The Search for God Page 2.1.2.2
Let’s say you’re driving down the street to work in the morning. The traffic is fairly light. You and a friend are commuting to save money. The car is going about 35 mph when you see a red light up ahead with two cars at the light waiting to move.
Your friend shouts “Don’t slow down, it’s not red!”
Your eyes flash toward the traffic light.
Clearly, the light is red, so you continue to slow down.
“We are going to be late, don’t stop,” he shouts again. Your friend tries to put his foot on the gas pedal saying, “The light is not red.”
“Stop it!” you yell. “The light is red! We have to stop! There are cars crossing the intersection!” Thankfully you retain control of the car, stop it, and vow never to save money again. At least not with this “friend.”
Excluded middle
You see, humans use the law of non-contradiction and the excluded middle every day when we make decisions. The stoplight in front of you is either red or not red (excluded middle).
Any sane person knows the stoplight cannot both be red and not red at the same time (non-contradiction). From an early age, children love peek-a-boo. Dad can be seen; dad can’t be seen. Back and forth.
Then we play the light switch game. The light is on; the light is off. We know that at the same exact moment the light cannot be both on and off. Dad can’t be seen and not seen. These things are one or the other.
We know what a red light at the intersection means and if it’s not red, we know that we can continue. If the light is red, we should stop if we don’t want to risk our life by getting into an accident.
When we spoke about identity, we faced the problem of knowledge or our lack of knowledge and our limited sense perception. For the issue of non-contradiction and excluded middle, we face another situation.
Consequences
When we make a decision, we face consequences. These two laws force us to choose. They are like digital highways taking us down certain paths. The challenge is making sure we are deciding on two equal things.
So if I said the light is red, but my passenger said the light is not yellow, those are two unequal things. So in this situation, the light could be green.
So not only do these highways have consequences, but often it might seem like there are more than two options. But here is how we are going to handle multiple options by using a guessing game.
We are coming up to the same light. The driver, for whatever reason, cannot see the light but can see everything else. The passenger cannot tell the driver the exact color.
The driver could ask:
- “Is it red?” No.
- “Is it yellow?” No
So clearly the light must be green if you still trust your passenger. But let’s use these laws to ask the question. So the driver asks “Is the light red or not red?” Not Red. “Is the light green or not green?” Green.
So during our search for God, we are going to phrase statements like;
Either:
- God is all-knowing or not all-knowing.
- God is eternal or not eternal.
Here, I am making declarative statements, then we will explore the consequences of each of those statements and travel down the highway of inquiry to arrive at our expected identity for God. Then we will use these two laws to help us evaluate the religions that claim to have communication from God.
Consequences. Every decision has consequences, and we must take responsibility for those decisions.
- Should I spend money or not spend money?
- Should I drink this alcohol or not drink this alcohol?
- Should I eat the fruit from the tree of good and evil or not eat the fruit?
Consequences. One person says you will die, the other says you will not die. Consequences.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- The law of non-contradiction and the law of the excluded middle are inescapable laws for any being who makes a decision.
- Why is that significant?
- We will use these laws to help us find God.
- If you agree, the next steps.
- The Law of Causality
- If you disagree, please consider reading.
- If you disagree, please consider reading:
References and Links
The Law of Non-Contradiction:Explained and Debated
The Law of Non-Contradiction
- Carm – The law of non-contradiction
- Preaching – Identity for God