This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
Either make the tree good, and his fruit good;
or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt:
for the tree is known by his fruit.
— Matt 12:33
Logic is a discovery, not an invention. It’s deeper than we learned in school, and it is reflected in The Word.
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We continue our exploration of the implications of the Creator’s Perfection.
What Is This “Perfection”, Anyway?
Most people who believe in a Creator would find certain statements about Him trite and self-evident. For example:
- God is God.
- Nothing else is God, and God is always Himself.
- God is good. Anything not in accord with Him is not good.
These statements “make sense”. They align with our sense of “order”.
Even children have enough of a sense of order and consistency to understand these statements. Such a sense seems to be innate.
Perfection Contains Logic
Works that we call “perfect” align with innate spiritual senses of simplicity, consistency, order, harmony, and beauty. These are aspects of perfection. The human spirit has the ability to distinguish between that which is closer to perfection and that which is less so.
The three statements made above correspond to three tenets of formal logic: identity, non-contradiction, and excluded middle. But because of our innate sense of order, we didn’t need complicated technical language to know that those statements make sense.
“Logical” indicates that something makes sense.
Perfection also makes sense: it is simple, orderly and harmonious. That which is perfect contains a certain logic.
God’s Perfection created the Laws of Nature. The sciences demonstrate the unwavering logic contained in them. There should be nothing controversial in the idea that there is logical perfection in the Almighty and in all His Works, including The Word.
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Dogma of Science
So why does the logic of science often appear to be at odds with religious beliefs?
In recent times, science has been dominated by materialists, who insist that the only things that exist are things that can be seen and experienced with the physical senses (whether directly or via instruments).
These materialist (or “physicalist”) scientists call themselves logical, but they adopt a number of illogical premises, such as that the physical Universe, in effect, created itself (i.e. there is no Creator). To paper over this lack of logic, they devise clever-sounding theories (e.g. quantum fluctuations, self-contained universe).
This physicalist dogma masquerading as scientific sophistication offends the innate sense of perfection of many people.
The materialists also disseminated the narrow-minded idea that only investigations premised on the same illogical foundations are “logical” and constitute “real” science. This drove a wedge between the natural sciences and the science of religion.
The materialists thus successfully tainted logic with a materialist hue. The spiritually-minded began to misconceive of logic as an earthly intellectual tool incompatible with spiritual investigations.
Dogma of Religion
Thus, many who perceive a spiritual reality do not apply their sense of logical perfection to The Word. This causes misinterpretations that give rise to beliefs containing clumsy imperfections.
Such beliefs are hard to swallow because they don’t make sense. The believer forces the belief down by telling himself that the matter cannot be understood as it is a matter of faith. This is a misunderstanding of faith (ref. “What Is Spiritual Knowledge?“).
Such believers have fallen prey to religious dogma. In this they are no different from the materialist who worships physicalist dogma.
Logic Is Supra-Earthly
Logic in its fundamental nature is not earthly. It is an aspect of perfection, and it is recognisable to both the human intellect and the human spirit.
Till heaven and earth pass,
— KJV, Matt 5:18
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled.
That God’s Perfection is logical and that The Word is perfect simply means that they are simple, consistent, orderly, harmonious, and beautiful.
Interpretations of The Word that require us to “faithfully accept” dogmatic beliefs are incorrect. They deny God’s Perfection.
Today’s Resolution
- We will give God the honour of perfection. We will not expect from Him things that are not aligned with His Will and His Love – things which are not beautiful, wholesome, orderly, and logical.
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