1.9 Is it logical to believe? Can I ask questions?
Asking questions is essential, because this is how you think about faith. By asking questions you can penetrate deeper into the truth of the faith and gain greater insight into the meaning of God’s love for you.
The core of the Christian faith can only be understood by reflecting on God’s love for every human being. We can know him partially through what he shows us about himself (this is called revelation). Nevertheless, some questions will remain unanswered because no single answer can ever fully define God. God is always greater!
Why does man have a desire for God?
God himself, in creating man in his own image, has written upon his heart the desire to see him. Even if this desire is often ignored, God never ceases to draw man to himself because only in God will he find and live the fullness of truth and happiness for which he never stops searching. By nature and by vocation, therefore, man is a religious being, capable of entering into communion with God. This intimate and vital bond with God confers on man his fundamental dignity. [CCCC 2]
Why do we seek God?
God has placed in our hearts a longing to seek and find him. St. Augustine says, “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” We call this longing for God religion.
It is natural for man to seek God. All of our striving for truth and happiness is ultimately a search for the one who supports us absolutely, satisfies us absolutely, and employs us absolutely in his service. A person is not completely himself until he has found God. “Anyone who seeks truth seeks God, whether or not he realizes it” (St. Edith Stein). [Youcat 3]
In the Christian system it will be found that there is, not to speak at all arrogantly, at least as much of investigation into articles of belief, and of explanation of dark sayings, occurring in the prophetical writings, and of the parables in the Gospels, and of countless other things, which either were narrated or enacted with a symbolic signification. [Origen, Against Celsus, Bk. 1, Chap. 9 (MG 11, 672)]
