This is a big question and I really appreciated the answers given in "Come Let Us Reason" by Norman Geisler and Ronald Brooks. They really are champions of using our minds/reasoning and logic.
Remember an earlier blog article about the 4 laws of logic which we all know within ourselves to be true becasue they cannot be refuted or argued against? One was the law of noncontradiction- a dog is not a sand dollar and no one can prove that it is, because it is contradictory and illogical. Another law was the law of identity, a samurai sword is a samurai sword, 5=5, the letter B is the letter B. Now we will apply these laws of logic to some Christian doctrines.
Some people have asked, "Don't some doctrines like the Trinity, the Incarnation ... involve contradictions?"
The Trinity, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and Predestination are mysteries and go beyond human reason. We cannot grasp them fully, but they are not contradictions that go against reason. Here is why.
The Trinity is God in 3 persons, but only one being. There is no contradiction between persons and beings. There would be contradiction if the Trinity was God in 3 persons and only one person. Based on what we humans know a person to be- it is not possible to be one person and 3 people at the same time or in the same space. But we do not understand what all is involved with a being. He knows and His reason is greater than ours. The point being that it is possible for a being to be 3 persons at the same time, because there is no contradtiction in reasoning between the definition and understanding of what a person is and what a being is. They are different, A and B. There is no contradiction in saying A is A (persons are persons) and B is B (beings are beings). You may not know the rest of the definition of what a being is, but just because we don't know much about beings, does not prove that beings cannot have 3 persons within them, nor does it prove that the statement about the Trinity is illogical or against reason.
The Incarnation would be self-contradictory and against logic if it said Jesus had 2 natures: one human and one divine which were united in one nature. This would be self-contradictory in that 2 natures cannot equal one nature. 1 does not equal 2. One cannot be the other, it must be itself. This would be illogical. But the Incarnation is not self-contradictory as we know it in the Bible. The Incarnation is explained logically as Jesus, the person, having 2 natures, human and divine. Again this may be mysterious, but it is not illogical. From what we understand of persons and natures this statement is possible and not contradicting itself. So it is logical. We may not be able to understand all of what this means because we have human reason and not God's perfect reason, but being mysterious is not the same as being illogical.
Remember an earlier blog article about the 4 laws of logic which we all know within ourselves to be true becasue they cannot be refuted or argued against? One was the law of noncontradiction- a dog is not a sand dollar and no one can prove that it is, because it is contradictory and illogical. Another law was the law of identity, a samurai sword is a samurai sword, 5=5, the letter B is the letter B. Now we will apply these laws of logic to some Christian doctrines.
Some people have asked, "Don't some doctrines like the Trinity, the Incarnation ... involve contradictions?"
The Trinity, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and Predestination are mysteries and go beyond human reason. We cannot grasp them fully, but they are not contradictions that go against reason. Here is why.
The Trinity is God in 3 persons, but only one being. There is no contradiction between persons and beings. There would be contradiction if the Trinity was God in 3 persons and only one person. Based on what we humans know a person to be- it is not possible to be one person and 3 people at the same time or in the same space. But we do not understand what all is involved with a being. He knows and His reason is greater than ours. The point being that it is possible for a being to be 3 persons at the same time, because there is no contradtiction in reasoning between the definition and understanding of what a person is and what a being is. They are different, A and B. There is no contradiction in saying A is A (persons are persons) and B is B (beings are beings). You may not know the rest of the definition of what a being is, but just because we don't know much about beings, does not prove that beings cannot have 3 persons within them, nor does it prove that the statement about the Trinity is illogical or against reason.
The Incarnation would be self-contradictory and against logic if it said Jesus had 2 natures: one human and one divine which were united in one nature. This would be self-contradictory in that 2 natures cannot equal one nature. 1 does not equal 2. One cannot be the other, it must be itself. This would be illogical. But the Incarnation is not self-contradictory as we know it in the Bible. The Incarnation is explained logically as Jesus, the person, having 2 natures, human and divine. Again this may be mysterious, but it is not illogical. From what we understand of persons and natures this statement is possible and not contradicting itself. So it is logical. We may not be able to understand all of what this means because we have human reason and not God's perfect reason, but being mysterious is not the same as being illogical.
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