A worldview is a set of assumptions or presuppositions that function as axioms about God and reality. They control all thought and determine all perception and behavior. Every rational creature develops and possesses a worldview whether one is acknowledged or not. These dialogues are the product of the author's worldview. The worldview is Christianity or Scripturalism,. Scripturalism can be thought of as the system of truths deduced from Scriptures alone. Its axiom is The Bible is the Word of God from which one deduces Scripturalism, the biblical worldview or frame of reference.
This book examines the biblical, binary reality of either/or disjunctions framed as dialogues regarding God, creation, and creatures. The dialogists' names serve to depict an exchange of thoughts. The mind from which these spring is the author's, as Professor Tweedy Flynch (TF) and Professor Buck Calhoun (BC). As a man thinks, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7) As the creature thinks in his heart, his thinking finds expression in the realities of life at all levels. Such thinking is framed by and operates within the structure of a worldview.
A worldview is a set of assumptions or presuppositions that function as axioms about God and reality. They control all thought and determine all perception and behavior. Every rational creature develops and possesses a worldview whether one is acknowledged or not. These dialogues are the product of the author's worldview. The worldview is Christianity or Scripturalism,. Scripturalism can be thought of as the system of truths deduced from Scriptures alone. Its axiom is The Bible is the Word of God from which one deduces Scripturalism, the biblical worldview or frame of reference.
0 Comments
Way, Truth, & Life John 14:6. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but for me. Matthew 16:24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Acts 4:11. This Jesus is the stone reproached by you builders, who have come to be the head of the angle. 12. And in no other is there salvation; because there is no other name under heaven, given to men, in which we can be saved. On occasion, it has come to mind what to say if an acquaintance or friend, knowing something of my worldview, were to ask, "What is Christianity?" Suppose also that the individual desired more than any other consideration, brevity. How to respond? Depending on the circumstances and level of interest, I have thought I would answer simply by stating a fact,* "Christianity is Jesus Christ." To which someone may respond with some incredulity, "What? Christianity is a person?" "Yes, a Person, a Unique Person, for Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity, that is, Jesus is God, the Son of God the Father: A Unique Person with a Unique Message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ." The Gospel Message, the Spirit of Truth declares in four simple propositions This book is a project in apagogic reasoning, a method of indirectly proving a position by demonstrating that its negation leads to contradiction and/or absurdity.In logic, apagogic reasoning is defined as, "a method of disproving a proposition by showing that its inevitable consequences are absurd." More precisely, it is a method of indirectly proving a position by demonstrating that its negation leads to contradiction and/or absurdity. It is proof by contradiction or indirect proof. What does the doctrine of the Trinity according to the creeds of the church require? And what are the logical consequences of a nontrinitarian monotheistic position? The implications of assuming that the doctrine of the Trinity is false are investigated. Those logical implications have bearing on the doctrines of the deity of Jesus, the incarnation via His virgin birth, the significance and necessity of a penal, vicarious, substitutionary atonement, and finally the significance of the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension doctrines -- all of which are based on and flow from the previous doctrines, the most important being the deity of Jesus Christ. The denial of the deity of Jesus Christ and thereby the doctrine of the Trinity will be seen to logically imply the denial of most, if not all of the doctrines of Christianity to the extent that even the doctrine espoused by nontrinitarians, monotheism, is brought into question, for it too is part of the whole. This project is not seeking to prove the doctrine of the Trinity (or to reject it in favor of a monotheistic nontrinitarian system) but rather to show that its denial or rejection leads to the collapse of the entire system known as Christianity or Scripturalism – a position that according to this writer leaves one with nihilism as a worldview, (it being the rejection of all worldviews including nihilism). Necessary inference of a conclusion from premises is governed by three laws of logic, also known as the three laws of thought. These laws are universal, irrefutable, and true. Indeed, without these laws, it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine how anything at all could be intelligible. But not to digress, these laws or axioms are the basis of necessary inference; without them, there is no necessary inference. Furthermore, necessary inference of a conclusion from premises presupposes that the laws of logic are universal, irrefutable, and true. By "universal," we mean allow for no exception. "Irrefutable" means that any attempt to refute them, makes use of them; thus, establishing them as necessary for argument. "True" means not only "not-false," but not-false because they are grounded in the Logos of God, the source and determiner of all truth. Moreover, the laws stand together as a trinity; to fault one, is to fault all, and to uphold one, upholds the others. Together, these laws establish and clarify the meaning of necessary inference for logic. 