What, if anything, is wrong with this argument?
1. Only God should be worshiped.
2. Jesus should be worshiped.
3. Therefore, Jesus is God. (1,2)
Before you answer, be sure you understand the claims fully. The “only” in 1 makes a claim of quantification, which we all understand in terms of identity. In standard logic, it would be analyzed as:
Wg & (x)(Wx -> x=g) That is: God should be worshiped, and for any x, x should be worshiped only if x is numerically the same as God.
Given 2 then (Wj) what follows logically is that Jesus is numerically the same as God. (j = g) Many evangelicals, it seems, endorse 3, and think the above to be a sound argument.
Interestingly, this conclusion 3 is not what most Christians trained in philosophy think – and I’m referring to almost all (various sorts of) trinitarians here. That’s because on anyone’s views (OK – just about anyone – I’m aware of the “oneness” folk) some things will be true of God that are not true of Jesus, and vice-versa. In short, it is obvious that they’ve differed. So then, they can’t be numerically identical, however closely they’re related. Based on this, most of them would deny 1, interestingly enough. They would allow, consistently with this, that maybe Jesus “is God” in the sense of being divine – where this neither means nor implies being numerically identical to God.
Still, the above argument seems sound to many thoughtful Christians.
Here’s another such argument:
1. Jesus isn’t God.
2. Jesus should be worshiped.
3. Therefore, it is false that only God should be worshiped. (1,2)
Both arguments are valid; they have the same structure – in both cases, IF 1 and 2 were true, then 3 would be true as well. But it can’t be that both are sound (valid with all true premises) since 3 in the first argument is inconsistent with 1 in the second argument. (Logically, they could both be unsound, if their common premise 2 is false.)
What to do? Accept the first argument, accept the second, or jettison both?
It seems to me that Revelation 4-5 should push us towards accepting the second argument. In the rest of this series, I’ll explain why.
Dale,
Might I ask where you attend church? Is there a website with a list of like churches around the nation?
Thanks!
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In Rev 4-5 God the Father is worshipped as “God” and “the Lamb” [Messiah Jesus] as “the Lamb”.
Too hard to understand?
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