The Christian Belief in Regards to Faith, Creation, and Sin

        In the present paper, I am discussing the Christian belief in regards to faith, creation, and sin.

Faith

        “Faith” in everyday use often implies belief in a notion or an object that cannot be proved in rational or scientific manner. Many rationalists highlight the shortcomings of the physical proofs of God’s existence and reject the credibility of such notion. Although there is no universal or absolute idea that proves God’s existence, many theologians and philosophers have used different approaches in order to make sense of God as the ultimate being in the world.

Theologian Thomas Aquinas developed “Five Ways” in which the existence of God could be proved, arguing that the ordering of the word is the most convincing evidence of God’s existence. The first way carries the theme of “unmoved mover”. He argues from the point that everything in the world that moves and expresses the sense of motion requires an unmovable force to trigger the motion. Everything that moves do not move by themselves, their movement is caused by a mover, God. The second way argues that everything in the world has to come from something. There must be a first cause for everything that exists in the world, and it is God. The third way explains that some things are reliant or contingent on other things, and there must be a being that accounts for contingent things, and it is God. The fourth way is that there is a degree in quality found in different things in the world, and there must be a being with the ultimate quality, and it is God. The fifth way demonstrates that everything in the world seem to be designed by something else, and the designer is God.

In a similar notion, William Paley explains the existence of God and the universe by comparing the world to a watch. He says the world is like a watch, and is designed and crafted with a purpose by a watchmaker; God. Aquinas’s “Five Ways” and Paley’s analogy of the world to a watch demonstrate God’s existence using logic and reason. However, “faith” in biblical sense does not only indicate the acknowledgement of God’s existence but extends to the idea of trust in God. Martin Luther takes an approach that pertains more to Christian beliefs. Luther believes that faith is about trusting God. He points out three main themes in his explanation. The first point is that faith is not historical knowledge that we acquire from gospels, but has a personal reference. Having faith in God is not simply understanding his work in the world, faith is acquired by developing personal relationship with God. The second argument imposes stronger notion of trust; faith in God is bold trust that we not only believe but rely upon. Lastly, faith unites the believer with God.