2. Degrees of Faith
• Faith in God
– Who has not left us in the dark but has revealed himself
as our Creator.
• Faith in the Gospel
– The good news of man who said he was God come
down from heaven to die on the Cross to save us from
sin and rise from the grave to save us from death.
• Faith in the Church
– He left us as his visible body on earth, empowered by
his Spirit, authorized to teach in his name, to live the
life of his love, and to celebrate the sacraments of his
presence.
3. Role of Faith in Religion
Creed Code Cult
– Words – Works – Worship
– Theology – Morality – Liturgy
• Catholic • Catholic • Catholic
– What Catholics – How Catholics – How Catholics
believe. live. worship
• Faith • Faith • Faith
– Summary of faith – Living the faith – Celebrating faith
• Practically • Practically • Practically
– Apostles Creed – Decalogue – Mass
Christ
4. Fides Quae / Fides Qua
• Fides Quae • Fides Qua
– The Faith – Our faith
• The truth • The act of
believed. believing.
• To believe what? –It is ours; our
–What God has choice to
revealed; believe or not
divine believe.
revelation.
5. Object of Faith (fides quae)
• CCC 150
1. Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God.
2. But at the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the
whole truth that God has revealed.
• Creeds
– The Church has summarized the object of faith
• Apostles Creed
• Nicene Creed
• Ultimate object of faith is not creeds but God
– Creeds define what we believe about God, not God himself.
– CCC 170
• “We do not believe in formulas but in those realities they express.”
• Roadmap analogy
6. Sola Scriptura
• Definition
– Scripture and Scripture alone is the infallible authority.
• Seven reasons for rejecting sola scriptura
1. The first generation of Christians did not even have the NT.
2. No Christian before Luther ever taught it, for the first 16 Christian centuries.
3. Without the Church to interpret SS, Protestantism has divided into over 33,000
denominations.
4. If Scripture is infallible, as traditional Protestants believe, then the Church
must be infallible too, for an infallible cause cannot produce and infallible
effect. The Church (apostles and saints) wrote the NT, and the Church
(subsequent bishops) defined its canon.
5. Scripture itself calls the Church “the pillar and guardian of the truth.”(1 Tim 3:15)
6. Scripture itself never teaches sola scriptura.
7. Thus sola scriptura is self-contradictory. If we are to believe only Scripture,
we should not believe sola scriptura.
7. Act of Faith (fides qua)
• Faith is a gift
• Faith and freedom
– Faith cannot be forced any more than love can be forced.
• Faith and feeling
– Feelings are influenced by external things, like fashions and
fads, wind and weather, etc.
– Faith comes from within; from grace and our own free will.
• Faith and belief
– It is an act of the mind; it is also an act of the will.
• Faith and certainty
– We are assured of our faith on the testimony of others.
• Ultimately Christ himself.
8. Our Response
• Ways to lose faith: • Ways to grow in faith:
– Ignorance of God or – Live in the company
his revelation. of believers.
– Misplaced priorities. – Lean into faith / act
– Bad examples of as if it is there.
others. – Prayer.
– Deliberately doubting – Read Scripture.
or rejecting God and
his teaching.
