Tag Archives: logic
Focus! Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus in a Near-Sighted, Distracted World! (The Blind Man in John 9 – Part 13)
Today’s Challenge: The Bible doesn’t sugarcoat the truth of our sinfulness and need of a Savior. Self-righteous religion is no substitute for the faith and repentance God requires to get right with Him. Pray for someone today that you know who needs God to deal with their sin issue.
Focus! Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus in a Near-Sighted, Distracted World! (The Blind Man in John 9 – Part 12)
In their interrogation of the man born blind, the Pharisees have found an intellectually capable opponent. This man acts like he has nothing to lose. And he’s willing to go toe to toe in challenging these “experts.”
In this series of blog posts on FOCUS I want to examine my own vision and ask if my spiritual eyesight is getting dim, distracted, or damaged by choices I make. We will be looking at a number of key biblical passages which emphasize this sense of sight. I am particularly looking forward to pondering the healing miracles which turned blind people into sighted people.
Sarcasm from a Sinner? When the Pharisees admit they know virtually nothing about Jesus, the man born blind doesn’t let them off the hook. His response, presumably outloud, is, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes!” (v. 30). A supernatural miracle took place and they weren’t even up on local geography!
A Theological Lecture: The man born blind now has the audacity to put himself into the same category as the religious leaders when he says, “We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.” (v. 31). The last thing these Pharisees expected was to be lectured to by the man born blind! But his logic is sound: (1) God doesn’t listen to sinners; (2) He listens to the godly person who does His will; (3) God has listened to Jesus who has healed me! First conclusion: “Jesus is godly and is doing God’s will!” Second conclusion: “This man Jesus must be from God, otherwise he could do nothing!”
Argumentum ad Baculum: The Pharisees have no logical response and can only react to the man born blind by using force. This is called “argumentum ad baculum” (argument with a club!). This argument is a fear of force and is defined as “the fallacy committed when one appeals to force or the threat of force to bring about the acceptance of a conclusion.” Reason has failed the Pharisees. All they have left is . . . power.
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Their assumption about this man born blind (that his disability was the result of somebody’s sin) and their conclusion (there is no way that Jesus is from God) have been dismantled by this man’s logic. They then make a pronouncement of condemnation, followed by an expression of outrage, finishing up with a violent action. We’ll look at their response in our next post.
Today’s Challenge: You and I don’t really face such Pharisees today, do we? Yes, in the sense that it is quite difficult to change people’s assumptions. But that’s where boldness and prayer come in. We pray for the Holy Spirit to change hearts even as we present the facts as best as we can!
Focus! Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus in a Near-Sighted, Distracted World! (The Blind Man in John 9 – Part 8)
Jesus is in the business of helping blind people see. And this miracle, the most extensively reported miracle in the entire Bible, gives us dramatic testimony of a man who was born blind.
In this series of blog posts on FOCUS I want to examine my own vision and ask if my spiritual eyesight is getting dim, distracted, or damaged by choices I make. We will be looking at a number of key biblical passages which emphasize this sense of sight. I am particularly looking forward to pondering the healing miracles which turned blind people into sighted people.
Meet the Parents: The Pharisees were locked into their logic which produced no small amount of cognitive dissonance with them! They had already concluded that Jesus couldn’t be from God (He has broken the Sabbath). But they still had a man claiming to have received his sight standing in front of them. So they move to Plan “B.” Plan B involves denying that a miracle took place which necessitated interviewing the parents. They sent for the parents and grilled them with two questions: (1) “Is this your son — the one you say was born blind?” and (2) “How is it that now he can see?”
Fear Answers: This mother and father had every reason to deny that this man was their son or to say that he had not been born blind. But they tell the truth. “We know he is our son. And we know he was born blind.” They tell what they know for sure. They then respond to the second question: “But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know.” So they destroy the assumption of the Pharisees that the man was not born blind and that a miracle had not occurred.
Passing the Buck: This mother and father were not interested in tangling with the Pharisees, so they send them back to their son: “He is of age — ask him!” We’re not sure how old the man born blind was, but he was old enough to defend himself. We learn of the motive of the parents in verse 22, for they feared the Jewish leaders. They knew that anyone who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.
