THINKING LIKE JESUS AND SOCRATES
Dr. Gary VanDeWalker
Dr. Robert Hughes
Evangelical Free Church of Mount Shasta
Lesson Three: How can you figure out what is true
(Mr. Spock called it Logic)
1. Logic doesn’t exist over God, logic exists because of God.
2. There are three laws of thought:
--the law of identity: something is what it is, not anything else
--the law of non-contradiction: something cannot be a and non-a at the same time and the same way
--the law of the excluded middle: a proposition cannot be between true and false
3. Isaiah 45:5 is an example of these three laws
4. Arguments must also follow laws:
--Validity: the conclusion comes from the premises
--Sound: the premises are true
--Cogency: the person must believe the argument for a person to accept it
5. Cogency is the hardest factor, because it depends upon the makeup of an individual.
6. Watch for logical fallacies
--Equivocation: the same term is used in two different ways
Einstein said God doesn’t play dice with the universe. Therefore,
Einstein believed that God created.
--Appeal to pity: decide what is right by emotion alone
“Please find it in your hearts to think this way…”
--Ad hominem: the person is attacked to invalidate the argument
“This man is evil, therefore nothing he says can be believed.”
--Appeal to the people: the majority is the determination of truth
“88% of all people say this is true…”
--Absence of evidence: there is an absence of evidence, therefore something is False
“Since no missing link has been found, evolution cannot be true…”
--Straw man: distort the other’s argument to make it easier to defeat
“The Golden Compass was
written by an atheist who sees no values. Therefore he cannot
consistently live with his beliefs.
7. Recognize that people’s logic is driven by their worldview
8. The point is not to build a strong argument, but to be committed to building
a truthful argument.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
