Comments for Faith Isn’t a Checklist at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 5 out of 5 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Sun, 19 May 2013 04:03:39 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/faith-isnt-a-checklist.html#comment-9742 The author replies: Infant baptism isn't something the Catholic Church harps on, but it IS something certain Protestants make a big deal about. And they are the ones who insist that those who baptize infants aren't quite "right" and aren't ever going to get to the "right" place after death. The Church does not teach that all infants (or adults) who die unbaptized are going to hell. Baptism is important. It is fundamental. But baptism is not a question of "checking the box" and then saying to oneself: "Whew, got that done. Great. No more problems." As for why I "think us all Cartesians," well, I don't. But the current cultural paradigm concerning the nature of Reason certainly is. And that was my point. As for whether all the doctrines the Church teaches are important and are to be accepted in the spirit with which they are taught, yes, absolutely. But again, it is not merely a question of "checking it off." It is a question of being changed in one's heart, mind, and life. We're not voluntarists. Faith isn't merely a question of "accepting" or "obeying" (although those things are involved as well). Faith is a kind of knowing inspired by God's love, which is meant to bear fruit in love and change the way one lives one's life. Prof. Esolen's comments are, as always, spot on. - Randall B. Smith Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:24:00 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/faith-isnt-a-checklist.html#comment-9735 Excellent article. I tell my students when we read Dante that the damned in Hell know quite well that God exists; but they do not profit by the knowledge, because they do not have the virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The curdled version of faith that they have is just that propositional knowledge; the curdled version of charity they have is mere desire or appetite; and they have not even a curdled version of hope. That's why the last line of the inscription over the gates of Hell is: "Abandon all hope, you who enter here." A great reminder from Professor Smith that we aren't saved by theology. We're saved by Jesus. - Tony Esolen Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:23:26 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/faith-isnt-a-checklist.html#comment-9734 Professor Smith, So much of what you say I agree with, but I see some dangers in your line of reasoning, especially if it is seen through the lens of the spirit of our age: relativism and non-judgementalism. Perhaps one of things that defines our faith working through love: am I willing to submit my will to all of the truth God has revealed through His Church, especially those items on the "list" I happen to disagree with. - Burton Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:04:09 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/faith-isnt-a-checklist.html#comment-9733 Hmm, not the best piece I've seen in this space, I'm afraid. For one thing, the point Dr. Smith harps on most frequently---paedobaptism---is not a matter of faith. The Church has never taught "one must believe in the baptism of infants," because baptizing infants is something one does, not something unseen in which one believes. Furthermore, even as a matter of praxis the baptism of infants is impelled by belief: belief that Christ was serious when He said that baptism is necessary for eternal life. If one does not "check that box," and therefore leaves one's children unbaptized, one certainly will have to answer for it on the last day. As for why Dr. Smith thinks us all Cartesians---when the Church was teaching the obligation to assent to particular doctrines centuries before Descartes---I really cannot say. - Titus Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:04:57 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/faith-isnt-a-checklist.html#comment-9729 Pascal famously stressed the role of the heart, not only in faith, but in all knowledge: - “We know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart, and it is in this last way that we know first principles; and reason, which has no part in it, tries in vain to impugn them... For the knowledge of first principles, as space, time, motion, number, is as sure as any of those which we get from reasoning. And reason must trust this knowledge of the heart and of instinct, and must base every argument on them. The heart senses that there are three dimensions in space and that the numbers are infinite, and reason then shows that there are no two square numbers one of which is double of the other. Principles are intuited, propositions are inferred, all with certainty, though in different ways “ - Michael Paterson-Seymour Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:20:30 +0100