Today’s Challenge: Do you and I tell the truth, even when we are afraid of the consequences? Fearing the Lord is a good thing. Fearing human beings (more than we fear God) is a trap of the Evil One. We are to speak the truth in love. Will you do that today if the Lord gives you a chance to do so?
Focus! Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus in a Near-Sighted, Distracted World! (The Blind Man in John 9 – Part 7)
At this point the inquisition gets quite, please forgive the pun, muddy! Jesus “made mud” — and to the Pharisees this was WORK! And a man of God doesn’t work on the Sabbath!
In this series of blog posts on FOCUS I want to examine my own vision and ask if my spiritual eyesight is getting dim, distracted, or damaged by choices I make. We will be looking at a number of key biblical passages which emphasize this sense of sight. I am particularly looking forward to pondering the healing miracles which turned blind people into sighted people.
A Simple and Logical Conclusion: Although it is not specifically stated, Jesus’ making mud on the Sabbath violated the Sabbath (in the eyes of the Pharisees). A Sabbath-breaker simply could not be from God. The logic was clear. Given the premise (that making mud as a step to giving a man sight for the first time in his life was a breaking of the Sabbath), the conclusion followed.
A Practical Division: But there was a formerly blind person standing in front of them. So some of the Pharisees couldn’t help but ask, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” A very legitimate question! Sometimes our logic gets us in trouble, even when a work of God has been done right before our eyes!
The Troublemaker’s Response? In their division these spiritual leaders of Israel turn their guns on the man who has been healed. I don’t imagine their question was asked with any kindness. “What have you to say about him?” And, perhaps to make him feel guilty, they add, “It was your eyes he opened!” The blind man might have thought, “Oh, great. Make me feel guilty for getting healed!” I wonder if the man born blind thought much before he answered. I suspect he just wanted these angry, irritated Pharisees out of his face. So he blurted out, “He is a prophet.” What he was saying was that Jesus was a man of God on God’s mission. And that’s the last thing the Pharisees wanted to hear from him.
Today’s Challenge: How does your logic sometimes get in the way of recognizing a good work that God has done in your life? What assumptions do you or I make that confuse our thinking? Submit your mind and your reasoning to the Lord today.
Ideas Have Consequences! (A Study of I Corinthians 15:12-19)
Friends: If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that my friend Frank (in New Jersey) and I have been doing an email Bible study for over a year. We read the same chapter every day for a week — and then send a brief email of encouragement to each other. We’ve completed most of the epistles of the New Testament — and it’s been a great discipline for both of us.
We’re now in the book of I Corinthians. And we just started reading I Corinthians 15 on Easter Sunday! I want to occasionally post an outline of what I’m learning from my reading. Here’s my outline from I Corinthians 15:9-11:
Ideas Have Consequences! (A Study of I Corinthians 15:12-19)
I. The Consequence of Logic (v. 12)
>>> no room for exceptions!
II. The Consequence of Uselessness (v. 14)
>>> our preaching
>>> your faith
III. The Consequence of Deception/False Witnesses (v. 15)
IV. The Consequence of Lostness (v. 18)
>>> your lostness (v. 17)
>>> your loved ones’ lostness (v. 18)
V. The Consequence of Pity (v. 19)
Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (A Study of John 11) Part 17
Why would the Lord Jesus create a situation in which His only response would be weeping? Could He not have stopped His friend from dying — and put an end to the sisters’ grief — and His own? Let’s look at the next section of John 11 . . .
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping,
he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
When invited to come and see Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus joined Mary and Martha and the professional mourners in weeping. He was moved by their grief. He was broken by the sadness that death had brought to that family.
Some Jews there said, “See how he loved him!” (v. 36). Jesus’ tears showed His great love for that trio.
But others asked, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” (v. 37). What that group failed to realize was that ability does not equal appropriateness. Power does not supercede plan. The issue was not Jesus’ capability but His purpose.
