Introduction
I recently had a pseudo-exchange with a group of angry atheists. Their arguments had many logical fallacies, but I've decided to allot that idea to its own post. Rather, I'll focus today on part one of the Laws of Information and the Laws of Logic. Anyone who has to deal with poor debating must always know these. In this case, my opponents did not even know these Laws exist. Pointing out various fallacies in a debate, especially one on the internet, will only get you so far. By following these Laws, dear reader, you will be able to construct a better argument and dismantle your opponent's at the same time.The Laws of Logic
The first law of logic is the Law of Identity. It states that something is what it is. The second is the Law of Contradiction. It states that something cannot be true and false at the same time. The third is the Law of Excluded Middle, which means something either is or it isn't, thus no middle ground. The fourth is the Law of Sufficient Reason. It states that there should be a sufficient cause to all things that happen. I intend to show how these Laws glorify God and support Him as master of the universe.
The first two laws are self-explanatory and are rarely misused. True, there may be equivocation or backpedaling to make a point more or less clear, but this is the deception rather than the rule. That is, rarely is someone foolish enough to say "A cat is a dog," or "That dinosaur is a real fictional character." Oftentimes the Law of Identity suffers due to relativism. For example, when discussing traditional marriage, Progressive will say society makes the rules. Thus the identity of marriage can be changed, circumventing the Law of Identity. By altering the definitions and/or rules, they step farther away from God and His law. For this reason I suggest staying away from "definitions" of marriage and focus on the next Law. Identity as a Law is harder to use and can be misunderstood by those not in the know.
The Law of Excluded Middle is in other words "Black or white, this or that." When liberals tell me something isn't just an either/or decision, I get a funny feeling. An action is either right or wrong. Special circumstances can exist (death by self-defense is a Biblical one) but those are exceptions rather than the rule. When an opponent tells me "Well, 'gay' marriage is only wrong to you," the Excluded Middle is abused. By selecting levels of "rightness" and "wrongness" a middle is created, a spectrum created. Even when the problem of absolute morality is by-passed, atheists and Progressives still cannot avoid breaking the Laws of Logic. As C.S Lewis said in The Problem of Pain, "A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.” This violation of Logic is a violation of God's laws as well. The two are inextricably entwined; Logic is a reflection of God. After all, the next Law shows that even the Laws of Logic require a sufficient reason of their own.
The Law of Sufficient Reason is perhaps my favorite. Examples of this application include the beginning of the universe/life and how you get a sandwich. The latter is easy: you or someone else selected the ingredients and made the sandwich, then you came into possession of it. Perhaps a machine actually made it, or a machine selected the ingredients and a person made it. Regardless, either of these lines of reasoning is sufficient for the cause. The beginning of the universe requires a cause. I will not expand upon this particular point as I cover it in a separate post. The Big Bang "causing itself" let alone existing on its own (or the alternative, the eternal universe) are both violations of this law. Life beginning by abiogenesis is not sufficient because it breaks the Law of Biogenesis. Thus atheists in particular cannot invoke their broken cosmology or faith in Evolution as reasoning for how things exist today. Special creation by God fits this Law perfectly, hardly a coincidence.
Conclusion
As a side note, not knowing the science behind how God created (if we can ever discover/comprehend it) is hardly reason for rejection. Indeed, comprehensive knowledge of a science does not make it any more or less true on its own merit. God does not require science to vindicate Him, though as His own creation it reflects His greatness. Nonetheless, just because we don't know how He created doesn't mean He didn't. Perhaps this reasoning will sound familiar to some.This ends part one, a great example of Romans 1:20. Next post I will talk about the Laws of Information and how they also support God, the Bible, and His Greatness.
