/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

It is rational. God is entirely rational, and asks us to perform a rational step of believing on Jesus.

The "feelers" you've observed had a blind faith.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 KJV

<For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God (i.e., notitia) which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men (i.e., assensus), but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe (i.e., fiducia).

>Notitia

>Notitia refers to the content of faith, or those things that we believe. We place our faith in something, or more appropriately, someone. In order to believe, we must know something about that someone, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

>Assensus

>Assensus is our conviction that the content of our faith is true. You can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true. Genuine faith says that the content — the notitia taught by Holy Scripture — is true.

>Fiducia.

>Fiducia refers to personal trust and reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is only effectual if, knowing about and assenting to the claims of Jesus, one personally trusts in Him alone for salvation.

This is the protestant answer

taken from:

https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/31589/what-is-the-background-of-the-words-notitia-fiducia-and-assensus-and-how/31685

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/faith-defined/

You're not wrong in noticing it's different in kind, however "rational vs irrational" is a false dichotomy in this case. There are 3 main ways we gain "knowledge" about the world: Empirically (through observation), Rationally (through logic), and Experientially (through practice). Faith and spirituality are experiential phenomena. Therefore they require active engagement to fully understand. You can't grasp belief through observation nor reason just like how you wouldn't be able to learn a martial art or how to play a musical instrument through observation and reason alone. It requires practice.

To learn more about how to put it into practice, I recommend reading the books "You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit", and "The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality".

Faith in God is a synonym for trust in His Providence. As such, it is unrelated to matters of the higher intellective faculties, although they may point towards it; faith is fundamentally suprarational, not rational nor subrational.

The "feelings" are an object of debate. Certain groups now and in the past emphasise positive emotions when it comes to matters of religion, whereas others do not. You'll find Catholics and Orthodox, as well as more traditionalist Protestants, due to possessing more thorough theology, see emotions as subordinate to knowledge (and then knowledge subordinate to faith) due to the human propensity to err—feelings are utterly subjective, after all.

>>796937

Faith is when you read the Bible, understand the story, and smile at the punchline.

Christ is Logos, comprehension of the Lord is concomitant with the gift of Faith. Faith AND Reason anon.

>>796937

They are not contrary Scholasticism is built upon that very premise.

>>797048

that's only because scholasticism also assumes that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Logos it doesn't.

https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/when-is-religious-belief-irrational-on-the-harmony-of-faith-and-reason-fr-thomas-joseph-white-op

this goes over it well