Evangelicalism seeks acceptance on the basis of reason and objectivity. In other words on the basis of Enlightenment values. It is a product of as well as a reaction to modernity.
The path from Evangelical faith to skepticism accepts the definition of reason as a statement offered in explanation or justification of something. The Bible alludes to this definition in 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 15 which says" but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man who asks of you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."
Evangelical/fundamentalist point of view takes this verse as a command for Christians to be prepared to give an answer for the reason why they believe whenever asked. Reason then is seen as the process of comprehending and justifying reality.
This very understanding of reason, can come in conflict with the Evangelical religion that spawned it. From the standpoint of this reason Christian apologists may be seen to have strange affiliations with reason. It may come in conflict with appeals to emotion that are frequently made from the pulpit by Christian preachers.
Furthermore, spiritual truth is often presented as incomprehensible or foolish to the natural mind. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 says" the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned". Accordingly believers can assert their faith is reasonable and at the same time present it as something that defies or is above reason.
The fundamental that says the Bible is literally the inspired and inerrant “Word of God”, demands belief and obedience without question because God’s Word says it is so.
Consequently in Evangelicalism, faith is regarded as godly and moral and unbelief as sinful. Reason is often depicted as an enemy of faith and even something diabolical as unbelief itself.
Nevertheless, reason is an espoused value of the New Testament writers and of modernity as it emerged from Western enlightenment, and consequently of Evangelicalism which is a product of modernity as much as a reaction to it. Accordingly, one inculcated into this mindset may conclude that, by definition, only reason can emancipate us from false ideas and deliver us from all things irrational.
The Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 as follows “faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen”. The concrete thinker may find this definition to be at least in part absurd. Faith may be reasonable as an expression of hope in some manner but it is not evidence of the unseen nor of what the future may or may not hold for us. Believing something to be so is not evidence because believing doesn’t make it true. From this point of view this seems obvious but it is totally overlooked by believers in the Bible who take it as the Bible’s definitive statement on faith.
What happens when an individual with this rationalist point of view takes a critical and analytical look at the New Testament texts that are foundational texts for Evangelicalism? That is what I intend to explore next on this thread.