I am often accused of being more a logician than a theologian or pastor or whatever I am supposed to be. Whatever I am, notwithstanding, logic and reason are not contrary to faith (as discussed here); in fact, faith demands reason and logic (or it is not faith, but something else completely – myths, fables, superstitions, etc.). Though it is true that some proponents of “junk science,” disguised as logical reasoning, have attacked the faith, it does not necessarily follow that reason and logic should be attacked and excommunicated from the church.

I understand that, culturally, there is a large chasm between intellectualism and its disdain. Yet, we cannot throw out the (proverbial) baby with the bathwater. Common sense (which isn’t very common and doesn’t make much sense, today) demands the use of logic and reason. Experience, as opposed to “book sense,” insists that we learn (logic and reason) from our mistakes and make decisions (logic and reason) based on what we have or have not lived. It is agreeable that we can do without the agenda-driven intellectual elites (which, ironically, do not find basis in logic and reason), but it does not necessarily follow that we can do without the tools of the trade (logic and reason).

We cannot even communicate (intelligibly) without logic and reason. Furthermore, contrary to the Scriptures and the Christian Faith (we couldn’t even write without logic and reason), not only could we not communicate with God, but God could not make Himself known to His creation without logic and reason. Logic is the fabric of creation, literally. Out of the mind of God came the Laws of Logic (i.e., the laws of formal logic, mathematics, physics, and thermodynamics, etc.), with which God not only created the universe, but also sustains it. Reason is the means by which we arrive at logic. Logic is the measuring rod of our reason. Are you with me? Human beings did not decide what is logical. God is logic (John 1:1), and He makes Himself known to creation through reason that carries us to logic. Humans have discovered the Laws of Logic, but only because through reason God has made Himself known.

So, to say that “God is beyond logic” is ridiculous (for more reasons than one!). He may be beyond an individual’s comprehension of logic, though not actually beyond logic. Now, when we say, “God doesn’t have to be logical,” I hope we are only confused. Of course God has to be logical, for He cannot be anything else than what He is (He is pure logic). 1+1 will always equal 2 because God has predetermined the validity of that equation. God determined that 2=1+1. Humans discovered the truth, by reason, that 1+1= 2. Our confusion is in our communication (do you see the irony?). I think what we mean is that God doesn’t have to think like us, because He’s God. But when we attempt to think unlike Him we will never reasonably arrive at what is logical and, therefore, never rightly communicate with God. God may be “beyond our own reasoning,” but He could never be “beyond reason that leads to His own logic;” otherwise, how would we ever come to know Him or what He has done in Christ?

By the way, concerning what, exactly, I am: To the Wesleyan, I am communicating nothing more or less than what John Wesley affirmed in his (so-called) Quadrilateral – The primacy of Scripture through Reason, Tradition, and Experience. To the other Christian denominations (or non-denominational denominations), I am communicating nothing other than what the primitive church – from Pentecost through, at least, the fifth century – communicated. And to the non-Christian, as the ancients – the first through third century theologians – used to express: Press your reason until it aligns with logic, and you’ll arrive at God.