FaithFaithFides QuaeFides Quae

Fides QuaFides Qua

Fides QuaeFides Quae

Fides QuaFides Qua

Degrees of FaithDegrees 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.

Role of Faith in Religion

Role of Faith in Religion

Creed– Words– Theology

• Catholic– What Catholics

believe.

• Faith– Summary of faith

• Practically– Apostles Creed

Code– Works– Morality

• Catholic– How Catholics

live.

• Faith– Living the faith

• Practically– Decalogue

Cult– Worship– Liturgy

• Catholic– How Catholics

worship

• Faith– Celebrating faith

• Practically– Mass

Christ

Fides Quae / Fides Qua

Fides Quae / Fides Qua

• Fides Quae– The Faith

• The truth believed.

• To believe what?–What God has

revealed; divine revelation.

• Fides Qua– Our faith

• The act of believing.

–It is ours; our choice to believe or not believe.

Object of Faith (fides quae)Object of Faith (fides quae)

• CCC 1501. 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

Sola ScripturaSola Scriptura• Definition

– Scripture and Scripture alone is the infallible authority.

• Seven reasons for rejecting sola scriptura1. 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.

Act of Faith (fides qua)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.

Our ResponseOur Response

• Ways to lose faith:– Ignorance of God or his

revelation.– Misplaced priorities.– Bad examples of others.– Deliberately doubting or

rejecting God and his teaching.

• Ways to grow in faith:– Live in the company

of believers.– Lean into faith / act

as if it is there.– Prayer.– Read Scripture.