Episode 144 – Truth and Proof – Part 4 – The Basics of Logic Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD… Isaiah, Chapter 1, verse 18, English Standard Version ******** VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. Today we’re going to continue with the series we recently started on Anchored by Truth that we calling “Truth and Proof.” As we mentioned in our first couple of episodes this series was inspired by a teaching series that Dr. Gregg Alexander did for his Sunday school class a few years ago. The reason we call this series truth and proof is because we’re going through a step-by-step reasoning process to show that it is possible to know the truth and prove that the Christian faith is strongly supported by logic, reason, and evidence. We’re following Dr. Alexander’s teaching approach because he did a magnificent job of clearly establishing the truth and proof of the Christian faith. I’m in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, where are we headed today? RD: I’d also like to welcome all the listeners today and thank them for joining us. This is another one of the series that we do that requires our listeners to really engage their brains and think more deeply about their faith. We know this can take some extra effort but we strongly believe that those who do it will be richly rewarded – not only because they will come a deeper and richer understanding of their faith but also because they are being obedient to the command that Jesus gave in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, verse 30. VK: In the New Living Translation that verse says “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” So, this series is one in which we are certainly giving listeners a chance to love the Lord with all their minds. RD: That is definitely true. But in diving more deeply into the underpinnings of their faith the listeners are also making a determined effort – that’s strength. And they are demonstrating that they want a deeper relationship with the author of their salvation – so that is expressing their heart’s desire. VK: And the reason we believe they will be rewarded is because all of that represents one form of obedience to the Lord. And the Lord rewards obedience. And in a certain sense it is as hard, or harder, to be obedient to the Lord when it comes to the use of our time and minds as it is with the use of our money. RD: That is also true. A lot of time when we think about what we are called to give to the Lord we think primarily in terms of our money. Or sometimes we may think of our time – whether we volunteer at church, or a homeless shelter, or at a crisis pregnancy center. All of those are certainly important. But when we apply ourselves to studying our faith there is a sense in which we are giving to the Lord in a more personal and intimate way. It takes a minute or two to write a check or do an online donation. Serving at church or a parachurch ministry takes more time but it may not engage our minds. I can mow the church lawn or help with the bake sale and not fully engage my mind. And I certainly don’t want to diminish the importance of doing any of that. But when I sit down to study the Bible, the background and meaning of the texts, and especially when I prepare myself to be a better witness to my friends and neighbors – that can be hard, really hard. VK: So, the people who do it are truly showing where their priorities lie. And studying not only what they believe but why they believe it demonstrates they are placing a very high priority on the things of God. So, how are we going to help the listeners do that today? In our last couple of episodes we’ve spent a lot of our time talking about truth. We did that because we insist that the Bible is true. But that insistence would be meaningless if truth didn’t exist in the first place. RD: Well, let’s start out by briefly reviewing some of the progress we’ve made so far. Truth is what corresponds to the facts, i.e., it corresponds to reality. Truth is absolute, and the absoluteness of it cannot be denied without using thoughts and words and arguments form others that are meant to be understood by us as absolutely true. Absolute truth is objective, i.e., it corresponds to the object to which it refers. It is not dependent on our opinions, observations, calculations, emotions, attitudes, or knowledge in any way – it simply “is what is.” VK: So, those are positive or affirmative statements about truth. But not all people ...
