Skip to main content

Logical or Illogical?

Cornish writes, “The foundational pillars for thinking, pursuing truth, and acquiring knowledge are the Laws of Logic. These weren’t invented by Aristotle or anyone else. Like gravity, they just are—reflections of God’s reality and the world He made. They govern the way we think, often assumed to be part of our God-given common sense. No moment goes by in which we do not use or assume logic. To deny it requires using it.”[1]

Logic has three interconnected laws:

(1) The Law of Non-contradiction. This law simply states that two contradictory statements about anything cannot be true at the same time and in the same respect. For example, a person cannot smell and not smell at the same time and in the same way.

(2) The Law of Excluded Middle. This law states that something either is or is not. It cannot be both at the same time. For example: you are either smelling or not smelling, there is no middle ground (excluded middle).

(3) The Law of Identity. Simply stated, something is either itself or something else. For example: George Washington is George Washington because he cannot be someone else. To be both George Washington and someone else violates the Law of Identity and is therefore illogical.

As we explored the various “isms” covered in the previous blogs, we found a common denominator in all of them. Every single one of those philosophies is a self-refuting philosophy. They self-destruct because the very propositions used to make their claims destroy the claim itself. In every case the argument is defeated by itself rendering them all illogical.


[1] Rick Cornish, 5 Minute Apologist Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2005), p. 33.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant Word

  All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16).   Our primary and final safeguard against false teaching is the Word of God. Verses 16 and 17 of 2 Timothy 3 are among the most important and significant in all the New Testament. They clearly declare the Source of Scripture and thus the Scripture’s authority. Second Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:21 for the basis for our conviction that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. Paul points out three important truths here: First, all Scripture is God-breathed. When Paul writes in that all Scripture is inspired , he is saying that the entire Bible and every word in it originates with God. Tom Constable correctly states that the Bible “does not merely contain the Word of God or become the Word of God under certain conditions. I...

The God Who Made Us: Creation, Purpose, and Worship

Few questions shape a life more deeply than this one: Where did we come from? That question is not just for science classrooms or college debates. It reaches into our homes, our laws, our schools, our view of human dignity, our understanding of right and wrong, and the way we see every person we meet. If we get our origin wrong, we will almost always get our purpose wrong. In the simplest terms, people usually answer the question of origins in one of two ways. Either we are the result of blind chance and impersonal forces, or we are the intentional creation of a personal God. Scripture begins without apology: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). That is where the Christian worldview starts. Four Common Views About God and Human Origins Even among those who believe God had a role in creation, there are different views. We should speak carefully, but we must also hold firmly to what Scripture plainly teaches: God is Creator, mankind is made in His...

All Things Work Together for Good

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.   (Romans 8:28)   The promise of Romans 8:28 has been a source of deep comfort to Christians for centuries. Our focus today is on the opening phrase of that promise: We know . Scripture provides abundant evidence that this confidence is well‑founded. Through his own experience, Paul affirmed that in every ci rcumstance of life, God is actively at work for the good of those who love Him. The same God who shaped Paul’s life had a clear objective for him—to conform him increasingly to the image of Jesus Christ. Paul learned this truth, and we can learn it as well, through several avenues: Sickness (2 Corinthians 12:7–10) …Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it wou...