Reputations Of Reasonableness

Ask people if they are reasonable, and you may find that they like to be thought of as such.  Ask people what they believe about specific claims, and you may find that they know little of reason or of truth.  Ask people why they don't understand reason or utilize it consistently, and you may find that they do not have the desire to actually conform to reason.  For all their talk, such people do not desire consistency, knowledge, and truth, as they are content to wallow in errors and stupidity instead.

Reason is not fashioned by any individual or society and neither category can diminish its authority by their words.  Reason will prevail because it is infallible--it will outlive the asinine comments and behaviors of humans and it never relied on us to begin with for either its necessary existence or its intrinsic authority.  Although many may claim to honor and live by reason, few do either.  Unfortunately, some people would rather have a reputation of reasonableness than actually be reasonable.

People inside and outside the church have this problem.  How many Christians could one halt the arguments of by simply asking for Bible passages that support their point?  I doubt that more than a small fraction of the Christians I have met could even point out a single specific Bible verse when asked where the Bible says Jesus is divine, much less what the Bible actually says about miscellaneous moral issues like torture or sexuality.  As many in the secular world claim reasonableness although their beliefs are thoroughly fallacious, many in the church think they understand the Bible when they know almost nothing about what it actually teaches.  If they did understand, they would have very different ethical philosophies and theological epistemologies.

Do you think you are reasonable?  Do you truly grasp and apply reason?  If so, do you do so consistently, without standing on assumptions, preferences, and fallacies?  I hope that readers of this blog can answer in the affirmative.  Far too many would be swift to call themselves reasonable seekers of truth; only a fraction seem to actually live that claim out.  I hope my readers are not among them.