Posts Tagged ‘reasoning’
Two Testimonial Testaments to Jesus
by Terry Wane Benton Paul “reasoned” with the Jews for three Sabbaths (Acts 17:2f) from the Scriptures (their own Scriptures). Thus, he started with what both sides agreed was true. The Scriptures had long been settled as true and authoritative to both sides participating in the discussion. The Scriptures would have to be handled accurately.…
Read MoreReasoning
by Terry Wane Benton The exercise of thought upon ideas to sort the true from the false, the stronger idea from the weaker idea. It is thinking through the available evidence to reach a conclusion. The book of John sets forth a propositional statement that says God came in human flesh, then reasons from one…
Read MoreIs It Circular Reasoning to Use the Bible to Prove God Gave It?
by Terry Wane Benton No! It might be circular if it was all written at one time. But we can demonstrate that the Old Testament was completed long before Jesus came. Therefore we get to consider the prophecies and how Jesus fulfilled them. The New Testament is eyewitness testimony of Jesus written when unbelievers should…
Read MoreHiding Behind the Truth
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Hiding-Behind-the-Truth.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Corinthians 4:1-6 I. One basic principle of logic is that if you start with a false idea, you can prove anything A. False doctrine could be justified if you started with a false idea as evidence 1. Premise: Presidents of the United States must be younger than 35 2. Premise: Joe…
Read MoreReasoning Includes God
by Doy Moyer Reason has been granted to us by God as those made in His image. When we try to reason without acknowledging God, we become our own idols by assuming that we do not need God. This leads to futility in thinking (Romans 1:21; Ephesians 4:17). In doing this we are relying on…
Read MoreI Don’t Go There
by Jefferson David Tant People use many devices to mitigate or cancel out plain Bible teaching. This ancient practice can be traced to the Old Testament. Seven hundred years before Christ, Isaiah was dealing with a rebellious people. God told him: “Now go, write it on a tablet before them And inscribe it on a…
Read MoreTruth About Truth
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Truth-About-Truth.mp3 by Doy Moyer Seeking God
Read MoreDevelop Your Mind for God
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Develop-Your-Mind-for-God.mp3 by Doy Moyer Seeking God
Read MoreNon-Sequitur
by Gardner Hall True, but careful with “therefore” True statement: “We don’t know how far God is going to extend His mercy.” “Therefore”… (fallacies often follow..) “It is not important to be concerned with having scriptural precedent for our spiritual practices.” “We can judge that others who have serious spiritual transgressions are still going to…
Read MoreFaith Is Reasonable
by Doy Moyer Faith is reasonable because trust, which is the heart of biblical faith, is reasonable. Faith does not require that every question be resolved before it can proceed, for that would not be considered trust. A child does not wait for parents to answer every question about difficult matters before trusting them. The…
Read MoreThe Scoffer’s Starting Error
by Terry Wane Benton “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water” (II Peter 3:5). Peter is countering the scoffer’s argument that “all things continue the same from creation.” Peter shows that the creation saw a…
Read MoreThe Reality of Unreason
by Matthew W. Bassford One of the most fascinating exchanges in the New Testament appears toward the end of Paul’s defense before the Jerusalem mob, in Acts 22:17-21. The incident that Paul relates took place shortly after his conversion, after he had fled from Damascus and returned to Jerusalem, still preaching the gospel. While he…
Read MoreMy Conscience
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/My-Conscience.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 4:1-5 I. Defining your conscience A. A part of every human is an awareness of what he should do in various situations B. Your conscience does not determine what is right or wrong 1. That is what judgment is for. 2. Righteous judgment is done by God’s wisdom – Proverb 8:12-17…
Read MoreLet’s Be Reasonable
by Ken Green “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand” (Philippians 4:5 ESV). “Let’s be reasonable, shall we?” We don’t usually say (or hear) those words till we’re in a conflict that has escalated well beyond reasoning. Paul says we should be known for being reasonable. It starts with rejecting…
Read MoreLove and Repentance
by Terry Wane Benton It is common these days to hear people use scriptures that say that God “loves” everyone and commands us to love everyone. But they use this to mean that God “accepts” everyone regardless of their sin and attitude toward sin. They often call this “unconditional love.” Often we are told that…
