An Overflow of Contradictions

Last week I talked about the nature of truth. If you recall, I said that truth, by its very nature, is absolute. Truth is telling it like it is, and if something is true then it's true for all people, in all places, at all times. God has created us as reasonable beings with the ability to think and recognize truth and error. Unfortunately, far too many of us, Christians included, don't know how to think rightly. Our culture has an overflow of contradictions. The comments about the Baptist Press article I mentioned last week were chocked full of them. In fact, some Christians believe our faith is built on contradictions, and that's just how God operates. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You see, a contradiction, by its very nature, MUST be false. Let's quickly have a mini crash-course in logic. Logic is the study of how to think rightly, and it is built on three self-evident laws of thought. One of these laws is called the Law of Noncontradiction. It says that A cannot be non-A at the same time and in the same sense. What does that mean? It means, for example, I cannot be a married bachelor. Do you see the contradiction? A person cannot be both married and a bachelor. This is called a self-defeating statement. It fails to meet its own criteria. It's like if I said, "I can't type a word of English." Well, I just did didn't I? That's a contradiction. If you can grasp this one simple concept of right thinking, you will be well on your way to recognizing so many errors in the mindset of the culture we live in. The trick to recognizing these types of statements is to apply the claim to itself. And remember, if there's a contradiction then the claim MUST be false. There's simply no way around it. Let's look at some examples.

John 3:16 used to be the most quoted Bible verse. Now, it is probably Matt. 7:1. I'm sure you've heard it. You may make a claim to absolute truth and then you're met with the reply, "Who are you to judge. You shouldn't be so judgmental." Without getting into the proper understanding of Matt. 7:1, it's obvious that Jesus was not making a blanket statement about making judgments. How do we know? Apply the claim to itself. Simply ask the objector, "So why are you judging me for judging?" Do you see the contradiction? Another popular one today is, "No one can really know the truth." What would you say to that? How about, "Well how do you know THAT'S true?" Some will say, "Truth is relative, there is no absolute truth." Apply the claim to itself. Ask, "Are you ABSOLUTELY sure about that?" I hope you're getting the picture here.

I also hope you see that if Christianity is indeed built on contradictions then Christianity must necessarily be false. Thankfully Christianity is NOT built on contradictions. There are times when it seems a contradiction may arise in the Bible or within some essential Christian doctrine. But the fact is, the contradiction is in our understanding not in the verse or doctrine itself. For example, many people think the Trinity involves a contradiction. They simply write it off as "God's ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts." Contradictions are not actual possibilities. It would be like having a square circle. That's just not possible. But God can do the impossible can't He? Yes, God can do what is logically possible. Logic flows from God's very nature, and God cannot violate His own nature. God could not be illogical anymore than He could be unloving. It's who He is. So the seeming contradiction in the Trinity is a result of a misunderstanding of the Trinity. The Trinity is one God in three Persons. One God in three gods or one person in three persons would be contradictions, and hence, would be necessarily false.

I realize this is not a typical "devotional" post, but I do hope you see the importance of right thinking. In a culture overflowing with wrong thinking, we MUST, as stewards of truth, be equipped to think rightly and to properly engage the ideas surrounding us. Believing that our faith is built on contradictions simply fuels the cause of the unbeliever and does nothing to promote the kingdom of God. I pray we will overflow with right thinking and with love to a lost and confused world.

For His glory,

Adam Tucker