“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:1-18

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made……He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” – John 1:1-3, 10-14

“And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” – John 20:26-31

I believe Augustine was right “nisi crederitis, non intelligetis” – Hebrews 11:6

To first see in order to believe is itself a belief therefore all must believe in order to see.

“The just shall live by faith” is not only Biblically sound but is philosophically sound! You gotta start somewhere and since none of us are omniscienct then we must exercise faith in one direction or another! All are religious if one defines religious as something that starts with faith.

Some believe life came from non life and so they look and research and try to understand. Some believe life came from it’s Creator’s intelligent mind and so they look and research and try to understand! There is no difference between the two in this regard.

Let us at least acknowledge this much or let us argue at this point and be sure one is solid in their own understanding at this point because what ever follows from this point is only going to prove to yourself your starting point and if your starting point is philosophically unjustified then are you not then justifying an unjustified position and so your argument is bound for failure, bound to a reductio ad absurdum!

So is the Scripture and by extension in philosophical thought Augustine right: “nisi crederitis, non intelligetis”! I believe so… 😆