What We Stand On

In our previous post, we saw how the question of the One and the Many shapes how we understand reality. We explored how logic requires both unity and diversity: universal principles (the One) and specific examples (the Many). In that post, we discovered that the Christian understanding of God—one in essence but three in persons—provides the perfect answer to this puzzle. But now we’re going to take it a step further.

The Trinity doesn’t just help us make sense of logic. God is actually required for logic to exist at all.

Logic Needs God

Here’s the big idea: God is necessary for logic to exist. Without God, logic would have no foundation. It wouldn’t have the consistency we depend on or the ability to make sense of the world.

Think about it. For logic to work, we need to trust that certain principles are universal—rules that apply no matter the situation. But these principles also need to be flexible enough to apply to specific examples. This is exactly what we find in God’s nature. He is perfectly unified (the One) and perfectly diverse (the Many). This balance is what makes logic even possible.

If we remove God from the picture, logic would have no consistent basis to stand on. Logic wouldn’t exist as we know it. There would be no reason to expect that universal principles would apply the same way every time in a universe of only matter and energy. Without God as the source of all order and unity, logic would be reduced to a random system—something inconsistent, unreliable, and, ultimately, meaningless.

Materialism Can’t Account for Logic

Now, let’s consider another perspective: materialism. Materialists believe that everything—our thoughts, our reasoning, even logic itself—is just a result of physical matter. If all we have is matter, how can we explain something like logic, which isn’t made of matter but of abstract concepts?

C. S. Lewis said that when materialists use logic to argue against the existence of God, it’s like someone trying to saw off the branch they’re sitting on. The very logic they rely on to make their case depends on the existence of God. If everything is just physical matter, there’s no reason for logical principles to be universal or consistent. They would be just random patterns, subject to change without any foundation.

In other words, materialism cannot account for both the unity and diversity that logic requires. Without a grounding in something beyond the physical—something that holds logic together in a meaningful and universal way—logic would not make sense. This is where the Christian view of God makes all the difference. In the Trinitarian God, we see the perfect harmony of unity and diversity—both necessary for logic to function. God’s nature as one and many is what gives us the foundation for logical consistency.

The Proof of God’s Existence

This leads us to a profound truth: the proof of God’s existence is that if He did not exist, we could not prove anything. Without God, there would be no foundation for logic to even exist. Logic would be unreliable, inconsistent, and meaningless. But because God exists, we can trust that logic reflects the order of His mind and the structure of reality He created.

In this way, logic itself is a testament to the reality of God. Every time we use logic, we’re relying on a system that has its roots in God’s nature—one that is both unified and diverse. Logic is not something we created on our own; it’s something that reflects the very nature of the Creator.

Why This Matters

Why is this so important? It means that the reality we experience—the very ability to reason, to think logically, to understand the world around us—is not an accident. It’s built into the fabric of the universe by the Creator Himself. Logic isn’t just a tool for solving problems; it’s a reflection of the order and consistency of God’s mind.

The next time you solve a problem or make a decision based on logic, remember: you’re participating in something that only makes sense because God’s nature makes it possible. Logic is not some random force of nature—it’s grounded in the very being of God. Without Him, nothing would add up. (See Next Entry ->)