March 20, 2009

Biblical Logic

Reynold challenged: If your [G]od is the basis of logic then please show that. List the bible verses where the laws of logic are laid down.



Until then, you've got nothing.
(emphasis added)

OK, with the help of God's Word, Dr. Greg L Bahnsen, and Dr. W. Gary Crampton I will attempt it.

From the very first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", necessitates the validity of the most fundamental law of logic: the law of non-contradiction (A is not non-A)

1 Corinthians 14:33 states that "God is not the author of confusion" God is a rational being. The Lord God of truth (Psalm 31:5).

John 1:1,14 emphasizes the rationality of God the Son. Jesus Christ is called the "Logic" of God. "In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God" (the English word "logic" is derived from the Greek logos used in this verse). Logic is as eternal as God Himself because the Logos is God. God and logic cannot be separated; logic is the characteristic of God’s thinking.(1)

"Moreover, because Christ is the Logos who “gives [epistemological] light to every man who comes into the world” (John 1:9), we are to understand that there is a point at which man’s logic meets God’s logic. In fact, John 1:9 denies that logic is arbitrary; it also denies polylogism, i.e., that there may be many kinds of logic. According to John, there is only one kind of logic: God’s logic. And the Logos gives to every image bearer of God the ability to think logically." (Crampton)

Exodus 4:11 says God gave us the ability to converse rationally with our Creator. The noetic effects of sin hinder man's ability to reason correctly. Although Christians are set apart from Atheists. (Colossians 2:8,Romans 1:21, John 17:17)

It is not the laws of logic that are affected by the Fall, it is man's ability to think logically that is so affected. The laws of logic are eternally fixed in the mind of God. They cannot be affected; they are eternally valid. Logic is fixed and universal; it is necessary and irreplaceable. This is why Atheists cannot account for the universal, abstract, invariant laws of logic.

Dr. Bahnsen said: "If you fail to submit presuppositionally to God self-attesting, authoritative word, then you shall be "double-minded: and unstable on all your ways, driven by the wind and tossed about (James 1:5-8). Instead of being driven by the "Wind" of God's "Spirit," you will be carried about by every wind of doctrine through the cunning of humanistic thought and craftiness of error(Ephesians 4:13-14)...God's veracity is the ultimate standard for our thoughts. (Romans 3:4)"

No man is in any position to reply against it (Romans 9:20)

It is well to follow the example of the Jews of Beroea, who "were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so" (Acts 17:11). Why didn't they immediately accept what Paul and Silas were saying? Because the Bible says we should prove a doctrine before we let ourselves be convinced by it (Proverbs 14:15,1 John 4:1,Ephesians 5:8-11, Philippians 1:9-10).

While the Bible is my ultimate authority, it is not the only means by which God has revealed Himself to us. It is through God's collective natural and special revelation that I know for certain my senses are reliable and can account for absolute, immaterial, universal laws of logic and reason.

Christianity offers a cohesive worldview whereby we do have an objective standard so when somebody tortures you; rapes you; kills you; we can say, No, that is wrong. It's not just personal preference, it's objectively wrong. We do have a revelation to the origin of life. Life doesn't come from non-life, life doesn't come from matter. Life comes from a Creative being called God. Christianity has all the answers and everything you need to live life, not just practically but rationally.

Update:

Law of Identity--Exodus 3:14
Law of Non-contradiction--Genesis 1:1
Law of Excluded middle--Luke 11:23

Crampton added: Logic, then, is embedded in Scripture. This is why Scripture, rather than the laws of logic, is selected as the axiomatic starting point of Christian epistemology. Similarly, God is not made the axiom, because all of our knowledge of God comes from Scripture. "God," as an axiom, without Scripture, is merely a name. Scripture as the axiom defines God.


bit.ly/Bibleislogic