It is reasonable to choose the man of reason over the man of faith under the circumstance that reason is a process well thought through and constructed with tangible or manifest things on exhibit, while faith is mere persuasion without such construction materials. Generally, from overt examples today, that is what occurs in practice dividing the man of reason from the man of faith.
Yet, there is the see-saw effect flipping the scales of what is reasonable. Jesus, for example, according to Matthew, told his close disciples “take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” The disciples reasoned that he said this because they had forgotten to bring bread with them, perhaps pointing out their mistake in an indirect way. Whatever. They missed the starting point with their perception and their reason took off on a jaunt all its own.
Jesus perceived what was going on with their reasoning abilities and said: “O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves because ye have brought no bread?” Then, he launches into reminding them of the miracle of the five loaves that fed five thousand people and the seven loaves that fed four thousand. With each, he asked them to remember how much was leftover.
The doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees
Jesus had been speaking about the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, not chastising them for forgetting to bring bread. So, it was not that reason was a bad thing. What was of little faith about their reasoning was that they weren’t even on the same page with him. They were too concerned with what he thought about them.
Their reason was self-centered or, in other words, their egos were the little tyrants of their reasoning abilities. On the flip side of this, it is possible for the man of reason and the man of faith (persuasion) to become one.
One of the great things about our ideal for the man of reason is that he does not think of himself in the equation. Rather, he deals with facts and tangibles to deduce what the true value is. The problem with the man of faith we know today is that he is a fact and a tangible that has nothing to construct his persuasion with other than a set of words on a page. Though he is tangible, he has nothing tangible to offer toward true value. He is more concerned about himself and his persuasion than anything else. “My faith! My God!” Hear the little tyrant now.
When Jesus reminded the disciples, according to the example of Matthew, he pointed to two miraculous events that reason could not fathom and yet it was an event that no one’s faith or persuasion has ever been able to duplicate since. In Matthew’s example, the miraculous events were the tangibles.
Whether one believes in miracles or reasons that miracles cannot happen is beside the point. Matthew’s esoteric viewpoint is one that shows anyone who is looking at that reason and persuasion must be based on tangibles and real-life events.
Unfortunately, for the man of faith, the things written in the Bible do not happen today.
There is no Jesus walking around with disciples. There are no miraculous healings, except the ones you hear about on another continent but never see with your own eyes. When it all comes down to constructing something real, it is all hearsay persuasion, until the man of faith does like Jesus. Of course, that will never happen as long as Jesus is revered as unreachable God, instead of the epitome of what is possible for mankind to accomplish. It will never happen as long the man of faith persuades others by sheer numbers and political clout, instead of the inner powerhouse of one man or woman doing the impossible.
Unfortunately, for the man of reason, reason by itself cannot feed the starving masses in this world, because there are reasons for-profit and genocide, which are reasons for wealth and population control. In other words, reason has many persuasions when it is not on the same page with good intent for ALL mankind.
Until the man of reason and the man of faith, as scribed in the Jesus example above, come together as one, there will be no reason strong enough to effect change to help mankind in totality and there will be no persuasion heavy enough to crush the evils brought on by the separate men of reason and faith.
When such things are taken into account, it is neither the man of reason nor the man of faith that should be celebrated. But, if there were a man-made of both…he would beware of the doctrine of the Pharisee and the Sadducee.
