This morning’s Bible lesson used logical reasoning in it—nothing difficult—only that which is usually taught in high school geometry. There are three possible ways of altering an original statement (designated 1).
1. All A’s are B’s.
2. All B’s are A’s (the converse).
3. All non-A’s are non-B’s (the inverse or obverse).
4. All non-B’s are non-A’s (the contrapositive).
The first statement above is considered a positive statement. The converse merely switches the order of the original statement. The third one negates the original statement; thus it is called the inverse or the obverse. The fourth statement switches the original and negates both sides; thus it is the obverse of the converse—or the contrapositive (against the original positive statement).
If the first statement is true, which of the other three is also true? They are all potentially true, but only the fourth one is always true. To help visualize what is being discussed, imagine a one-foot square (A) sitting inside a two-foot square (B). The initial truth is set forth by number 1; the other possibilities follow:
1. Every point in Square A is also in Square B.
2. Every point in Square B is also in Square A.
3. Every point not in Square A is not in Square B.
4. Every point not in Square B is also not in Square A.
Which of the three statements following the original is true if it is true (which it is)? Number 2, the converse is false. Since Square B is larger than Square A, it contains points not found in Square A. The third statement is also false, since there are points not in Square A that are in Square B. The contrapositive, however, is true (which it always is). If a point is not in Square B (which includes Square A), then it cannot be in Square A, either.
Application to the Scriptures
Taking a statement of Jesus, we will list the four possibilities.
1. If you love Me, keep My commandments.
2. If you keep My commandments, you love Me.
3. If you do not love Me, keep not My commandments.
4. If you keep not My commandments, you do not love Me.
The converse is also true (#2): Those who keep His commandments love Him. Although people might obey outwardly the commands for reasons besides love (out of fear, peer pressure, or the insistence of a loved one), they cannot keep the greatest commandment—to love God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength unless their hearts are in it. To fail to keep one commandment is to fail to keep His commandments.
The third possibility (not loving God means not keeping His commandments) is also true. People who have no love for the Lord sometimes keep certain commandments (if they were raised to be kind or forgiving to others), and they may only refrain from murdering someone for practical reasons (such as being caught, tried, or put in jail), but they do not keep all His commandments and therefore do not love Him. Jesus Himself declares this to be the case: “He who does not love Me does not keep My words…” (John 14:24).
The fourth statement (the contrapositive) is also true: Those who do not keep His commandments do not love Him. Someone might protest, “But I keep some.” Keeping some of God’s will is not worth anything, as Matthew 7:21-23 demonstrates. One must humbly submit to the will of God in all things. Any time we place our own judgment above the wisdom of Almighty God, we have shown that we neither love nor trust Him.
Can we go wrong in the use of logical principles or in human reasoning? We might do so if we reason incorrectly or state a point inaccurately, but if we have done everything correctly, logic cannot fail. Consider a few other examples. In John 8:31-32, Jesus made a statement with two conclusions.
1. If you continue in My Word, you are My disciples.
2. If you continue in My Word, you shall know the truth.
To continue in His Word means to study it, know it, and abide by it. Although we will concentrate on the second result, what is said for the second can also be said for the first. Only the statement and the contrapositive will be listed.
1. Those who continue in the Word will know the truth.
4. Those who do not know the truth are those who have not continued in the Word.
One might argue that many denominational scholars have labored tremendously in the Word, but they come to different conclusions than we do. The explanation is twofold. First, many of those under consideration are those who have never obeyed the truth in the first place; therefore, they cannot continue in something they have never been in to begin with. Second, many of them began with denominational doctrine, and they have continued in that, but the creeds of men are not the same things as the truth. Too many scholarly minds have accepted denominational doctrines along with portions of the truth, but that mixture no longer constitutes the truth (Deut. 4:2). The contrapositive statement remains valid.
In one instance Jesus makes the positive statement and states the contrapositive immediately afterward.
1. “He who is of God hears God’s words;
4. therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God” (John 8:47).
Another application of this principle is John 13:35:
1. All will know you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.
4. If you do not have love for one another, all will know you are not My disciples.
No wonder Paul warned the Galatians that they should not bite and devour one another (5:15). Jesus prayed similarly in John 17:20-21:
1. If Christians are united, the world will believe God sent Jesus.
4. If the world does not believe that God sent Jesus, the reason is that Christians are not united.
Other factors could affect the world’s rejection of Jesus, but the unity of believers is the key factor. No man or religion has a greater message of salvation or hope, but disunity undermines the message.
Below are listed several statements and contrapositives found in the Bible that are interesting to consider.
1. If you do whatever I command you, you are My friends (John 15:14).
4. You are not My friends if you do not keep whatever I command you.
1. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16).
4. He will not be saved who does not believe and is not baptized.
1. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided (Matt. 12:26).
4. If Satan is not divided, he cannot cast himself out.
The following verse (John 8:24) contains a negative in the first part. In the contrapositive, therefore, the negative must be changed to a positive.
1. If you do not believe I am He, you shall die in your sins.
4. You shall not die in your sins if you believe I am He.
1. “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39).
4. Since you do not do the works of Abraham, you are not his children.
1. “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing” (John 9:33).
