jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj and ambiguities of language, power to detect identity of meaning under difference of expression, a ready apprehension of all that a proposition implies, all that may be deduced or deduced from itwhatever helps to these ends must be of perpetual use. “To purge the understanding of those errors which lie in the confusion and perplexities of an inconsequent thinking”. In other words, logic is simply the study of right reasoning. Without it we could never know when we have good reasons to believe anything. Having reason(s) could be described as the ability to use logic properly to acquire good evidence. So, reason is evidence and logic is the law unto which none of the rules can be broken. You become illogical if your evidence or reason breaks the law. During my time here at Multnomah I have spoken to many students and at this point would like to answer some of the most pertinent questions as well as refute some misunderstandings about logic. You could study different types of logic why chose the one Aristotle created? This is true, we could study many different types or modes of logic, but the foundational axioms are the same. Plus Aristotle did not invent logic anymore than Euclid invented geometry. Aristotle only helped to discover it. Is everything subject to logic? No. Only questions of truth are subject to logic. Logic is the law maker, the thing that gives humans rules for proper rational judgments. However, logic still says nothing about emotive expressions because how we feel is neither true nor false.
WHAT DOES LOGIC HAVE TO DO WITH GOD? I have also encountered those who believe that logic doesn’t really apply to God. This is indeed very scary. For if God’s word and message are illogical or even can be illogical, then what hope do we have as Christians to rightly understand it? “But what about the doctrines of our Christian faith,” they say. These too are not victims to logical fallacies. Just because something is a mystery doesn’t automatically make it irrational. God is the basis of all logic. All truth is found in God. He