The Law of Contradiction

          I stated in an earlier post that God's truth and man's truth are different. I didn't state it that simply, but if you boil it down that's what you get. Let me express that another way to try and clear up some confusion. God views things the way they are. That is truth. Man views things, but cannot know if that is how they are without God directly revealing it to him. So far, no reasonable individual would disagree with me, according to the people disagreeing with me. ;) However, because man cannot come to truth apart from God, I suggest, this truth is not just unattainable but instead impossible. Again, to clarify, God created a universe lacking truth. You say, God is a God of order. I say, that's what separates Him from His creation. You say, God created man in His image. I say, man can order the things around him, relative to his own perspective. You say, if what God believes to be true (that is, what is true) is different from what man experiences to be true, than God is not God. I say, man's experiences are intended to reveal his need for God, not his similarity to Him.

            Stop for a moment and consider the Rationalist. He believes that man can discover truth by applying his mind (and soul) and that God has given him an innate sense of logic, wisdom and spirituality which merely must be pointed in the right direction.
         
         Sounds awfully Pelagian to me.

         So, as I was saying. The "truth" of 5+4=9 is a human construct attempting to understand the universe which we can experience. It is not absolute. 5+4=8 is, according to the accepted numerology and even more the accepted logic of mathematics, false. However, that is not provably "un-true". The second equation could be as true as the first. Which brings us to the Law of Non-Contradiction. The cornerstone of Logic and Science. It is part of the 3 laws of thought which flow directly through each other and often are confused as merely parts of the Law of Non-Contradiction.

         They are 1 - The Law of Identity: "that every thing is the same with itself and different from another"
                       2 - The Law of Non-Contradiction: "one cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same respect and at the same time"
                       3 - The Law of the Excluded Middle: "it is impossible that there should be anything between the two parts of a contradiction."

          Explained by Aristotle, and then generally accepted as descriptions of the way to communicate clearly (even further, to think clearly), these laws are the basis on which we understand the universe. I say bravo to that, they are essential to understanding each other, for the most part. I could not express my opinions without them. But this is where I diverge. They are a framework wherewith we, humanity, can make sense of most of what we observe. The universe is not symmetrical. Things possess two contradictory states; Schrödinger's cat, which was originally intended to prove the opposite, has instead lead Physicists to discover and observe things in two contradictory "cat-states". Google it. The most recent Physics Nobel Prize is also related to this. Schrödinger's cat either refutes the 2nd and 3rd laws of thought, or Aristotle was not concerned to explaining everything merely most things.

        So, to avoid going long, I will sum up. Logic, Math, Physics, Truth are merely ways we (humankind) understand what we experience, and we have not, cannot, absolutely declare them to be truth. At least, relatively speaking.

Next time, what do I mean by truth?

Oh, and the Braves are 7-1. Justin Upton is a MAN and has 7 HRs in the first 8 games. This is gonna be a fun year.