by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n
In my life, I\u2019ve had training in logic from two main sources: the church and my secular education. The further I progressed, the more I realized that the same principles were taught in both settings. I used the same canons of logic in formal debate and law school that I saw preachers use in establishing Biblical authority.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, the Lord\u2019s church has developed its own weird (and unhelpful) jargon over the past 200-odd years. Nobody else talks about direct command, approved example, and necessary implication. Because of this, many brethren have concluded that we\u2019re doing something logically unsound. In reality, the jargon is nothing more than a mask over universal principles of reasoning. We reach the same conclusions that anyone who engages the text logically will reach.<\/p>\n
Take, for instance, what we call the silence of the Scriptures. To the argument, \u201cThe Bible doesn\u2019t say we can,\u201d many will indignantly reply, \u201cWell, the Bible doesn\u2019t say we can\u2019t either!\u201d That counterargument may be emotionally satisfying, but it has a fatal flaw. It fails to consider who has the burden of proof. Outside the realm of religion, that burden of proof is universally understood to lie with the affirmative.<\/p>\n
This holds true in a formal debate. The affirmative has the responsibility of establishing the truth of the resolution that is the subject of the debate. That\u2019s their burden of proof. If they never make a prima facie case for the resolution, the negative wins by default, even if the negative doesn\u2019t say a word.<\/p>\n
In the same way, in criminal law, the prosecutor has the burden of proof. He is required to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the crime. That\u2019s what lies behind the saying, \u201cInnocent until proven guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conversely, the defense attorney is not required to establish the innocence of the accused in order to secure an acquittal. His job is to poke holes in the prosecutor\u2019s case until reasonable doubt exists. This is why juries in such cases return a verdict of \u201cNot guilty\u201d instead of \u201cInnocent\u201d. They don\u2019t have to know that the accused is innocent; they merely have to doubt that he\u2019s guilty. A not-guilty verdict is another way of saying, \u201cThe prosecutor didn\u2019t meet his burden of proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
The silence of the Scriptures is a burden-of-proof argument too. Silence as such proves nothing. However, if the Scriptures are silent concerning, say, the use of instruments of music by Christians in worship, that silence still is extremely significant. It shows that advocates of instrumental music do not have the evidence they need to argue their case. They will fail not because the silence of the Scriptures is dispositive, but because silence means that they will be unable to meet their burden of proof. In emphasizing Scriptural silence, we are skipping analytical steps, but the conclusions we reach are sound.<\/p>\n
My answer, then, to those who want to introduce some new practice is the same as the answer to the negative in a debate. It is the same as the answer of the defense attorney. You say that this is right? Fine. Prove it.<\/p>\n
If, instead, you try to hold me responsible for proving a negative, you are implicitly acknowledging that your case is impossible to make.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford In my life, I\u2019ve had training in logic from two main sources: the church and my secular education. The further I progressed, the more I realized that the same principles were taught in both settings. I used the same canons of logic in formal debate and law school that I saw…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-5727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43838,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/logic-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":5727,"position":0},"title":"Logic in the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93053,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-know-you-are-in-the-right-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":5727,"position":1},"title":"How do you know you are in the right church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello there, I am getting on here as I have many questions about God, the church, salvation, and the Bible. I was baptized into Christ just over a year ago, and while I understand that Jesus built one church and when I was baptized the Lord added me to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-basics-of-communication-tell-show-imply\/","url_meta":{"origin":5727,"position":2},"title":"The Basics of Communication: Tell, Show, Imply","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer We need to get past the constant criticism of CENI (Command, Example, Necessary Inference). The problem with CENI is not that it is a failed hermeneutic. The problem is that we have clouded the terminology so much that we have forgotten what basic communication is all about.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88704,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-individual-member-versus-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":5727,"position":3},"title":"The Individual Member Versus the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Charles Spence via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 4, 31 December 1991 As those who obey the gospel are added to the Lord's church, they have a responsibility to join with disciples in their area. After his conversion, Paul sought to join the disciples who were assembling in Jerusalem. \"And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40944,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/whos-in-charge\/","url_meta":{"origin":5727,"position":4},"title":"Who’s in Charge?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Matthew 21:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Common sense ought to tell you that someone has to be in charge \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Imagine a society where there were no laws and no government. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What would we have? Chaos! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We even have a term for it \u2013 anarchy \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of Judges\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33178,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/three-aspects-of-learning\/","url_meta":{"origin":5727,"position":5},"title":"Three Aspects of Learning","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Proverbs 24:3-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are three aspects to learning, whether we talk about school work or Bible study \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Proverbs 2:6 - The Lord gives wisdom, knowledge, and understanding \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Proverbs 24:3-4 - Compared to a house \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Knowledge is the comprehension of facts. It fills our minds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}