The Truth About Logic

Logic depends on truth as truth should depend on logic.  The concept of addition 1 + 1 = 2 is a logic problem at its most simple.  What grows from there becomes more complex by degrees.

But logic must depend on what is true for it to be logical at all.  I can tell you that it’s only logical that the world is round, but if it’s really oval, flat or square, my logic doesn’t work for it doesn’t equal what is true.

No matter how we slice life or truth we must still conform to what is rather than how we wish it to be.

In Christian apologetics there’s a saying about the gospels that goes:  “If it isn’t true, it ought to be!”  This only works for Christians because they can then sidestep some of the more difficult truths within their beliefs.  For quite some time now I’ve been convinced that what exists as reality is the only logic available.  O, we might reason that this, that or the other is true, but in the end logic is dictated by what is not what isn’t.

For instance, we humans might be frustrated and angry at God, the power of creation or evolution for not making us able to fly like birds.  The mere fact we are frustrated by our design shows we are illogical based on what is true.  Foolishness means choices or behavior that fights or ignores truth.

If man decides he wants to fly, for example, all the flapping of his arms will not make it happen.  All the logic arguing for our right to fly is for nothing, because it’s simply isn’t how we’re made.  The fact that we can’t fly of our own accord (i.e. our bodies are not able to do it like birds) doesn’t mean we can’t design machines that can, and use them to take the place of our bodily limitations.  The truth of the invention shows that our imagination to be logical and following the design of nature.

I heard an astronaut who said that the Star Wars and Star Trek space machines were out of character for space.  The reason, she said, is because wings don’t have any use in space–a spaceship could be a square box and maneuver just as well in space.  It’s atmosphere and gravity that make wings necessary.  Logic in the movies is lacking then and the imagination doesn’t equal the reality.

Unless the space machines are used for both space and a planet’s atmosphere, then the wings become logical.  Otherwise, they really are just window dressing for space.

So with God.  Whatever and whoever God is, must be logical for He/She/It is true.  No matter what humans believe, what exists is the logic of the universe.  We cannot get around facts, though we have and might misunderstand what those facts mean.  For eons people thought the world was flat until someone dared to sail around the world.  Galileo died for claiming the earth rotated around the sun, which some of the clergy claimed was blasphemy.  The clergy lacked logic which conformed to reality and used logic based on common assumptions and traditions.  Their stance was therefore illogical according to truth, though logical within their belief.  Yet their mistaken reasoning punished a man who spoke truth and pointed to the real logic rather than the misguided logic of his day.  Science bears out that Galileo spoke the truth and the clergy of his day look like idiots.

The Bible has less to say about how things were made over who made them.  The methodology isn’t given exactly but the claim about God’s direct influence and involvement is.  For us to teach or claim anything more about His methods would be presumption on our part, or, at the very least, hypothesis.  We weren’t there so we have only what we know for sure to go on:  God created the heavens and the earth.

How is not given.

If the Judeo/Christian God created all that is, then logic dictates that we follow His design specs.  If another being or force created, then we have to find out who or what that is in order to know the why, how and whatfor of our creation.  All logic depends on what is not on what isn’t.  If the gods or God created mankind to stand on their heads out of mere whim for one hour a day, logic dictates that we do so.  Rebelling against our design is not only useless and harmful but foolish as well. 

If we look at evolutionary process, we see that all animals are herd or community based in some form.  Humans definitely are for we form families, communities, villages, towns, cities, states then nations.  The need to belong is so very heavy in the human psyche that psychologists and psychiatrists have grown quite wealthy dealing with the lack of it in the clientele.  To go against our specs is illogical; to step outside our design parameters is not only foolish but harms us.

Genesis 2: 7 says,  The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being.

Whatever we are in origin, we know scientifically that we are made up of elements of earth, water and minerals.  Our physical design corresponds to our world.  This truth tells us that logic must follow the protocol of our physical reality.  Anything which steps outside of the reality is illogical.

Tags: design, evolution, intelligent design, logic, paradigms, truth