Faith Seeking Understanding: St. Anslem's Motto Explained

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Faith seeking understanding was a motto that was wrote by St. Anslem who was a well-known philosopher and a theologian in the eleventh century (Kuhn & Kaplan 2009). He come up with this motto which was to summarize mainly his teaching and a portion if his life. His reasoning for this quote was that we first have to gain faith so that we can be able to understand God properly. We must first believe in God and have faith in him and his works. Only then we will be able to understand him. Various events in the bible cannot be explained even by scientists. We accept that they only took place simply because we believe in God (Kuhn & Kaplan 2009). For instance, take the resurrection of Jesus, when Mary Magdalene, peter and john went to check the body, …show more content…

Understanding on the other hand is the belief that one gets based on some existing evidence. The connection between faith and understanding is we must believe in something before we are able to understand it. Take an instance when you are trying to explain to a 3 year old how gravity works. The child does not even what gravity is and has no idea. In order to explain to them, you must show them what gravity is. From there, only will they be able to understand its concept and everything else behind it. Hence, trying to explain the concept of God to a person who does not believe in the existence of a supreme being will be very difficult. Therefore, faith and understanding, though different, both are important since they help one understand who they are (Shackleford …show more content…

You gain various virtues and discard various vices. I am now able to understand clearly God’s purpose in my life. Now I know what I live for and what I stand for as such I cannot be easily swayed away. Now, when I pray, I know that I am praying to a supernatural being who understands my human nature. I fully understand that god is the creator of the earth and all that is contained in it. My life should be more of a reflection of him than what pleases me. I have also learnt that he created things on different levels. He made humans more intelligent as compared to the other animals. Angels were put to guide us and are superior to human

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