- On p. 149 of Religion, Reason, and Revelation, Gordon Clark challenges anyone to state his position (theory) without making use of the law of contradiction. Indeed, the necessity of the other laws of logic, the law of identity and the law of excluded middle, are equally necessary for meaning and rational discourse. Absent the laws of logic, the result is nonsense, and if uttered, it is gibberish. (See Gordon H. Clark. Religion, Reason, and Revelation, The Trinity Foundation, Unicoi, TN 37692)
In the act of speaking God reveals his rationality: The laws of speech are the laws of logic. The rules of grammar are derivative from the principles of logic. For a word – any word, human or divine – to mean something (and every word of God means something, for God does not talk nonsense), that word must also not-mean something else. When God says, “Let there be light,” light does not mean dark; or bees, or matter; let does not mean do not let, write, or rent; be does not mean buy, destroy, or eat. … “[I]n the beginning,” does not mean AD 2000 or even one second after the beginning. This is the logical law of contradiction: Not both A and not-A. If sounds and written symbols do not obey this fundamental rule of logic, they are mere noises in the air or mere scribbling on the paper; they are not words; they are not speech. God can and does speak because, as John tells us, God is Logic. (Trinity Review, #309b, Nov-Dec 2012, p.4)
The point should be clear: One cannot write a book or speak a sentence that means anything without using the law of contradiction. Logic is an innate necessity, not an arbitrary convention that may be discarded at will. (Clark, p.150)
In all our conversation and writing the forms of logic are indispensable: without them discussion on every subject would cease. (Gordon H. Clark. A Christian View of Men and Things, Trinity Foundation, Unicoi, TN, p. 308)
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