Difference between revisions of "Christianity and logic"

affinity with the laws of thought and logic? Did Jesus, Paul, and other inspired speakers and writers argue their cases, prove their propositions, and engage in rational, reasonable discourse? The truth is that those who were selected by God (prophets, apostles, and Bible writers) to communicate His will to the world always presented their divinely inspired communication with logical precision. They never once committed a logical error. They always argued the case for Christianity accurately and rationally—precisely what one would expect if they were guided by the perfect rational Mind.

While on Earth, Jesus demonstrated incredible proclivity for rationality in His sharp, potent, penetrating use of logic and sound argumentation. His first recorded responsible activity consisted of a logical dialogue between Himself (at the age of twelve) and the Jewish theologians. “All who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers” (Luke 2:47, emp. added). The next recorded instance of Jesus’ public cognitive activity was on the occasion of His baptism. He reasoned with John in order to convince John to immerse Him (Matthew 3:13-15), advancing a logical reason to justify the action.^[2]

Since God is rigorously self-consistent, the basic pattern of His thoughts can be described at least partly by exception-less, unchanging, universal laws. We call these laws of logic. For example, God never denies or contradicts Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). Therefore, truth will never contradict truth. We call this the law of non-contradiction. In order for something to be true, it must correspond to the mind of God. Therefore, truthful things will never violate laws of logic. Truth always matches God’s thinking, with no exceptions.^[3]

The Christian Worldview accounts for the existence of the transcendent Laws of Logic. If God exists, He is the absolute, objective, transcendent standard of truth. The Laws of Logic are simply a reflection of the nature of God. God did not create these laws. They are a reflection of His rational thinking, and for this reason, they are as eternal as God Himself. You and I, as humans, have the ability to discover these laws because we have been created in the image of God, but we don’t create or invent the laws. As an atheist, however, I rejected this conclusion and offered a number of alternative explanations related to the Laws of Logic. Is God Real? The Laws of Logic (much like the appearance of our universe from nothing) provide us with evidence establishing the most reasonable inference: God exists and has created a universe in which we can find and know Him.^[4]

However, sometimes the critic asserts that the Bible has actually violated a law of logic; he claims that two passages in the Scriptures are contradictory. This is a more serious challenge, because two contradictory statements cannot both be true—even in principle. If the Bible actually endorsed two contradictory statements, then necessarily one of them would have to be false, and the Bible could not be totally inerrant. In reality, most alleged contradictions turn out to be nothing of the kind. They simply reveal that the critic does not truly understand what a contradiction is. A contradiction is “A and not A at the same time and in the same relationship” where A is any proposition. To contradict is to both affirm and deny the same proposition. And this is not the nature of most alleged biblical contradictions.^[5]