Why does man’s reasoning ability, considerable as it is, not allow us to either prove or disprove God’s existence? Why is science, in spite of everything it has revealed about our world and the broader universe, unable to tell us whether God exists? Why is it that faith, not logic, is the exclusive form of decision-making that enables man to reach God?
Perhaps the best way to address these questions is to ask another: can you analyze your way to the experience of love? Analytical thinking can provide us with a description of the attributes of love, but reasoning is not the tool that allows man to actually experience love. It takes faith to experience love, not reasoning.
If the purpose of man’s existence is to experience love with God, then perhaps this is why, when we address our minds to issues concerning God’s existence and nature, we always end up in a place where we’re forced to make a faith-based decision either for or against him. Faith is the key to love, not reasoning. Faith, not reasoning, is therefore the key to knowing the all-loving God.
Faith’s role in allowing us to experience love is one of the keys to understanding the answer to the problem of evil and the problem of pain. The Advent of Time delves into this issue in considerable detail, explaining how faithlessness and self-centeredness destroy love, undermining the very purpose of our existence.