This blog is suspended, except for guest posts. I am studying for a test that takes place in February 2013, and I cannot spend extra time writing until then. Thanks for reading to this point!
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“Man’s faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith.(so) the proofs of God’s existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason.”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 35
For many, faith and reason seem worlds apart from each other, and they separate spiritual truths from our everyday reality. As a teenager growing up in the public school system, scientific reason made faith and religion appear absurd, and it pulled me away from the spiritual truths I had learned as a child.
When I first began my journey toward faith, the first obstacle I had to overcome was reason. My scientific, analytical mind could not find a way to abandon reason in the pursuit of faith. What I failed to realize back then was that I did not have to choose between faith and reason but figure out how the two actually worked hand-in-hand with one another. Once I realized that faith and reason could coexist, those first steps toward faith became that much easier.
A majority of my adult life, I considered myself a non-denominational Christian opposed to old, orthodox traditions. Eventually, I realized that I was in the same situation that I was in when I began my journey of faith; however, contemplating the conversion to Catholicism brought about a new twist on the challenges between faith and reason. Instead of making scientific reason rationalize with my religious faith, the problem was making theological reason work with my Catholic faith. After almost a year of reflection, I was welcomed into the Catholic Church in April of 2010.
While I feared that embracing the old-fashioned, orthodox views of the Catholic Church would lessen my relationship with Christ, my new understanding of how faith and reason can work together so harmoniously has brought my relationship with Christ to new levels. The depth and beauty of Catholic theology satisfies my hunger for reason, and the gift of the Sacraments fuels the fires of my faith. Together, faith and reason have built the foundation I needed to have a very real, personal relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Chad Torgerson is the author of the “Waking Up Catholic” website, and a passionate witness to the truth of the Catholic Faith. Check out his site or his facebook page!
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