September 22, 2016 | Universality of Faith

Not long after Jesus spoke on faith, a talented writer named Plutarch thought this through. In Plutarch’s massive collection of essays called the Lives, he recognized 5 logical categories that reflect how people approach faith: atheist, agnostic, mystic, pantheist, and theist. To Plutarch, it seemed that only the theist was reasonable. Though they all exercise faith, Plutarch showed how the non-theists exhibit huge gaps in their logic.

About 1900 years later, the late great Dr. Charles Ryrie wrote an update of Plutarch’s categories. Like Plutarch, Ryrie logically showed that all people exercise faith. Below are my summaries of Ryrie and Plutarch’s comments on each category:

Atheism – determination that there is no God – takes remarkable faith. As Ryrie notes, “no one can gather enough facts to prove that conclusion.” [Frank Turek expanded on this in his book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist.]

Agnosticism – assumption that one can’t know for sure about God – again takes faith, especially to decide that scripture doesn’t ring true. Agnosticism also requires remarkable hubris.

The pantheist – who today usually believes in an impersonal force – exercises massive faith, as there is no revealed witness. They are literally trusting nothing. In fact, pantheists hate any idea of objective reason behind their impersonal force. [Just mention midi-chloriansand watch their reaction.]

Mystics – who touch godhood via individual experience – show amazing

faith in themselves, though Plutarch noted they are blind to their self-centeredness. Ryrie says, “the idea that knowing themselves they can still trust themselves is incredible.”

Bottom line – all use faith. Plutarch agreed that theists use faith, but noted that theism was based on a logical and consistent approach to the phenomena of life, where the faith was reasonable.

Thus, the issue is not whether one believes but whether what one believes is reasonable and trustworthy.