Should Religion Be Irrational? – Part 3
Another great irrationality many opine of their faith is this, “If it was good enough for my mother and father, it is good enough for me.” For example, when someone is asked why they believe in a certain doctrine, they will say “Because my mother (or father) believed it.” This is one that is seldom used in everyday life, but it is used frequently in religion.
How many times did Jesus say to reasoning adults, “Go ask your parents whether or not I am the Messiah?” He never did. What did He say? “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). It wasn’t “go ask your parents,” but “the scriptures teach.” Peter wrote, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God…that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11). How many would abandon their new cars for the old cars that their parents drove years ago? Who would give up their new three-bedroom two-bath brick house for an old two-bedroom one-bath wood-frame house? Would you settle for a sixth-grade education like your grandparents? After all, “if it was good enough for them, it should be good enough for me.” This is not to disparage those who came before us. We should be very thankful for them, but we need to think about our thinking! If we wouldn’t go back to the old car, house, or education our grandparents had, just because they had it, why should we believe what they believed just because they believed it? Should we not form our own faith? Let’s believe the truth because it is the truth, not just because our parents believed it.
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley