Posted: 05/27/08

Logic and Revelation

by Israel Wayne

As I have stated previously, it is not only Christians who can understand the laws of the universe. General Revelation makes it possible for even the pagans to realize there is a God who made everything. Therefore the universe has order and we can harness the laws of nature to make them work for us (thus reflecting the Dominion Mandate given in Genesis).

The ancient Greeks, although they were hedonistic and humanistic in their lifestyle and beliefs, made significant cultural advances in Architecture, Art, Law, Logic, Mathematics, Music, and Philosophy. Aristotle reflected the teaching of Romans 1 by insisting that the Universe requires a "First Cause." He posited that anything that is currently in motion was itself set in motion by an outside force, or cause. That which moves is the result of a previous "mover," and ultimately each successive thing moved is acted upon by an original "Prime Mover" or "Unmoved Mover."

All of this he was able to infer from observing the created order. Based on this understanding of a Universal First Cause, the Greeks were able to account for the predictability and order of the world and how it works. Without that understanding of an "Unknown God," it is doubtful that they would have ever been able to advance civilization in the ways they did.

Logic

The Greeks did not invent the laws of Mathematics, or Music, or Logic. They merely recognized them and learned to systematize them so they could be used.

Ironically, the two main branches of Formal Logic: Deductive and Inductive Reasoning, parallel a truth we have already discussed in my previous essay on General vs. Special Revelation.

Deductive Reasoning argues from the Universal to the Particular.

Example:

Premise A: All humans are sinners.

Premise B: I am a human.

Conclusion: I am a sinner.

In this traditional Logical Syllogism, if the first two premises are true, and correspond to each other, the conclusion MUST also be true.

Inductive Reasoning argues from the Particular to the Universal.

Example:

Premise: I hate broccoli.

Premise: My sister hates broccoli.

Premise: Everyone I know hates broccoli.

Conclusion: Everyone in the whole world hates broccoli.

We can quickly identify that this form of reasoning broke down. Why? The reason is that Inductive Reasoning can never demonstrate absolute certainty. We can infer the truth from reasonable evidence, but unless we know ALL of the particulars in the universe (which we never will), we can never PROVE anything from Induction. Induction therefore can only show probability. Only through Deductive Reasoning can we have certainty.

The Greeks, by using the Reasoning capabilities God gave them, discovered these Laws of Logic that correspond to the Biblical notions of General and Special Revelation. They observed that in order to know anything with certainty, you need certain premises that you KNOW FOR CERTAIN are true. The only way you can know anything for certain is if you have an "Unmoved Mover" or a "Universal Absolute".

It is amazing what the Greeks accomplished by using what they learned from General Revelation (or Inductive Reasoning). It took the Apostle Paul arriving at Mars Hill five centuries after the inception of Greek culture, to explain to them through Special Revelation who this "Unknown God" (or the "Universal Absolute" of Deduction) really was.

"For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things; and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His offspring.' "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:23-31, NASB). 

Copyright 2008, by Israel Wayne. All Rights Reserved.

Israel Wayne was home educated and currently serves as Marketing Director for the national publication Home School Digest, and the site editor for www.ChristianWorldview.net. He is the author of the book, Homeschooling From A Biblical Worldview, published by Wisdom's Gate. Israel and his wife Brook (also a homeschool graduate) have five young children. Write to: Wisdom's Gate, P.O. Box 374, Covert, MI 49043. 1-800-343-1943 or www.WisdomsGate.org

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