God and the rules of logic
This article is one in a series of studies on the reasoning and the Message - you are currently on the page that is in bold:
- How to Deal with Doubt
- God and the rules of logic
- Reason and Faith
- Blind Faith
- Anti-intellectualism in the Message
- Logic and the Message
- Reason and the Message
God serves as the foundation of all logic, having created the reality in which we discover the rules of laws:
- From the standpoint of reality, we understand that God is the basis of all logic. As the ultimate reality, all truth is ultimately found in him. He has created the reality that we know and in which we have discovered the laws of logic. Even Jesus said, “I am … the truth” (John 14:6). He has structured the world in such a way that these laws cannot be denied; however, we did not know God first and then learn logic from him. He exists as the basis of all logic (in reality), but we discovered logic first and came to know God through it. This is true even if we came to know God through his revelation, because we understood the revelation through logic. In the order of being, God is first; but in the order of knowing, logic leads us to all knowledge of God. God is the basis of all logic (in the order of being), but logic is the basis of all knowledge of God (in the order of knowing).[1]
God did not create the laws of logic, but rather they manifest his nature. There are two kinds of laws:
- Laws of nature. These are descriptive laws; they simply report how things operate
- Laws of logic. These are prescriptive, telling us how we ought to reason in order to align our thinking with reality.
- [1] God breaks the laws of nature through miracles[2], but this doesn’t apply to logic. Physical laws merely describe how things typically occur and admit of exceptions, which miracles represent.[1] Logic permits no such exceptions.
Why can’t God transcend logical laws as he does physical ones? God is rational, and certain basic principles of rationality cannot change any more than God can alter his own essential nature.[1] Logic flows from God’s rational nature, and he cannot change his nature without betraying himself—comparable to God breaking a moral law, which also flows from his nature.[2] The analogy is direct: just as we cannot imagine God being unjust or unloving, we cannot coherently imagine him violating logical principles.
Geisler also addresses the objection that Christian doctrines like the Trinity and Incarnation appear contradictory. There is a difference between propositions that transcend human reason and those that contradict it; mysteries of faith go beyond reason but not against it.[1] The Trinity affirms three persons in one Essence—not three persons in one Person or three essences in one Essence, which would be logical contradictions.[1]
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[1] Norman L. Geisler, “Logic,” in Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 428–429.
[2] Norman L. Geisler and Ronald M. Brooks, Come, Let Us Reason: An Introduction to Logical Thinking (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1990), 19.
Footnotes
- ↑ Norman L. Geisler and Ronald M. Brooks, Come, Let Us Reason: An Introduction to Logical Thinking (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1990), 17.