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Illogic In The Church
By admin | November 26, 2007
Okay, I alluded to my growing frustration with our poor reasoning as followers of Christ (is it our culture or just the church world?). And I was struck by it again tonight. So tonight I begin an ongoing look at instances of illogic.
Here’s the thing, we all make mistakes, we all overstep our premises and draw outlandish conclusions at times. It happens. I mean maybe not with “you” but think of that friend of yours…
We don’t need to have a degree in philosophy or logic to be faithful to Jesus. But some common sense at times would be handy.
So tonight as I listened to another communicator teaching on Genesis 1 ran into a prime instance of illogic. The guy seems to be a great communicator, this is my first time to listen to him and I’m learning a lot from his delivery and his content.
His topic is origins and he is focusing on the age of the earth and specifically the use of “day” (yom) in Genesis 1. No need to rehash things surrounding this controversy but there are various understandings on whether Genesis 1 communicates a literal day or more figurative use, allowing for thousands even millions of years.
He is coming down on the side of a young earth (literal day), which is fine, that’s not the problem. At one point, however, he says one problem with a figurative day…Jonah. Scripture says Jonah was in a big fish for 3 days and Jesus himself holds to a literal Jonah claiming that just as Jonah was in the big fish for 3 days so he would be in the tomb for 3 days.
Therefore if a day could have been thousands or millions of years then Jonah is still in the belly of the big fish.
Okay class…anyone see the problem here?
Topics: Illogic |
November 27th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Heh, is it Hebrew class gone bad? Or does Hebrew have two different words for day - one literal, one figurative?
I doubt it. I’m curious as to who this is now…
November 27th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
His initials are Matt #2.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Oh, and yes, yom can (and is) used in different ways in the OT. But the problem herein has nothing to do with that really. The problem here has more to do with valid argumentation… (just as a bit of a hint..)
November 27th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Many (most?) people just naturally gravitate to any argument that appears to affirm their side of the issue, no matter how illogical. My favorite frequent appearance lately, “Jesus used the word Gehenna to refer to hell, so hell must be a literal, earthly condition because Gehenna was a real dump outside Jerusalem.” Hell debates aside, that is just astounding logic. Your Jonah example is way better though- good one!
November 27th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I hear ya.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:22 am
So what are we trying to figure out here? Can a fish live that long? I don’t think so… I’ve never met any thousand-year-old fish, but maybe they exist. Doubtful. What about Jonah??
And the argument about the Genesis “days” is talking about a time that could be possible, for the simple reason that God is timeless, acting outside of our time. Jonah is a man, and a fish is a fish. Comparing these things is like comparing the trinity to an apple pie. It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.
You can’t compare the Genesis account with the Jonah account. We’re talking about “God-time,” not human-time.
It’s weak, that’s all I’m saying. I could be wrong… ?
November 28th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
It’s just that the conclusion is wrong, right? ( i bet your laughing that none of us has said what seems obvious to you) The conclusion should be that it’s then more likely that Yom in Genesis refers to a literal day, not that Jonah is still in the belly of a big fish. Yeah, no? (cause you said the issue wasn’t the different uses of Yom throught the OT, but that he was using an invalid form of reasoning).
November 28th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
You’re getting at it now Carson. The issue is overstepping our bounds jumping Genesis 1 to Jonah (or Jesus for that matter). Even if his conclusion were correct, the premises won’t get you there.