My position would be that the word of God is bedrock. Logic may be used to evaluate the word of God (for instance, critical reasoning) but it is not bedrock. The word of God is. I do not trust my reasoning as I know that my mind can deceive me (Jer 17:9).
In fact, my conversion involved coming to the point where I realized this fact. Our own minds deceive us. However, the Holy Spirit is able to reveal this to us, and show our self-deception, if we are praying for his leading.
At the same time, though, I don't buy into the weird, charismatic/Pentecostal claims that we should abandon all reasoning (and some would claim the word of God) for weird, self-revelations devoid of any element of reasoning. Unfortunately, this is what some of this group does. Due to influences like Charles Finney, there is an element of contempt within this world for Christian academic pursuits. The fruit of this is evident in various groups like Bethel.
Thinking Through Things:
The EXISTENCE of logic is not the same thing as our USE of logic.
And neither the existence of logic, nor our use of logic, are things we have any ability to turn on and off.
Let's think about this a little more...
Rethinking Logic:
If God had not imparted logical reasoning to us (as part of the image of God) we would not be able to read God's word.
Without logical reasoning, we could neither read nor speak.
I'm not talking about a formal study of Aristotelian logic.
I'm not talking about complex principles of logic organized into any particular system.
I'm talking about logic at it's most foundational level within humans... it is what gives us the ability to think.
Logical reasoning is simply the way our minds operate.
We cannot think or reason, at all, without engaging logical reasoning... as God made us to do.
It is like the operating system of our minds.
Without logical reasoning, we literally cannot distinguish one thing from another.
Logical reasoning is what lets us distinguish things.
Logic is what allows us to tell a snow cone from a snowmobile, or a tennis shoe from a T-bone.
Without logical reasoning, we cannot distinguish things from each other.
Without logical reasoning:
- We cannot read a single word.
- We cannot tell one letter from another.
- We cannot talk
- We cannot even walk across the room.
We can't function, at all, without engaging the logical reasoning God put within us.
Ability to Think:
I'm not suggesting we should ever put OUR THOUGHTS above GOD'S THOUGHTS.
But I'm not talking about any PARTICULAR thoughts at all.
Logical Reasoning is not what gives us a particular thought, it it what gives us the ABILITY to think.
How we Read Scripture:
We start with our thinking ability (which God has given us) and then we apply that natural thinking ability to the scripture, and then we allow the Holy Spirit to illluminate our minds to spiritual things.
We cannot learn God's word without all 3 things:
1. GODS WORD: We need to have the word to read, before we can read it.
2. THE HOLY SPIRIT: We need the Holy Spirit to illumininate our minds to spiritual things
3. OUR MINDS: we can't read without using our minds, and our mind uses logical reasoning as a sort of operating system.
So if we look at the above 3 pieces, we can see that our logical reasoning is a natural and necessary piece of the system.
Controversy.
The only reason that "logic" could be considered bad, or controversial, is that people in our age are never taught much about it.
a. Logic is part of God's divine nature. (This is not controversial, and it's easily proven.)
b. God imparted an understanding of logic to us, when he gave us the image of God. (We need logical reasoning to think, we cannot think without it.)
c. Aristotle sort of "discovered" a lot ABOUT logic a very long time ago... but Aristotle didn't invent logic, just as Newton didn't invent gravity.
d. Since humans are rebellious, they tend to use ALL GIFTS OF GOD FOR EVIL AT TIMES... and logic would be one of these gifts.
e. Like any other gift of God, logic (rational thinking) can be used for good or evil.
f. Since logic (rational thinking) is a gift of God, He expects us to use it, and use it for good... just like his other gifts.
Rather than having sudden, knee-jerk reactions to things, we, as Christians, would all do well to think through things with some time and care.
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