, it is still a subjective experience; that it conveys nothing to those who have not experienced the same spiritual state. The truth is that, without a belief in God, the universe remains as unexplainable as the entire mechanism of light is, without a belief in electromagnetic waves.