Quote:
Also note that philosophy helps us to understand things we know only by faith; we can apply philosophy to, for example, the revealed doctrine of the Trinity so that we can gain a better understanding of what it means, and a better appreciation of the mystery of those parts we can never fully comprehend
Right, thats what I meant when I said,
"...and truths of God known by that man by reasoning (through philosophy in other words) can not be known by him by faith, but these truths known of God by this man through reasoning (philosophy), can only be known as long as the man had faith in God. "
-- (Faith as a foundation in other words), unless there can be no other way to understand the Trinity better and other mysteries. There must be a foundation of faith first, then we can use reasoning. Faith and reason still remain seperate in these examples
Of course, one has to have faith first in order to be aided by reason, but
How does philosophy and reason aid faith when they are seperate powers to understanding truths of God? It's amazing to me.
For example:
I have faith in God. When I start reading philosophy by St Thomas or others, Plato, etc., and come to understand what they are "finally" saying (:)) about certain truths of God,
my faith increases (thanks be to God) and I understood these truths
by using the instrument of reasoning, not faith.
But, there is no way I could fully grip what they were saying--well especially the doctors of the Church-St. Thomas-UNLESS,
I had faith in God first-a foundation
Of course, only by the grace of God...faith--a gift from God, plus reasoning--a gift from God, and I thank Him.