True + Valid = RIGHT

All serious Atheists, Deists, Theists, Pantheists, Physicists and Macro-Evolutionists are equally RIGHT about one common belief:

The purpose of life is to seek and find the truth.

They can all agree on that.  It is their one common denominator.  Truth.  It all boils down to that.  Not emotions.  Not thoughts.  Emotions can’t always be trusted; thoughts can’t always be trusted.   Truth can always be trusted.

Yet the unique, unshared fundamental and foundational beliefs of each of these worldviews can’t all be RIGHT!

The laws of logic rule out that possibility.  Specifically the Law of non-contradiction, which states mutually exclusive beliefs cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense.  

For example, Deists, Theists and most Physicists believe the Universe had a beginning, whereas Atheists, Pantheists and most Macro-Evolutionists believe the universe is static and eternal with no beginning and no end. 

They can’t both be true!

So, why are there are so many conflicting beliefs and opinions about what is true?  And since thinking something is true doesn’t make it true, how does anyone know what they think is really true and not a mistake, bigotry or wishful thinking? 

The first and most important factor is Intellectual Honesty. 

We must be willing To Follow the Evidence Where it Leads.  To follow the process of RIGHT thinking wherever it takes us. 

No matter how much we may want it otherwise 2 + 2 = 4.  You can’t do that without Intellectual Honesty.

How do we know we are RIGHT?

First we have to look at the process itself that is used to arrive at any conclusions we may have.

1) We observe the world around us (induction).

2) That observation prompts development of a thought (premise)

3) Then that thought leads logically to another thought (2^nd premise).

4) These premises then lead to a conclusion (deduction).

Our minds go through a primitive version of this process every moment of our lives without our ever knowing it explicitly.

An automatic process much like breathing that none of us can stop.  You cannot safely cross the street without it!  Without it you would be dead by now!

The accuracy of this process can be improved by explicitly understanding how it works and by confirming the process was followed without error. 

We are RIGHT when our conclusions result from a process that is logically valid and true.  Following are three simple examples of that process:

 

Example One

1st Premise: All Englishmen were and are philosophers
2nd Premise: Socrates was an Englishman
Conclusion: Therefore Socrates was a street sweeper
-The premises are inductively false.
-The conclusion is logically invalid
-The conclusion is inductively false separate from the premises

 

Example Two

1st Premise: All students at Sonoma State are men
2nd Premise: John goes to Sonoma State
Conclusion: John is a man.
-The first premise is inductively false.
-The conclusion is logically valid
-The conclusion is inductively true separate from the premises

 

Example Three

1st Premise: All men are human
2nd Premise: All humans are mortal
Conclusion: Therefore all men are mortal
-The premises are inductively true.
-The conclusion is logically valid
-The conclusion is true inductively separate from the premises

True + Valid = RIGHT

The conclusion of the third example is RIGHT, because it is both logically valid and true.

This is the goal!  Every conclusion we hold should meet this goal!

The basic structure or format of these examples is called a syllogism. 

In its purest form a logical syllogism does not apply induction (observational verification) to confirm the premises and conclusion are observationally true.  This leads to mistakes. 

A high-profile and famous example of this was Aristotle’s Law of Falling bodies discussed in my blog “How do You Know You are Right?”  Galileo incorporated induction into the first and fourth steps of the Scientific Method to eliminate this inherent flaw when he reexamined Aristotle’s conclusion.

Are all of your beliefs derived by this process?  Or have you skipped a step or two?  Maybe ignored an invalid premise or false conclusion?  You may be RIGHT by accident anyway, but don’t you want to know for sure? 

We all seek to build the foundation of our lives on solid bricks of truth, to form an indestructible base of operations on which we can live our lives with confidence and strength.  But what if one of those bricks is made of straw?

If we don’t adhere to and hold ourselves accountable to this formula we will inevitably stray from what’s RIGHT and drift over the line into fantasy, dooming ourselves to the disastrous consequences of an inaccurate World View.

Are you afraid to Follow the Evidence Where it Leads? 

I understand.  We all fear that at times; it’s normal. 

But think about it: if the purpose of life is to seek and find The Truth, and if God is Truth (notice I didn’t say truth is God), then when we seek the Truth, we are seeking to know God Himself! 

If the massive evidence for a Christian Theistic God is RIGHT (logically valid and true), we have nothing to fear from seeking and knowing an infinitely loving God!

It is our purpose!

 

Glossary of Terms

Syllogism: A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.  A formal argument in logic that is formed by two statements and a conclusion which must be true if the two statements are true.

Logic: Reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity.

Deduction: The process of lining up premises in an argument and arriving at a valid conclusion.

Induction: The method of drawing general conclusions from specific observations –used in the scientific method –empirically verifiable.

True:  In accordance with fact or reality.  Real or actual.

Right: True + Valid

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