Read MoreThree Aspects of Learning
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Three-Aspects-of-Learning-1.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Proverbs 24:3-6 I. There are three aspects to learning, whether we talk about school work or Bible study A. Proverbs 2:6 – The Lord gives wisdom, knowledge, and understanding B. Proverbs 24:3-4 – Compared to a house 1. Knowledge is the comprehension of facts. It fills our minds with pleasant and useful…
Read MoreThe Law of Contradiction
by Ken Green Larry P. Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, delivered a speech on Nov. 17, 2020, which was digested in “Imprimis,” a publication of the school. It is titled, “Orwell’s 1984 and Today.” He says, “I taught a course this fall semester on totalitarian novels. We read four of them: George Orwell’s 1984, Arthur…
Read MoreForceful Arguments
by Doy Moyer An argument won by force is no real win, but is a sham masquerading as truth. As soon as bullies face real arguments, they merely flex more muscle instead of exerting the effort of thinking things out and through in a reasonable manner. Bullies fear truth and so will suppress it in…
Read MoreDemanding a Sign
by Matthew W. Bassford Matthew 16:1-4 is one of the more off-putting passages in the gospels. Some Pharisees and Sadducees come to Jesus asking for a sign. A reasonable request, right? Don’t you have the right to ask a self-proclaimed prophet to show that he’s really from God before you believe in Him? However, Jesus…
Read MoreWhat About This Man?
by Doy Moyer This isn’t a parable, but it is a principle to be understood with multiple applications. After Jesus resurrected and met with His disciples, He specifically talked with Peter. Three times (probably mirroring the three times Peter denied Him), Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him. Three times Peter said he did, and…
Read MoreListening to the Hard Sayings
by Matthew W. Bassford The law of Christ is not as I would have written it. There are actions that don’t bother me very much that God labels as sins, and there are things that chap my hide but are not condemned by Him. I think pineapple on pizza ought to be classed as an…
Read MoreThe Ignorance of the World Around Me
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IgnoranceOfTheWorldAroundMe.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 14:4-13 I. I started to drive home the other night and the radio happened to be tuned to the show of a commentator whom I really can’t stand. He has a nasally, whiny voice that gets on my nerves, but the irritation is nothing compared to his views.…
Read MoreHow to Misunderstand the Bible
I. Yet another book appears on the bookshelves claiming to help the casual reader to better understand the teachings found in the Bible. A. “The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart” by Peter J. Gomes. B. The author claims that contents of the best selling book in the world is mostly unknown and misunderstood. C. In…
Read MoreThe Rationale of the Tolerant
by Warren Berkley via Truth Magazine – May 16, 1974 The idea of sinking all our differences into a sea of “love” and sweet tolerance and uniting in division seems to be rapidly reaching every part of the religious world. Denominational bodies who have formerly harbored revenge are now skillfully defending latitudinarianism and independence of…
Read MoreFalse Dichotomies
by Gardner Hall A false dichotomy is treating two different principles or ideas as mutually exclusive when they are not, or an issue or group of issues as the only options when there are others. In a controversy, the use of false dichotomies often involves a demand to choose one principle or the other when…
Read MoreLessons on Evangelism: Addressing Faith Alone
by Andrew S. Hamilton Class Objective Preparing the members to handle common questions that will come up when running the tables. (1 Peter 3:15) Foundation Material Statements and Logic All chickens have three legs. Henry has three legs; therefore, Henry is a chicken. Only chickens have two legs. Henry has three legs; therefore, Henry is…
Read MoreJesus: “Public Enemy Number One”
by Larry Hafley How do we explain the Jews’ hatred of Jesus? What motivated them to kill him? If I had been a Jewish lawyer, here is the case I would have presented. (Let the reader understand that what follows is based upon the ignorance and envy of the day (Matthew 22:29; 27:18; John 5:39).…
Read MoreThe Silence Argument
by Wayne Jackson One of the strongest arguments against the use of instrumental music in Christian worship is the “silence” principle. This is the concept that when God is silent about a matter, man is not at liberty to “presume”, and so to act without divine authority. There is no New Testament authority for the…
Read MoreWhere Does the Bible Specifically Condemn That?
by Doy Moyer Here’s a question often asked, and it can be asked about many things. Besides misunderstanding the nature not only of biblical authority but of communication itself, the question is typically geared toward defending a practice that is likely questionable, to begin with. After all, we don’t ask this question if we know…
Read MoreThe Law of Non-Contradiction
by Joshua Gurtler First published in Biblical Insights Magazine, May 2015 The Law of Non-Contradiction Argues for the God of the Bible and Against Atheism, Hinduism, and Buddhism There is an argument for God that I would like for you to consider. This argument says that without the Christian worldview (which is simply the comprehensive belief…
Read MoreAre You Open Minded?
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015Spring1AreYouOpenMinded.mp3 by Jonathan Perz Spreading the Gospel
Read MoreTruth Or Free-thinking
by Terry W. Benton To the modern man, it seems wrong to believe that you can actually “know the truth”, and therefore be in a position to “answer” the false religious claims of others. While an open mind is indeed a good quality, that open-minded nature ought to eventually settle on something it has tested…
Read MoreProof-Texting
by Doy Moyer In light of the way Paul sometimes quoted Scripture, even using isolated verses together in order to establish a point (e.g., Romans 3:10-18), can someone actually show from Scripture that what is typically called “proof-texting” is always bad? Don’t get me wrong. I believe in context. I don’t believe in randomly pulling…
Read MoreLogic in the Bible
by Terry W. Benton While some modern brethren have declared that the logic of “necessary inference” has been made up in recent years by “church of Christ preachers”, the Bible shows that this kind of logic goes back to communication from God and man from the beginning. If anyone should be credited with the origin…
Read MoreOn Using the Bible to Prove the Bible
by Doy Moyer via Mind Your Faith The charge is sometimes made against biblical apologists that they just use the Bible to prove the Bible. The implication, of course, is that this is circular reasoning and, therefore, erroneous. They want other sources outside the Bible that verify it, not the Bible itself. Once they set the…
Read MoreHow can I know which way is right when I can logically prove sin isn’t always wrong?
Question: I continue to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and lived then died for the sins of the world and then was resurrected. However, recently I’ve become confused by all the different interpretations of the Bible and all of these people claiming to be right and inspired by God. I realized that…
Read MoreReasoning from Scripture
by Doy Moyer No reasoning takes place without drawing conclusions from implications. Just try it. Statements and examples often come with the expectation that we draw further conclusions. The point of reasoning and discerning is that we are capable of taking what is explicitly given, then reasoning to conclusions that are, in fact, necessary. For…
Read MoreI don’t like the answers you give about sexual sins
Question: Dear Sir, I was reading on your website a letter that a young woman had written to you about feeling very guilty about going too far with her boyfriend. Being that she was away from home and at college with new friends she put God out of her life and that was how it was…
Read MoreLearning to Think for Ourselves
by Rick Liggin via Think on These Things If you really want to grow up in Christ, then you’re going to have to learn to think for yourself! You’re going to have to come to understand the word of God … for yourself and develop your own faith, a faith that will motivate you to use…
Read MoreIsaiah 1:18 seems out of place. Can you explain what it is saying?
Question: The first sentence in Isaiah 1:18 about reasoning together seems so out of place compared to what’s around it – at least to me. Can you help me understand the context a little bit better? Also if you know of any other passages that show God encourages us to use reason and test the…
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