Hello all.
Here is my word for today, as suggested by steve-
This has a foundation in basic logic, so please bear with me for a while...it does go somewhere, and the Lord opened my eyes through this thought process.
How would you answer the following logical dilemma?
If X is true, then Y is true.
<blank> is true only if <blank> is true.
Where you replace the <blank>s with X and Y.
My initial programmer's intuition said "of course the answer is simple:
Y is true only if X is true"
Wrong.
X is true only if Y is true.
Example:
If I am in Texas, then I am in North America.
I am in Texas, only if I am in North America.
however: being in North America does not mean you are in Texas
If I am a biological Mother, then I am a woman.
I am a biological Mother, only if I am a woman.
however: being a woman does not make you a biological Mother
The application of it is this:
1John 2:3-4 "And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. If any man says "I have come to know him", and does not keep his commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
In logical terms this states:
If we have come to know him, we will keep his commandments.
We have come to know him, only if we keep his commandments.
However: Keeping his commandments does not mean we have come to know him.
The statement is clear. Keeping his commandments is a proof to ourselves that we have come to know him, the fruit of a relationship with God, but not the basis of it.
I hope this is clear, I found it difficult to express verbally.
jW |
