Moreover, what exactly do you mean by ‘logic of science’?..
Now when you say that “it isn’t that God cannot lie… [it is] that He doesn’t”, may I ask what you mean by that? Are you saying that God could choose to do otherwise, but doesn’t because He is so good? Or do you mean that God does not do these things (lie, etc.) because He never could? I feel like we are saying the same thing, even though I was not as precise as I ought to have been earlier, when you say that “That is why God ‘cannot’ lie… it’s because he is Truth.” So if you could please clear up my confusion about what you have said, as I expressed in my question earlier in the paragraph, I would very much appreciate it.
Thanks for your reply, I’m enjoying this immensely!
In Christ,
Nick
Hi Nick. God’s blessing to you in this New Year!
As to your first question regarding the “logic of science:” I’m a scientist. As such I have performed many experiments in my day. There is a “logic” that is followed (and even produced) by the methodology itself when one does so. The term as I used it doesn’t mean anything more than that.
Some people confuse science, which is a methodology, with logic itself, and even use the terms interchangeably. It’s not entirely incorrect, just more of a “clouding up” of things for some of us when that happens.
There are two main facets of “logic,” namely the philosophical and the school of the study of human reasoning (or a branch thereof). With the latter you end up with things like mathematical and computational logic which are used in science itself, and therefore in the vernacular the two get mixed up in our proverbial basket of fruit. All of it is fruit to be sure, but there is a big difference between biting into an apple and when one bites into a lemon.
It is this second type I referred to in the phrase “logic of science.”
As for your second question, you are correct. We are saying basically the same thing. I was speaking a little bit more in the terms of the original Biblical language expressions which come from a Semitic culture. I’m of Jewish ancestry, and as we read right to left, we also reason differently when it comes to speaking of good and evil. This “logic” is found in Scripture as a result, even in the Greek Scriptures.
To illustrate: St. Luke stumbles to get the salutation of the angel Gabriel correct in the Greek when he wrote what is now Luke 1:28. The Hellenistic world (as well as our Western culture) did not have a way to express what Mary heard from the angel. Likely speaking in Hebrew or Aramaic, the angel said: “Salutations, you who have been filled up with grace” or even “O you favored with grace.” Luke even invented a Greek word that doesn’t appear anywhere in any other extant literature, and today the expression makes for constant controversy.
The reason? It is because in the world of the Hebrews (in fact in all the Semitic world) people are seen as vessels, like a gas tank if you will. They don’t possess a quality in the negative like “sin
less” or “age
less” or “self
less.” Instead of having “less” or none of the quality, the languages used say they are “full” of the opposite.
Instead of “selfless” the person is “rich in giving.” One is not “ageless,” they are “eternal.” And Mary is not called “sinless,” she is called “full of grace.” Like a gas tank, if it is full it cannot receive anymore fuel. The same with a person. If they are full of a quality, the Semitic logic sees this as incapable of having any other.
So while we are saying the same thing, I tend to say things using the Semitic formula found in Biblical syntax. It isn’t that God is limited by some force to keep him from lying. It is that God is “full of grace and truth,” (John 1:14) and therefore there is no lying that comes from God. Lying is impossible when you don’t possess falsehood. Without a lie in your heart, being full of truth, you cannot lie. Get it?
Sorry for the winded pontification.
