Matthew 21:18-22
Believe and Receive
18 Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was
hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.
21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
Mark 5:35-36
Don't Be Afraid, Just Believe
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
John 14:1
Believe in God, but Believe also in Me
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
Matthew 7:7-8
Seek and You Shall Find Him
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
We can believe in God because of our reasoning abilities, and we can believe in Him because of our faith abilities...Or we may use both reasoning and faith to believe in Him...There are reasons to believe in God and there are different arguments to believe in, such as the moral argument, the Leibnizian Cosmological Argument, argument from First Cause, the argument from desire, and others...Another argument (although some will not call it an argument) for the belief in God is called Pascal's Wager...But in trying to get the non-believer or atheist to believe in God, one might think that the non-believer has already tried to logically to believe in Him by their own reasoning mind and have came to the conclusion that He does not exist...
Jesus said to His Disciples, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done...If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."...Jesus had no doubt about doing miracles and that He could do them...Miracles to Him were quite natural...Jesus had no doubt about making a fig tree wither or moving a mountain....He knew that doubt could affect one's faith, and also the ability to believe in miracles...While Jesus was in the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader, He was asked to help Jairus' very sick daughter...Then she died...“Your daughter is dead,” they said...“Why bother the Teacher anymore?”...Overhearing what they said, Jesus told Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”...Jesus also tells us to believe in God; and to believe also in Him...
These are verses of a great and mature faith...One's own reasoning can get in the way of moving mountains, or seeing your daughter alive again after she has taken her last breath...Doubt can play a role against our believing these verses...
The mathematician Blaise Pascal believed in God and in both faith and in reasoning...He believed that God is Infinite...Being Infinite we cannot know all His attributes and His Ways...And we know little about the Infinite...I think Pascal maybe understood why Jesus told Jairus to not to be afraid and just believe...What did Jairus have to hang on to -after his daughter's death...After all, his daughter was now dead?...Jesus just said, as a matter of fact, "Don't be afraid, just believe."...There does not seem much reasoning in that statement...But Pascal and in his Wager said that, "Either God exists, or He does not.’...To which view shall we incline?...Reason cannot decide for us one way or the other: we are separated by an infinite gulf...At the extremity of this infinite distance a game is in progress, where either heads or tails may turn up...What will you wager?...According to reason you cannot bet either way; according to reason you can defend neither proposition...So do not attribute error to those who have made a choice; for you know nothing about it."...
According to Pascal, our own reasoning power in matters of faith might not be much help to us and in defending our faith -and in getting others to believe in God...According to our own reasoning powers one cannot prove God or disprove God...One needs to know that God alone has Infinite Reasoning Powers, while our reasoning is limited...Human reasoning can get in the way of faith sometimes...God can literally move mountains and resurrect children, but our minds have doubts and questions about these types of things...
Maybe reasoning plays a part in believing in God, but I think for the non-believer his reasoning power is why he or she does not believe...Sometimes we need to get beyond our reasoning and logic part of the mind to believe...In trying to use reasoning only to believe in God, it may not work for the non-believer...So in looking at how reasoning works in God's Existence and how faith works in looking at His Existence, we must realize that faith and reason are two different things...While faith might only at times take over for reasoning and logic...Faith is always a part of what we need to believe in God...Reasoning will not always get us to God, but faith always guides us to seek Him...And Jesus says those that seek Him, will find Him...