1. The Law of Identity The Law of Identity states that if any statement is true, then it is true; or, every proposition implies itself: A implies A. This may appear to be trivial, but as Gordon Clark notes, what a strange world it would be if it were not the case, for it would be a world without the concept of identity or sameness. Truth and the existence of truth presupposes minds. There is an intimate relationship between truth and mind such that if there were no minds, then there would be no truth. The object of knowledge is a meaning, that is, a proposition; it is a thought that is mental, pertaining to minds. To repeat for emphasis. If there is no mind, there can be no truth; and if there is no mind, there can be no such thing as logical reasoning. Truth can exist only in some mind for truth is mental. Truth exists for minds and minds know truth. This means that truth is superior to human minds. Human minds are mutable. Beliefs may vary from one person to the next, but truth does not. To quote Nash: If truth and the human mind were equal, truth could not be eternal and immutable since the human mind is finite, mutable, and subject to error. Therefore, truth must transcend human reason; truth must be superior to any individual human mind as well as to the sum total of human minds. From this it follows, that there must be a mind higher than the human mind in which truth resides. (Nash, p.163) Truth is Eternal John 18. 38: Pilate said to Him, 'What is Truth?' 14.6b: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (NKJV) Pilate, as so many others like Pilate, asked: What is truth? As a rudder and compass are essential in navigation, so the answer to this question is essential for all thought. Pilate, however, asked this question only to dismiss it. As James Boice noted: Pilate's response was not in the nature of a further pursuit of the matter or even a recognition of the importance of what Jesus said. Rather, it was a cynical response based on what was, to Pilate, the seeming impossibility of ever knowing what truth was. 'What is truth?' he said, and then walked away. (Boice, p.1*) In other words, Pilate's response expressed the Roman worldview governed by cynicism. He was a precursor of our modern age, a man steeped in relativism. As the Greeks failed to discover the ground of truth and knowledge and drifted into epistemological skepticism, the Romans turned to worship an unknown god. Pilate was preeminently a man of his age. He was a pragmatist who believed that truth is whatever achieves the desires of the moment. The present age is no better, indeed, in some respects worse. The current slogan claims, "There are no absolute truths," failing to note the contradiction. To Review: In Part I (Post 9), in an imagined encounter between a teacher and student, the question proposed was "What is Christianity?" In addition, our student insists on a short answer. How to respond? The teacher answered by simply stating a fact,* "Christianity is Jesus Christ." To which the student responds with: "Christianity is a person?" "Yes, a Person, a Unique Person, for Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Father: A Unique Person with a Unique Message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ." This Gospel Message, the Spirit of Truth declares in four propositions in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7: Jesus Christ died for our sins; Jesus Christ was buried; Jesus Christ rose again the third day; and Jesus Christ was seen by the apostles and many disciples. _____ John 14:6. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but for me. Matthew 16:24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Acts 4:11. This Jesus is the stone reproached by you builders, who have come to be the head of the angle. 12. And in no other is there salvation; because there is no other name under heaven, given to men, in which we can be saved. |
AuthorElihu Carranza, PhD., Mott Fellow, MSU, Professor Emeritus, Comm. Studies, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. Taught classes in Logic, Philosophy, Humanities, & Communication.
TABLE CONTENTS
1. What is Logic? 2. The Necessity of Logic 3. Learning Logic 4. Syllogism 5. Anti-Logic 6. Misology Legacy 7. Scripturalism 8. Cogito 9. Pt. I The Way 10. Pt. II Truth & Life 11. Pt. I Truth 12. Pt. II Truth & Mind 13. Logic Laws 14. Pt. I Worldviews 15. Pt. II Worldviews 16. Credo 1. What is included in this site?
Answer: The Logic Classroom consists of two resources: Blog and Basic Logic Course.
2. What is the purpose of the Blog, Blogics?
Answer: Blogics content consists of Posts on logic, fallacies, definitions, philosophy, and reasoning.
3. What is the Logic Classroom?
Answer: The Classroom consists of Lessons in Logic. The Preview Section contains a 25 Item Quiz for the logic student to assess knowledge of logic. Following the Preview Tab are Six (6) Lessons each containing a Lesson Outline and an Exercise. A Link to Answers for Exercise Questions is at the end of each Exercise. Glossary of Terms that also serves as an Index is found in Tab More.
4. What is the purpose of the Sidebar entries?
Answer: The Elements of the Sidebar provide Links to various resources related to Logic and Christian Theism as a Worldview. The Books Section contain books by the Author and recommended books.
5. What is the Author's Worldview?
Answer: The author is Christian Reformed. He owns Scripturalism as a Worldview and Lifeview.
Archives
January 2023
Categories
All
OTHER SITES
Chapel Library Teaching The Word Carranza Collective Minister's Journal Trinity Foundation God's Hammer Helm's Deep |