Chapters 11: Faith (I)

I. The first kind of faith: belief
    A. Belief is based on reason.
    B. Why is this virtuous?
        1. The mind is not ruled exclusively by reason.
        2. Moods change.
        3. Moods can undermine belief without reason.
II. Our bodies tell us something different than our minds do.
    A. Desires
    B. Temptations
    C. Emotions
    D. These attack our reasoned beliefs in a kind of blitz.
III. Overcoming moods and emotions
    A. The habit of faith
        1. Church-going, daily prayers, religious reading
        2. Belief must be nourished.
    B. Without nourishment, faith drifts away. 
IV. Faith in another sense, preliminaries
    A. A lesson about virtue
        1. Effort is not sufficient to persist in virtue.
        2. No one knows himself to be bad until he tries very hard to be good.
        3. Until one resists temptation, one cannot know how strong it is.
        4. We fail.
        5. We cannot live up to any bargain with God.
    B. You cannot do anything for God.
    C. God knows and owns you and everything about you.

Discussion Questions: (pp. 138-143)
    1. Are the emotions, temptations, and desires that militate against belief the same as what St. Paul calls “the flesh” (Rom. 8:3-8)? Elaborate. (pp. 139-140)
    2. Besides weekly worship, daily prayer, and Bible reading, what other practices support and nourish belief? (p. 141)
    3. What does personal effort at virtue demonstrate? What conclusions must one draw from that? (p. 142)
    4. Who owns you? (p. 143)