The objective of this class was to help us seek the truth and to strengthen our faith. The chapter about the existential truths of the Human Condition taught me about the state that all human beings are in because of Original Sin. The diagram illustrating the Golden Way is Faith gave me factual evidence why faith is important and reasonable in our lives. The consumerism section in the Challenges of Faith chapter affected me because it directly applied to my life personally and it showed me one area of my life that I need to work on.
The second chapter, The Human Condition was the Foundation of the class. I truly learned when we did this section. It made me realize how similar all human beings are. The human condition applies to all of us at all times, because we were all born with Original Sin. This fact is existential because it applies to everyone at all times. The topics in this section were not anything that I did not know, but I never really thought about it. We all are with the fallen nature of humanity. Humans experience the affects of the Human Condition: Death, Wounded Intellect, and Concupiscence. All humans must face Death because someday we all must die. We all suffer from a wounded intellect because there is no way know everything or totally know the truth. We all have Concupiscence, which I realize and find the most crucial. Concupiscence is the tendency to lean towards things that are not good for us. This is expressed in the song by the Persuaders, Cain's Blood, explaining that we want to do good, which is Abel's blood within us, but we also seem to fall towards evil, which is Cain's blood within us all.
Another important thing that I learned from this class that strengthened my faith was the Golden Way is Faith diagram. This compares nihilism, radicalism, and the decision of faith. It showed that nihilism was reason with no beliefs. It described that radicalism was beliefs without reason. It then illustrated faith at the top of the diagram, showing that the faith decision has the proper balance between belief and reason, showing that faith is the best decision and an important decision in life.
Lastly, one section that applied to me personally was the section about consumerism as a challenge of faith. Consumerism is a trap that a lot of people fall into. While watching the Merchants of Cool I realized that big industries make and sell the things we buy and attempt to make them seem necessary and market them very enticingly. I personally like to buy things that seem interesting, and I learned that I must be careful of putting the things I buy above God. If I do this then consumerism becomes more important in my life than God, and I do not want to become caught up in corporate schemes and advertising. This section also illustrates what Aristotle says about the rudderless ship. We all have areas of our lives that we can work on and "steer" All three of these things affected the way I live and have made me think about my life and the kind of person I want to be. As I do this I live an examined life.
