28 January Daily Question

According to Wilken and Augustine, faith is unavoidable because technically, all things are based on a type of “faith” (as Wilken puts it, on the “testimony of witness worthy of trust”. Augustine says “In practical life, I cannot see how anyone can refuse to believe altogether”. Everything that we accept as truth relies in trust of others to tell us that truth. How much of your own knowledge does one actually derive by themselves, rather than from teachers, books, or other sources of information? If one was truly skeptical to every book they read or every person they spoke to, they would truly never learn because they would spend the entirety of their time questioning. This form of learning, Augustine claims, is similar to the process that one must go through to have faith in God. If one forever questions the credibility of God and Christian teachings without first embracing them, they will never truly understand what they are denying(even if ultimately perhaps religious faith is not for them). Wilken speaks on how must first embrace something wholeheartedly before they can begin to criticize it, for they must first understand before they disprove. In order to learn, one must first have faith. “Learning” extends not only to physical skills that one could learn in books and other things, by also virtue. If you never listened to the lessons of your parents, how might one’s character be different and altered for the worse because you didn’t hold faith in their lessons. Submitting to a greater authority doesn’t only help us be more learned people, but generally better people sometimes, which is a benefit that cannot be gained on its own. The lessons that can be learned from God and Christ are comparable, Augustine claims, and thus should be embraced similarly to how one embraces the teachings of a loving parent.