LOA’s Flashcards
(5 cards)
Can God be known through reason alone?
• While reason is a valuable human faculty that can help humans approach knowledge of God, it is insufficient on its own.
• The finite, fallen human mind cannot know the infinite God fully or correctly through reason alone without faith.
• Therefore, God cannot be known through reason alone; faith, grounded in revealed theology, is essential.
• Reason and faith are complementary, but faith must have priority as the foundation for true knowledge of God.
Final thought:
This position respects both the human capacity for rational thought and the biblical witness about human sinfulness and God’s revelation. It avoids the arrogance of claiming pure reason suffices and the despair of denying reason any role at all.
Is faith sufficient reason for belief in God’s existence?
Therefore, faith on its own may be a strong and primary basis for belief in God, especially within Protestant traditions emphasizing revelation, but reason and natural theology can and should play a supportive role in underpinning faith.
The best approach is a complementary model: faith is the sufficient and necessary ground of belief in God’s existence, but faith is strengthened and deepened through reason’s support, making belief rationally credible rather than merely fideistic.
Hence, faith is sufficient for belief in God but not necessarily the only source or the whole story; reason remains an important partner in the believer’s journey.
Has the Fall completely removed all natural human knowledge of God?
The Fall has clearly impaired natural human knowledge of God but has not completely eradicated it.
Aquinas and Brunner present a compelling case that reason and natural law still function post-Fall, though imperfectly and requiring divine grace.
Calvin and Barth emphasize that fallen human nature distorts reason to the point where natural theology is unreliable without revelation.
The reality of atheism and idolatry supports Barth’s warnings, but widespread religious belief and moral awareness suggest some natural sense remains.
Therefore, the Fall limits and complicates natural human knowledge of God, but does not completely remove it.
Revealed theology through faith remains essential for full knowledge.
The best position acknowledges the partial survival of natural knowledge with its limits, requiring faith and grace for true understanding of God.
Is natural knowledge of God the same as revealed knowledge of God?
Natural knowledge can never be equated with revealed knowledge because natural knowledge is fallible and incomplete, whereas revealed knowledge is essential for a full, true knowledge of God in Christian theology.
Hence, Christian belief properly rests on faith in revealed knowledge, with natural knowledge playing a supportive but limited role.
Is belief in God’s existence sufficient to put one’s trust in him?
• Belief in God’s existence alone is necessary but not sufficient to put one’s trust in Him.
• Trust requires more than intellectual assent; it requires faith in God’s revealed nature, moral will, and promises.
• Reason can help point towards God and support faith, but ultimately trust depends on faith in revealed theology.
• Therefore, while natural theology provides a rational basis, it is faith rooted in revelation that makes trust in God possible and justified.
