The reflecting theologian

It is surprising that my last bit of research on faith and reason can take such a long time. Probably because I am reading the more chim stuff at this very last end of my research. Yet, as I think about it, my answer to the question that I posted on facebook and on this blog previously about fideism is probably a biblically grounded one (I hope). An unexamined life is a life not worth living, and a life and faith based on unsound philosophy is one that cannot be lived consistently. That is precisely the reason why I wanted to think and dig deeper into the question of what really is faith in God. A lot of time, we see people talking too superficially about the word 'faith' and even taking definitions from the bible without considering context. I sometimes jsut wonder how this is livable but I guess if you dun think too much about it, it is actually livable, even if it is philosophically inconsistent. The word 'consistency' is probably the word that we want to explo...

Once there was this man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among thorns, and the thorns spring up and choked him. And as he went on, he didn’t have money, and he met the Queen of Sheba, and she gave him 1,000 talents of gold and 100 changes of raiment. And he got into a chariot and drove furiously, and when he was driving under a big juniper tree, his hair caught on a limb of that tree, and he hung there many days, and the ravens brought him food to eat and water to drink, and he ate 5,000 loaves of bread and two fishes. One night when he was hanging there asleep, his wife Delilah came along and cut off his hair, and he dropped, and fell on stony ground. But he got up and went on, and it began to rain, and it rained forty days and forty nights, and he hid himself in a cave, and he lived on locust and wild honey. Then he went on ‘til he met a servant who said, “Come, take supper at my house.” And he made an excuse and said, “No, I won’t. I have married a wife, and I c...

From prayer that asks that I may be Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee, From fearing when I should aspire, From faltering when I should climb higher From silken self, O Captain, free Thy soldier who would follow Thee. From subtle love of softening things, From easy choices, weakenings, (Not thus are spirits fortified, Not this way went the Crucified) From all that dims Thy Calvary O Lamb of God, deliver me. Give me the love that leads the way, The faith that nothing can dismay The hope no disappointments tire, The passion that will burn like fire; Let me not sink to be a clod; Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God. ———Amy Wilson Carmichael

He came to my desk with quivering lip-- The lesson was done. "Dear Teacher I want a new leaf," he said,, "I have spoiled this one." I took the old leaf, stained and blotted, And gave him a new one all unspotted, And into his sad eyes smiled, "Do better now, my child." I went to the throne with a quivering soul-- The old year was done. "Dear Father, hast Thou a new leaf for me? I have spoiled this one." He took the old leaf, stained and blotted, And gave me a new one all unspotted, And into my sad heart smiled, "Do better now, My child." -- Kathleen Wheeler

When God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man When God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part; When he yearns with all his heart to create so bold a man that all the world will be amazed, Watch his methods, watch his ways: How he relentlessly perfects whom he royally elects; How he hammers us and hurts us and with mighty blows converts us into trial shapes of clay which only God can understand, While our tortured heart is crying and we lift beseeching hands. How God bends, but never breaks when his good he undertakes; How he uses whom he chooses and with every purpose fuses us; By every act induces us to try his splendor out — God knows what he's about! - Author unknown

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation , so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. - Eph 1:17-23 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives...

It's raining so heavily outside of my office, and it's becoming so dark that I thought night has fallen! For the first time perhaps, I am now stuck in my office...