Logic Apologetic #2

Logic Apologetic - This type of defense takes a look at laws of logic and rules for good argumentation and applies these principles to defending the Christian faith.

Drawing once more from Kenneth Richard Samples' book A World of Difference, I want to share the "Law of Excluded Middle".  This law states that "A" either is "A" or "non-A".  This means something is or it is not.  In application this means a statement is either true or it is false. 

Again this works great when looking at religious pluralism, the belief or idea that all religions are equally valid and true.  Let's take Jesus' often quoted statement from John 14:6, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  According to the "Law of Excluded Middle" this statement is either true or it is false.  Religious pluralism tries to take all religions and say they are true and valid.  When we use the "Law of Noncontradiction" which I used in Logic Apologetic #1, we can see that the claims applied to Christ in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism can't all be true because they are contradictory.  


In John 14:6, Jesus is saying that all other ways are incorrect!  Since the center of all of Christian Scripture says that He can't be put into the same box as all the other gods, then he can't be.  Because of Jesus' exclusive claims, all religions cannot be true!  All religions except the exclusive ones (such as Christianity and Islam) can be true.  Or all religions can be false!  But let's be respectful of what the religions teach and use proper laws of logic and not say that all religions are true.  To legitimately say that all religions are true and equally valid must require the individual teachings of each religion to be distorted and striped of all that makes each religion unique and appealing in the first place.