We may assume that the blind man and his healing to which the Jews refer is the man born blind in John 9. But their logic was as follows: Jesus showed His power to a blind stranger <<>> Now someone He loved was dying <<>> Real love is intervening in that loved one’s tragedy <<>> Jesus doesn’t keep His friend from dying (and He could have) <<>> Therefore, Jesus doesn’t really love Lazarus and Mary and Martha. Our logic often gets us in trouble too, doesn’t it? (to be continued)
Loving the Lord with Our Minds — Our Divine/Human Example (Part 2)
How do you know when to postpone or even cancel your church (or synagogue) picnic? You might check weather.com or look at Farmers’ Almanac or notice a twinge in your shoulder that a bad storm is on its way.
I’ve recently been looking at the topic of loving God with our minds in preparation for speaking at Emmaus Bible College’s 
“Christian Ministry Seminars” on February 6-7. My theme is (was) “Anti-Intellectualism Isn’t Spirituality.” By the time you read this, the conference will have taken place.
But I digress. Jesus Christ, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, is our model in loving God with our minds. He commanded faith “like a child” not childish faith. And on the matter of weather, notice what He says in Matthew 16:
Jesus clearly advocates the use of one’s reason in determining whether or not to hold the scheduled synagogue picnic.
He says that you Pharisees and Sadducees use your cognitive powers to observe the sky and draw certain conclusions. He does not challenge them to simply flip a coin, but to use their minds to come to specific decisions.
He says you know how to make prognostications about the weather, but are unable (or unwilling) to objectively look at the evidence for His Messiahship and come to the appropriate conclusion.
Jesus reminds them that man’s sinfulness has affected 
his mental ability. “A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign,” He says. Man’s fallenness has impacted his God-given skill of drawing rational conclusions. Wickedness and spiritual adultery affect one’s intellectual process.
Rather than giving the Pharisees and Sadducees a sign (although He does predict His own resurrection), He gives them a brief sermon on how their sin inhibits their ability to love God with their minds and affirm His as the Promised Messiah. Such mental short-circuiting affects people today. But we should still look for ways to appeal to them on an intellectual basis. And that’s part of what it means to love God with our minds! (to be continued)
“So, how much do YOU know, Mr. Christian?!”
The logical steps given in our blog “How to Turn an Atheist into An Agnostic” a couple of weeks ago might be used against the
Christ-follower. If so, how are we to respond?
Let’s review the series of three questions you can ask your atheist friend: (1) “Of all the knowledge we could ever attain as a human race, what percentage of that knowledge do you think we possess right now?” [He might say, “Oh, 50%.”] (2) “Okay. Of that 50% of all the knowledge we could ever learn, how much of that 50% do you personally possess?” [He might say, “I’m fairly smart. I did well on the SAT’s. I’d say, 10%. Yep. That’s right. About 10%!”] (3) ‘Is it possible that of that 10% of that 50% knowledge that you have, is it possible that evidence for God outside of your present knowledge exists?” [An honest atheist would have to say, “Well, yes, I guess it’s possible.”]
That series of questions could, of course, be posed by your formerly-atheist friend to you: (1) “Mr. Christian, of all the knowledge we could ever attain as a human race, what percentage of that knowledge do you think we possess right now?” [You might say 25%]; (2) “Okay, Mr. Christian, of that 25% of all the knowledge we could ever learn, how much of that 25% do you personally possess?” [You might be more humble and say, “Oh, only about 1%! I didn’t do all that well on the SAT’s”]. (3) “Oh, very humble, Mr. Christian! Last question: Is it possible that of that 1% of that 25% knowledge that you have, is it possible that evidence against God exists outside of your present knowledge?” [An honest Christian, I think, would have to say, “Well, yes, I guess it’s possible.”]
What is the Christian to do here? I would suggest that the questions have brought you and your inquisitor to exactly the right place! NOW you can talk about the evidence you have found for Jesus Christ and biblical Christianity!
“One word of truth outweighs the whole world,” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, once said. Don’t be afraid to speak the truth which you have.
Discussion Question: Does admitting that we Christians might be wrong hurt or help our witness? Why or why not?
Dr. Larry Dixon
larrydixon.wordpress.com 