It is hump-day, and what a wonderful day it is. Today was so beautiful, but I was stuck inside most of it. Just your typical day, but did have one interesting conversation.

I caught this guy on tv the other day, talking about his book. He was way out there with his reason becomming stronger than religion in today's world, because he supports reasoning over religion.

Chris, Rob and I got into a discussion today about the topic of reason over faith. Which comes first, which is more important, etc.

We didn't get into an argument, but a discussion. I am not big on arguments and probably wouldn't have participated very long if that was the case. Anyway, in my very simplistic approach to things (which I prefer) there were some confusions. Most of it lied within my definition for reason versus their definition. Rob said he pretty much agreed with what I was saying, but that I was using the wrong terms to describe it.

The discussion was over whether reason came before faith, and do we come to faith because of reason. Of course God gave us the ability to reason, but I am not so sure that we come to faith only by reasoning. Rob mentioned the "God shaped hole" in our hearts (not his exact words), and that everyone should know there is some kind of higher power.

For me personally, I am not sure how much it matters whether reason or faith came first. The biggest thing for me is that reason should never trump faith in any decision I make. Reason to me is more of this world, because we've been reasoning for so long with worldly ideals. Where faith is something that has grown as our walk with Christ matures. I'll take my faith over my ability to reason anyday.

It's not a salvation issue so it is not a big issue to me. There are doctrines that divide for some people, such as calvinism, or works based salvation, and even losing your salvation, but this is not one of them. It was good to have a little theological discussion that didn't get ugly. We discussed theological pursuits, and whether it is more important to have a working understanding of the Bible versus a systematic theology. For me, I say the Bible trumps man made systematic theology as well. I know that's too simplistic for some, but that's just me.

In the new testament, it says we are supposed to defend our faith. This is something I have trouble with because I don't think on my toes very fast on hard questions. I learned alot about that while working with youth, sometimes I'd have to say I'll get back to you with the scripture and we'll look at it together.

That's just me. I want it to be ok for me to be wrong, and for me not to know something. I've known too many people that just don't think they can be wrong, and I just don't like that attitude. We can't be right in every discussion, and we have to admit that there's a chance we may not know as much as we think. It's called being humble, and I pray for humble pie often.