Friday, February 8, 2013
CAN YOU HAVE LOGIC WITHOUT LAWS?
Have you ever wondered where “logic” comes from?
There are rules of correct reasoning that are called “laws of logic.” One example is the law of noncontradiction, which says you can’t have “A” and “not-A” at the same time and in the same relationship. Basically, two contradictory claims cannot both be true. If I said, “My keys are in the car,” and my keys are not in the car, everyone would know that statement is false. It violates a law of logic.
But where did this law come from? How do we know about it? Why is it that we all have such confidence in laws of logic?
Laws of logic make no sense in an evolutionary universe. Why would there be laws at all in a chance universe? Many evolutionists are materialists; they believe that everything that exists is matter and energy. But laws of logic are not matter (they are made of atoms), nor are they energy. They are conceptual in nature. Laws of logic could not exist if materialism were actually true!
But laws of logic make perfect sense if you are a biblical creationist. We have laws because there is a Law Giver. Laws of logic are a reflection of the consistent way in which God thinks, and thus the way in which He expects us to pattern our thoughts. If we are going to think in a consistent and truthful way, we must think in a way that is consistent with the nature of God. That is, we must be logical.
The Christian worldview makes sense of the properties of laws of logic. For example, laws of logic are universal – they apply everywhere. Why is this? It is because God’s mind governs the entire universe (Hebrews 1:3). All truth is in Christ (Colossians 2:3), and therefore every true thing will be bound by laws of logic. As another example, laws of logic are invariant; they do not change with time. Why is this? It is because God is beyond time and His thinking does not change with time (2 Peter 3:8, James 1:17). But if the universe were really just chance, we would have no reason to have confidence that laws of logic would work tomorrow!
Why is the human mind able to access laws of logic and use them successfully? Biblical creation can make sense of this as well. God made man in His own image. He has given human beings a limited ability to think in a way that is consistent with His perfect nature. Granted, we don’t always do this, but we should.
The Christian worldview beginning in Genesis is what makes logical reasoning possible. Think about that the next time someone tries to make a logical argument against Christianity!
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