Our sense organs 45

Deductive logic: This is the formal logical process
of coming to a particular conclusion from general
premises. For example: “If A, and B, (the premises)
then C (the conclusion)”. This conclusion is
a new statement, deduced solely by means of
thought processes. In both the natural sciences
and the humanities, deductive thinking plays an
important role in the acquisition of new knowledge
and insights.
This principle should also be applied when reading
the Bible. Many of God’s thoughts would
remain a closed book if deductive logic were not
employed. If all implied conclusions had to be
expounded in the Bible, it would have had to
consist of many volumes. But God has given us
only this one Book and also the gift of logical
thought, so that we can deduce many things for
ourselves. Three important examples follow:
1 Wives for Adam’s sons: The frequently asked
question about wives for Adam’s sons is not
answered explicitly in the Bible. But it is not necessary,
since the answer can easily be inferred.
We read in Genesis 5:4: “Adam lived 800 years
and had other sons and daughters.” He could
have had a very large number of children! The
only marriages possible were those between
brothers and sisters, as well as their offspring. It
would take many centuries after the Fall for the
genetic copying mistakes (mutations) to build up
to a level which would make close intermarriage
biologically harmful. Abraham was still able to
marry his half-sister; marriages between close
relatives were only prohibited by God centuries
later, at the time of Moses (Leviticus 18).
In the next example Jesus teaches us something
about deductive (or inferential) thinking:
2 God is not a God of the dead: When He
called Moses, God said: “I am the God of your
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and
the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). The way Jesus
uses these words inferentially, as a basis for the
doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, is quite
astounding. We read in Matthew 22:31-33: “But
about the resurrection of the dead – have you
not read what God said to you (Ex 3:6), ’I am the
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God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead but of
the living. When the crowds heard this, they were
astonished at his teaching.” Since God is life, He
can only be God of the living. But Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob have died, so He can only be their God
if they still exist.
Here is a third example of deductive thought:
3 Concluding from creation that there is a
Creator: Romans 1:19-20 especially exhorts us
to apply our deductive abilities. The reasoning is
as follows: By observing the objects and life
forms in the universe around us, we can conclude
that there must be a Creator: “What may
be known about God, is plain to them, because
God has made it plain to them. For since the creation
of the world God’s invisible qualities – his
eternal power and divine nature – have been
clearly seen, being understood from what has
been made, so that men are without any excuse.”
This illustrated book relies on the created gift of
deductive thought. Not by way of proof, but by
contemplation and consideration of God’s works,
one may discover for oneself that there must be
a Creator. To avoid this conclusion, one needs to
undertake substantial intellectual contortions.
Like God, we can write
The Bible mentions only two occasions when God
wrote something. The first time was on Mount
Sinai when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments:
”When the Lord finished speaking to
Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two
tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone
inscribed by the finger of God” (Ex 31:18). The
second time was at the feast of king Belshazzar:
“Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared
and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the
lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched
the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he
was so frightened that his knees knocked together
and his legs gave way” (Dan 5:5-6). “Therefore
he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This
is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE,