The Logical Christian

We have been going through a series on what it means to be an overcoming Christian. This week’s message title is “The Logical Christian.” This message today has two parts. The first part is a bit of a theology lesson. In order to talk about what it means to be a logical Christian, I want to talk about the Logos, the Greek word from which we get our word “logical.” We will see that this will help us understand the source of becoming overcoming Christians in the area of logic and reason. In the second part of this message I want to focus on some practical aspects of incorporating logic into your relationship with Christ.

Today we are going to look at a number of passages, but especially I want to look at the very beginning of the book of John.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. – John 1:1-1:5

I want to read to you that first sentence in the Greek.

En arche (in the beginning) hen o logos (was the Word) kai o logos (and the Word) hen pros ton theon (was with God) kai theos hen o logos (and God was the Word).

Most modern translations translate logos as Word, and that is a reasonable thing to do if you are going to be stuck with using a single word. One of the meanings of logos is words, things that are said. For example, in John 5:24, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” The word for “word” is logos. But it is clear that more is going on here in John 1. The logos was God. What does this mean?

Well, we can go back to around 600 BC, to a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus. He used the term logos to describe the divine reason or plan which orchestrates a changing universe. Heraclitus taught that everything in the universe was in flux, always changing, but the logos was an overarching Intelligence or Mind that gives order to the universe. This Intelligence, unlike all other things, Heraclitus taught, had to be eternal, separate from the things that make up our universe. This idea of the mystical overall Mind called the logos was discussed and debated in philosophers’ circles centuries later, at the time of Plato and Aristotle, and on even up to the time of Christ. People had lots of ideas about what the logos might be, for example, fire, but pretty much all these ideas were wrong.

And so John, writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, in effect, that Heraclitus was on the right track. Yes, there is an eternal Logos, as the philosophers have supposed, yes, there is an overarching Intelligence or Mind that brings order to the universe. This Mind, or Word, as we have it translated, was both with God and was God, even back at the creation of the universe. Can’t you hear the philosophers asking, “How can this be?” Everything was made through Him, the Logos. And this Mind or Intelligence is the Creator of life. Our life is not in our DNA, but in this Logos, in this Mind, in this Intelligence, in this Reasoning Being.

And this Mind is Light. Light is what enables us to see. It is separate from darkness. It is the light of men. It is what enables us to reason, to contemplate existence, to discover who God is and how we are to respond to Him.

Later in John we read this:

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning Him. He cries out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.' "From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. – John 1:14-17

And if those Greek philosophers weren’t amazed yet, they would be with this. The Logos became human? He lived here on earth with us? In the flesh? Yes! “We have seen Him,” John shouts. “And it is hard to describe Him! He was glorious! The glory of God the Father Himself, no less!” The Mind who made the universe and holds it together, here with us! And He was absolutely filled to overflowing with grace and truth.

The word for truth is alatheia. It means “right thinking.” We could translate it as logical thinking. This Logos, also known as Jesus Christ, taught truth. His thoughts were right, sound, and truthful. Of course this makes sense. How could the Logos have thoughts and teachings that were anything else?

Now if you study the life of Jesus you really do see that He was filled with grace and truth. With regards to truth, he ran circles around the best philosophers of the age. They were left asking, “Who is this Man that He can speak like this?” And not just the gospels, but the entire Bible is filled with logical, rational arguments. Just look at Paul’s letters and see how many times “therefore” is used. As Christians, we should be able to think logically, soundly, and consistently if we are to imitate Christ. How do we do this? How do become “filled with truth?”

First, we acknowledge that God is the source of how to think in truth, to think logically, to think rightly. His ways are beyond our ways, His thoughts beyond our thoughts. As Paul cries out in Romans 11,

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! – Romans 11:33

Also from Isaiah 55:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8-9

We can only get glimpses into the total depths of understanding that God has. Just thinking about the Mind, or logos, that made this universe, in all its complexity and beauty and intricacy, thinking about the Mind, or logos, that made life, again, in its amazing complexity, and beauty, and intricacy, we know we cannot think like Him.

But if we are going to think “right” at all, we have to turn to Him. We are not going to become overcoming Christians in the area of logic and reason and thinking unless we turn to Him.

Now, here is the good news:

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. – I Cor. 2:12-16

So, our second way to become “filled with truth” is to rely on the Holy Spirit in us to guide us to true thinking. The Holy Spirit will help us to think correctly like Christ. And we have the mind of Christ in us because of the Holy Spirit. Practically, I know of no other way to do this except by pursuing, continually, a genuine, intimate relationship with Christ. We should be prayerful in talking with God and prayerful in listening to Him. And we need to have faith to believe that this verse is true, that God really will speak to us through His Spirit.

A big part of being “filled with truth” is being truthful in our words and our thoughts. The Greeks, starting with Aristotle, taught that our thoughts and beliefs could be influenced three ways: from reason (and here the word for this is, in fact, logos), from emotion (pathos), or from reputation and credibility (ethos). Together, these three methods of argument were known as the tools of rhetoric.

Now, in our culture today, we tend to highly value arguments from reason, and we tend to reject arguments from emotion or reputation. Some of this is because scientists claim to use only logic and reason, and no emotion or reputation, in their work. But this is false. A simple look at the current debate on manmade global warming shows that pathos and ethos are used quite liberally among scientists and among non-scientists discussing science.

Our culture tends to reject emotional arguments as automatically invalid, and perhaps the poster boy for this is Spock from Star Trek. The TV series argued through Spock, a science officer, of course, that emotions were the something to be rejected and were a sign of human weakness. And because our culture since the 1960s has tended to rebel against authority, it also rejects arguments from reputation and credibility.

It is certainly true that arguing from reason is a fine, sound way to make a case for something, but emotion and reputation have their place. If you look at the arguments Jesus made, they were not just from reason. He also appealed through emotion. For example, consider this:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. – Matthew 23:23-24

This is an emotional argument. They don’t really strain out gnats and swallow camels. Jesus is using strong emotion to wake them up! How would the hearers take this? They would be shocked at Jesus’ attack. They may have responded with anger. If you have ever listened to anyone teach on how couples should communicate to each other, this is almost a perfect how-to not do it. Can you imagine if someone said this to their spouse? So why did Jesus do it? Because they were Pharisees. The law was like a game to them. Sometimes you just need a slap in the face; logic doesn’t shake you up enough.

Jesus also appealed through reputation, or credibility. Here is an example:

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. – John 5:31-35

"I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given Me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word (logos) dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. – John 5:36-40

I mention this because it is important not to be “victims” of our culture. Logic really is just one aspect of the process of making an argument. Now, I will say this: if a persuasive argument is illogical, it is not true. I don’t know if the Greeks understood this or not. But if you look at Jesus’ arguments and indeed every persuasive passage in the Bible, some use emotion and some do not, and some use testimony and some do not. But all stand on their own with regards to logic.

Biblically, I would say that pathos and ethos are optional, but logos is mandatory. And so I want to use the remainder of my time today to discuss a few of the more common logical fallacies we use in day to day life. By definition, a logical fallacy is an argument that fails to use reason. If we are to be filled with grace and truth like Christ, we need to be able to identify and reject invalid ways of thinking. If we don’t, we practice hypocrisy. So here is a partial list of fallacies, with examples, taken from a book my son is currently reading, The Fallacy Detective.

1. The red herring.

A red herring is a way to avoid a question by replying with something irrelevant. It is called a red herring because red herrings are used to help train dogs used to track raccoons. Once a dog is pretty good at tracking raccoon scent, the trainers will use a old stinky fish, a red herring, to try to throw the dog of his track. They teach the dog to not do this. Parents use red herrings all the time to avoid answering questions of their children. Children use red herrings all the time to avoid answering questions of their parents. We all use red herrings all the time to justify unjustifiable behavior. Here is an example. The Holy Spirit: You haven’t been praying or having quiet times recently. You: I’ve been busy. Is that a red herring? I think so. Are we ever that busy? What do we do while eating breakfast? What do we do while driving to work? And even if we are busy, is everything we are doing being busy a justification for not praying or having quiet times?

2. Ad Hominem Attack.

An ad hominem attack attacks a person’s motives or character rather than disproving the argument. Ad hominem is Latin for “to the man.” Here is an example. A spouse: You haven’t been having quiet times recently, have you? You: You’re no saint. That’s an ad hominem attack. You have avoided dealing with the question by attacking the questioner.

3. Tu Quoque.

Tu quoque is dismissing an argument because the person does the same thing. Tu quoque is Latin for “you too.” Here is an example. A spouse: You need to have more quiet times. You: So do you.

4. Genetic fallacy.

A genetic fallacy attacks an argument based on its supposed genesis, or beginning. This is often used in legalistic thinking. Here is an example. Churches shouldn’t use drums because modern drumming rhythms come from voodoo rhythms in Africa and the Caribbean Islands, and voodoo is a form of Satan worship.

5. Faulty appeal to authority.

This is using ethos when the authority is not a valid authority on this topic. This can occur if we take opinions from our culture on face value without holding them up to Scripture. Here is an example: The American Medical Association says that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality.

6. Appeal to the people.

This is arguing based on what “most people” do. Here is an example: None of my friends at school have quiet times every day.

7. Straw man.

This is making a false argument for the other side so you can refute it easily. If you want to beat up a man, it is a lot easier if you make one out of straw. (Then you can beat the stuffin’ out of him!) Here is an example. A spouse: You really need to have more quiet times. You: What, you don’t think I’m a Christian?

8. Circular reasoning.

This is assuming the thing you are trying to prove. Here is an example. You: I can’t stop sinning in this area. Friend: Why not? You: I just can’t!

9. Part to whole.

This is assuming that what is true of the part must be true of the whole. This one is also often used in legalistic thinking. Example: Since the Bible says it is sin to get drunk on wine, it must be sin to drink at all, or even to use cooking sherry in your recipe for dinner. Here the “whole” is drinking things with alcohol, and the “part” is drinking excessively.

10. Whole to part.

This is assuming that what is true of the whole must be true of the part. This may seem right at first, but it presumes that the whole is equal to the sum of the parts. Sometimes the whole is not the same as the sum of the parts. Example: Studies show that Christian marriages fail at the same rate as non-Christian marriages. Therefore, your faith in Christ cannot help save your marriage.

11. Either-or.

Also called a false dichotomy, this is to wrongly presume that there are only two alternatives. Cults use this all the time. Example: Either you accept this teaching, and do all that we say, or you are a horrible sinner without hope.

12. Hasty generalization.

This means to generalize a statement based on too small a sample or a non-representative sample. Here is a really horrible example, but it makes the point: God killed David’s son after his sin with Bathsheba. Therefore, the reason so-and-so's baby died is because of sin in her (the mother's) life.

Actually, we make generalizations in our lives all the time. We learn from our mistakes, and this is, in general, good. But it also can hurt us. Bad experiences growing up are easily generalized and can become an issue our whole lives. Sometimes we have to actively combat our tendency to generalize based on our experiences in childhood.

13. Weak analogy.

This means to make a conclusion about something based on something that is not really similar. Example: The church is a lot like Microsoft. Both have something they think is good that they want to get to as many people as possible. Microsoft is very successful. Therefore, the church could learn a lot from Microsoft.

14. Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

This means “after this, therefore, because of this.” This is to assume that something that happened before something else must have been the cause. Example: I haven’t been having quiet times recently. That must be why I’m sick now.

15. Proof by lack of evidence.

This is claiming something is true simply because there is no evidence of the opposite. Example: Because there is no New Testament scripture that shows that musical instruments can be used in worship, it must be sin to use musical instruments in worship.

Again, the reason I have gone through these is that I desire us to be Christians who overcome in the area of sound thinking. Christ is our model and our hope. By His strength, we can become filled with grace and truth. I encourage you to watch yourself for these logical fallacies. I think we use them most often when we are dealing with an uncomfortable question that exposes our sin. Rather than turning to elaborate forms of deception (for that is what these logical fallacies really are), let us be quick to acknowledge our sin, quick to seek forgiveness, and quick to repent. And in these things, let us not forget grace. Let us work on the planks in our own eyes before we tackle the specks in those around us.