Have you ever had an argument with anyone in your life? When they stated something wrong, or you stated something wrong, it was contrary to what you knew, or they knew, was right. Both of you were trying to prove your point, and something discussed triggered the argument. What triggered the argument? One, or both parties, had a contradiction! Whoever had the contradiction was wrong, because they were presenting information that was different than reality, and then trying to justify their point.
Imagine the implications of people who wanted to resolve their own contradictions. Imagine what kind of world we would live in...
DOCTRINE #15: NON-CONTRADICTION
Contradictions don’t exist, conflicts do. I can be both happy and sad. This is a conflict. I can’t be both happy and not happy at all. Non-Contradiction is a God-given principle. Lack of contradiction doesn't prove something is right. However, the presence of a contradiction proves something is not right. Man cannot make both halves of a contradiction right.
Question: Do you believe you are holding onto any contradictions in your life?
Next Doctrine: Doctrine #16
Table of Contents
If you need it, here is the support from the Word of God...
SCRIPTURE
"16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would." (Galatians 5:16-17)
(Walking by the Spirit is right, and fulfilling the desires of the flesh is wrong. Both the Spirit and the flesh are opposed to each other, and you cannot do both at the same time. We are either walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh. The Spirit and the flesh are CONTRARY to each other.)
"17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them that are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which ye learned: and turn away from them." (Romans 16:17)
(If you have learned wisdom and understanding from the Word of God, God's Thinking, then mark (take heed) those people who cause division and others to stumble. If they teach a different doctrine, whether it be man-made tradition, mysticism, or Gnosticism, this is CONTRARY to God's Doctrine. If someone's doctrine is contrary to the teachings of Jesus it is wrong.)
"7 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord;
8 a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:7-8)
(People who receive from the Lord are people who continue to focus on their HOW/WHY (causes), but someone who tries to live with contradictions, or double-minded, is unstable in all their ways. Later, James wrote this.)
"12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment." (James 5:12)
(Jesus said the same thing in the next passage.)
"37 But let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these is of the evil one." (Matthew 5:37)
(If the words we speak are not what we mean, our words are contrary. We learned in Say vs. Do that believers Do what they Say: their yes is yes. "Yes" and "no" are the simplest words to understand. A two-year-old knows what "yes" or "no" means. If these two words in our vocabulary are switched, how many other words do we speak in a contrary fashion?)
"33 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.
34 Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Matthew 12:33-34)
(The heart is the cause and our mouth speaks (the effects) what is in our heart. Causality and non-contradiction are connected in these passages. The effects of a good tree are good fruit, and a bad tree would have bad fruit, which is what we learned about the God-given principle of causality. How would the Pharisees be able to speak good things if they were the offspring of vipers and evil? They could not, that would be a contradiction.)
"16 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the marketplaces, who call unto their fellows
17 and say, We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not mourn.
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a demon.
19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! And wisdom is justified by her works." (Matthew 11:16-19)
(Jesus uses an amazing analogy before He exposes the people's contradiction. The people declared both Jesus and John the Baptist bad (same effect) from different causes: one drank and the other did not drink. Our Godly decisions (wisdom) will be justified by our DO. If we are wise our say and do will align. The people were also wrong because they were using their human thinking to rationalize their animal thinking. Supplying a WHY for their contradictory WHAT.)
"1 But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;
3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth." (I Timothy 4:1-3)
(Hypocrisy is contradictory: the Say and Do don't match up. In the last post, we saw babblings are contradictory: using the same word (effect) but having a meaning different (cause) than God's meaning. Remember that the devil does not have understanding so the doctrine of demons would lack understanding. Even still, people will fall away from the faith because spirits will seduce them. If someone didn't have to explain themselves to anyone (give a WHY) that would be pretty seductive. It would be quite seductive if someone is their own source of "rhema" using their own wisdom to direct their actions in order to remain comfortable. Does this sound like anyone you know?)
"1 At that season Jesus went on the sabbath day through the grainfields; and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck ears and to eat.
2 But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which it is not lawful to do upon the sabbath.
3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and they that were with him;
4 how he entered into the house of God, and ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them that were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless?
6 But I say unto you, that one greater than the temple is here.
7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath." (Matthew 12:1-8)
(Every time Jesus debated with the Pharisees, the God-given principle of Non-contradiction was used. The way Jesus exposed the Pharisees' hypocrisy was to give them an opportunity to resolve the contradictions they had. God cares about the HOW and WHY and Jesus did as well. Jesus wanted to see how the Pharisees would handle being exposed. They responded by continually justifying themselves! The Pharisees stated Jesus' disciples contradicted the Law. Jesus showed the Pharisees that David contradicted the Law. Jesus showed that the Pharisees contradicted themselves because they wanted to judge the disciples for doing the same thing as David. King David was someone the Pharisees wouldn't judge.)
Matthew 12:33-34 (referenced above) showed how causality and non-contradiction work together. These are two God-given principles that go against the way that man normally thinks. These principles can be unlocked by understanding God's Word. Man focuses on the effects (WHAT) while God focuses on the causes (HOW/WHY). We know that man is hypocritical and contradictory, but God is not. God is non-contradictory.
Why does this information matter? Have you ever gotten into a debate about the existence of God? I have found that it all goes back to causality and non-contradiction. We will find out why in the next Doctrine.