4. This man can do something (heal a blind man) because He is from God.
1. “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me” (John 10:37).
4. Believe because I do the works of My Father.
1. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:32).
4. I will not draw people to Myself if I am not lifted up from the earth.
1. Paul wrote: “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write to you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37).
4. Anyone who does not acknowledge that the things I write to you are the commandments of the Lord is neither a prophet nor spiritual.
1. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine [the doctrine of Christ—that is, the fundamental teaching of the New Testament], do not receive him into your house or greet him” (2 John 10).
4. Greet and receive into your house the one who comes to you, bringing the doctrine of Christ.
Many teachings of the Bible can be viewed by means of these two methods (the positive statement and the contrapositive). If handled properly, both are always true. God expects us to reason properly (Isa. 1:18; 1 Thess. 5:21-22).
WHAT PURPOSE IS DRIVING RICK WARREN’S LIFE?
Sandy Rios
[This article was published on April 14, 2009, on www. onenewsnow.com. with the title, “Rick Warren—Another Easter Denial.” The writer approaches the subject from a denominational perspective, but she makes an excellent point about Warren’s duplicity.]
“Even if others do, I will never deny you,” declared the Apostle Peter some 2,000 years ago just hours before he did exactly that, three times, when the heat was on. Ten others boasted the same, but when the risk was more than theoretical, all deserted Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Only one was seen at the cross.
A fascinating story…the “old story,” as the secularists like to call it. Barack Obama alluded to this in his speech in France. We need a new story…a discovery of “new ways” of thinking. We must throw off the old, and embrace a much more enlightened, intelligent point of view, he said. By doing so, our president argued, we remove inconvenient barriers, cumbersome moral values and achieve self-determination with our new understanding of the world guiding the way. Surely we cannot be bound in this advanced new age by the old moral codes or put plainly, by what Jesus taught — certainly not if we are to curry favor with the world in which we live.
During Holy Week, Peter’s portion of the “old story” was revisited in a very contemporary way. The last instruction Jesus gave as He left earth was that His followers should tell His story of forgiveness and redemption not only in their communities, but to the “ends of the earth.” And as His followers told the “old story,” they should not leave out all the other things He had carefully taught them. He wanted future generations to go beyond mere intellectual understanding and move to actually living out the principles.
One of those principles was marriage. “For this reason shall a man leave his parents and join with his wife and the two shall become one flesh,” Jesus instructed. One man…one woman…for a lifetime; no sex outside of that union. His clear moral teaching applied to homo-sexuality and never entertained a discussion of same-sex “marriage,” because it would have been unthinkable. “I have come to fulfill the law, not to destroy it,” Jesus said in regard to Old Testament moral standards.
Fast forwarding to November 2008, California voters of various religious persuasions—in a ballot measure called Proposition 8—held to the Judeo-Christian teaching that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. Pastor Rick Warren—author of the multi-million selling book The Purpose Driven Life; pastor of Saddleback, one of the largest churches in the country; deeply influential—rightly told his congregation just weeks before the election: “…if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8. I never support a candidate, but on moral issues I come out very clear.”
Until last week…Holy Week.
“Though others may turn away, I will never deny you,” promised Peter. But then in the chill of night in a courtyard just outside the place of Jesus’ trial, as others around the fire began to probe his relationship to Jesus, he denied even knowing Him. No one was threatening his life, but the derision increased, until Peter’s denial escalated to a curse to more emphatically deny he had ever known Jesus.
Peter was worried about his reputation. He didn’t want to be the odd man out in the courtyard over the fire…it wasn’t a Roman soldier with a sword who challenged him, it was a servant girl.
“On moral issues I come out very clear,” declared Warren when speaking in the safety of his church last October. But when confronted by homosexual friends and by CNN’s Larry King, he folded like Peter. He told a national television audience that he had “apologized” to his homosexual friends for making comments in support of Proposition 8. He “never once gave an endorsement” of the marriage amendment, he declared in that much larger, electronic courtyard. “I never once issued a statement.” But that was not true. He had given an impassioned plea on camera for support of Proposition 8…a plea worthy of a Christian leader…a plea to follow Jesus’ teaching on marriage. Then in one CNN moment, he not only backed away from the hard teaching, but lied in the process. On camera…both times…for all to see.
Seduced by the pressure of fame? Driven by the desire to please his friends? Afraid to be seen as bigoted to a national television audience? Whatever the motivation, the denial is no less significant.
After Peter finished his denial, he went out and wept bitterly. Jesus later forgave him in a personal exchange, and Peter became one of the greatest examples of Christ-following of all time…crucified upside down for his faith…fearless to the end.
But he repented. If Rick Warren does not, he has lost his moral authority as a Christian leader. Without repentance, he joins the apostate ranks of others who declare Jesus’ teaching when it is expedient and deny it when it interferes with choice or reputation.
Another Easter denial—but we pray Warren will not let his story end there.
[Final editorial comment: Certainly Warren does not compare to the apostle—except in the denial of truth. Warren is a Calvinist who does not preach what Peter did about salvation. If Peter were alive today, he would know where he stands on homosexual “marriage.”]