Do Christians understand logical thought?

Question

Do christians value logical thought? If so, why not apply this to all areas of life?

Please give a brief sentence illustrating your knowledge of what rational thought is.

jinenglish: Do you want to debate about logic? I'd win. What in the question makes it illogical? What if I did want to know about rational thought, logical thought, in addition to zebras and frisbees? Does that make it illogical? Thanks for showing your understanding; in essence, you may have answered the question.

cnm: you've answered nothing. It also seems you've presumed something about non-christians. Maybe you don't know what logical thought is afterall.

So far many respondents have assumed that since I asked the question, I believe no christian can be logical. Obviously, that in itself is illogical. Keep 'em coming:)

The Dude: But can they apply logic to their presuppositions? Challenge them on that one day, you can never logically reach a supernatural conclusion to a question based in reality.

ahi_tuna: What if you challenged the assumed facts? Similar to the dude's point about their presuppositions. You'll never reach a supernatural conclusion logically. BTW, I'm not surprised at the assumptions intelligent people make. I know many intelligent theists who assume their religion is right, that the universe was created, etc etc.

Answer 1

They may understand it, but that is not the same as using it. If they did so, they would come to the unavoidable conclusion that Christianity is nonsense. (So is Islam.) Rational thought is the application of the rules of logic to evidence. This requires the use of the following proved theorem:
- The predictive power of any theory derives exclusively from its refutability.
The corollary follows at once: An irrefutable theory can predict nothing, and hence is useless. The idea is based on Popper, although he did not offer a proof.

Answer 2

Logic is an method for drawing conclusions from a set of assumed facts. The difference between Christians and non-Christians has little to do with their relative willigness or ability to apply logic (most people confuse logic with common sense), and more to do with the set of assumed facts that each bring to the table. 1 + 1 only equals 2 if you asssume certain definitions for "1," "+," "=" and "2."

You would be surprised in what different assumptions and definitions rational, intelligent people bring to the table.

Challenging assumed facts does nothing to demonstrate logical thought. It may deomonstrate intelligence, common sense, and experience, but not logic.

There is nothing illogical in saying " I don't know how or why something works, but I observe that it does, and therefore I will continue to believe in it. Where logical religious people differ from on-logical religious people is in their observation; non religious people have not obeserved religion to be of benefit, and (logical) religious people have. The non-logical religious people are the ones who observe religion being of little or no benefit, but still choose to believe.

Answer 3

Well, Eddie, I think it has to do with the fact that society on the whole gives all sorts of messages to not investigate your beliefs on a rational basis. It is a given in our society that God exists in the first place and contradictory views are looked down upon. Have you ever seen an atheist in a soap opera or on a TV show? Are there any advertisements on TV that question a belief in a religion? Media content itself is pro-religious. I see ads for churches on TV every day. We are inundated with subtle as well as overt messages that religion is great. And it is very difficult for people to realize that they have been indoctrinated into a pro-religious stance that contains no room for logical thought. That's the way I see it. People of all religions have a tendency to go with the flow and not ask questions. It is not just Christians. Society does a lot of operant conditioning to keep people psychologically imprisoned into belief in religions and god. During the last Christmas season, the History Channel aired many a story on Christ. Did they say that historians as a group will only say that Jesus probably lived? Did they say that historians cannot validate that he was divine? Of course not. Jesus was presented as a factual divine being.

Answer 4

One of the classes I took in Bible college while preparing for ministry was a class in Philosophy and Logic. It was hard but very interesting. I learned that through logic, the mind can come up with just about whatever it wants to satisfy itself. As a result we have a multitude of religions and cults in the world today. One must be carefult not to use just logic alone to determine an outcome. Other things are variables that play into the causes and effects. Faith is a whole other thing. To the purely logical mind, there is no room for faith. Yet the Bible demands it and tells us that every man is given a measure of faith. When one chooses to believe in the supernatural and God, it is not logical to the purely logical and scientific mind. Yet for some experiences in life there is no other option. When the dead are raised to life, when cancer disappears, when depraved lives are changed, it takes more than logic to make it happen...it takes a supernatural God.

Answer 5

This is not an easy question to answer because it is such an intelligent question to ask. I will try: All religions are basically just theories (what people think happened by according to what they've been taught, heard or what they've studied), but nothing is easy to prove, except by the highest scholars/ theologians. I can tell you I have experiened miracles (which by the way I can rattle off a long list for you), but you may not believe me because your experiences have been different to mine maybe. That's where "faith" comes into it. Religion is not only what we think we know, but also what we are willing to believe in our hearts, (especially by what God Himself has supposedly told us through the Bible for instance). Then we are given the right to choose to believe or not. For example: falling in love is not something necessarily logical to us, we can't see it (only in actions), yet we (many of us) believe in it. In the same way I cannot see God, and a lot of things don't seem logical to my (little mind - we only use a small percentage of our minds), but I can see Gods actions and creations all around me. I see man cloning Gods animals, but I've never seen or heard of man making a living thing from scratch (like God is supposed to have done). So who made all living things then, if it was not God (whatever you percieve Him to be)? Christianity is based on faith more than on logic then.

Answer 6

I do indeed value logical thought, and I apply this to all areas of my life. Unfortuately God's logical thought and my logical thought differ. Logically, according to our human minds, we cannot fathom the idea of creation, Heaven or some higher being. I have heard over and over again that humans only use 10% of thier brains. Possibly belief in God neccesitates using a little bit more of the brain???

Answer 7

A small minority do, but they choose not to exercise it when it comes to their religion.

Then there are people like KrazyKat above who claim to understand it but go on to demonstrate that they do not.

Look at Cloud FF7's comment below:

"Considering 95% of the world believes in a higher power..I would say 'Do atheists understand logical thought?'

It is not logical to assume that the truth of a proposition can be determined by the number of people who support it. Most Americans think a tomato is not a fruit, but it still is. The answer to your question is yes.

Answer 8

Im sure they can and even sure there are some who do but most in my experience tend to hide behind the bible and belive that everyone else should do the same, sorry I cant do what christians do, their religion (if you look through history) was derived from paganism (no im not pagan, I dont follow any religion because if you look at the world today its in the state it is mostly because of religion). christianity took all the gods & godesses from paganism and renamed them into saints for christianity, the bible itself has over 100 contradictions in it, so therefore nobody can say it is logical.

Answer 9

the bible is logical applying it to our life and studying them longer. Revelation for example shows important i\history and prophecies soon to come. It's because not alot of people have tried to interpret the scriptures because it is boring but well it's important. I mean take tthe book of Daniel it prophecised World War II in very close descriptions maybe people don't follow logic at al and believe wht they want to because they like to have free will

Answer 10

Thinking differently about something does not make the thought irrational or illogical. It's very easy for the Atheists to grasp at that straw when cornered. They dont think like us, therefore they are illogical and irrational.