Right Answer; Wrong Reasoning

When I was in high school, I had a friend who was really good at math. He prided himself in being able to solve problems “in his head.” I’ll admit, I’m not sure how he did it, but most of the time, he was right.

The problem was our math teacher, Rutha Williams. Well, not her as a person, but that she was not thrilled with my friend’s abilities.

I can remember the two of them getting into a heated argument one day in class. You see, he solved a problem without “showing his work,” and she had taken her fill of this particular practice.

“That’s not the way you are supposed to do it,” she insisted.

“But I got the right answer,” he replied.

Well, yes he got the right answer. But she was right. What she knew (in her decades of teaching wisdom) is that while he would get the right answer through his method most of the time, he was not a savant. His reasoning wouldn’t hold up to solving every problem.

Do you have a reasoning problem? Do you walk around using inadequate or even faulty reasons to defend your faith? Are you doing what’s right, but for the wrong reasons?

Just as he argued, “but I got the right answer,” you might substitute it with, “but I’m doing what’s right!” You try to comfort yourself through the idea that you are doing right, even if you don’t know why. This is not enough.

The problem is that you may do what’s right most of the time, even with very basic or even faulty reasoning. But there will be a time when faulty reasoning will let you down. That day comes when you have to defend your beliefs against the faulty logic of others. Feeble logic can tie your hands together and leave you unable to defend against what may be obvious false doctrine!

Why can’t we use musical instruments on Wednesday nights? Can a couple partake of communion during their wedding? Do I only have to be here on Sunday morning?

If you base your beliefs about worship on faulty reasoning, you’re not going to be able to answer the hard questions properly. You will be left with no apologia. That’s the word translated as “defense” or “answer” in 1 Peter 3:15. It means being able to give a formal justification. It’s giving the real reason. It’s the same word Paul used in Acts 22:1 when he began to defend himself in front of a mob of Jews. Obviously, not just any answer was going to do in that case, and when we are faced with hard questions about our faith, not just any reason will suffice.

Tradition, intuition, and philosophy will all at some point fail us in finding the right answers to difficult questions about religion. But we can be assured that if we use the right reasons, we’ll always get the right answers! “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32, NET)

~Daniel Howell