Reason is a method - it is not a belief or assumption but a tool and should not be anything but a tool 

Reason/logic is about seeing if a claim is possibly true and that means rooting out contradictions and so on.  It is about thinking and checking not believing.  It can lead to belief so it has only that potential and indirect link with belief.  Its link with opinion is even weaker!

Everybody reasons.  You do it when you say you are not doing it or don't believe in it.  The reason there is so much disaster in the world is that people won't use reason correctly.  They use it but not well enough.  The irrational person is reasoning but badly.  Don't equate irrational with not reasoning at all.

Some say they believe in reason.  Maybe they do.  But they risk giving the impression that reason is just another human belief that might be right or wrong.  So their belief in reason is actually a threat to reason.  The belief is not necessary and not wanted and not needed.  Belief risks bias which is why you must see reason as a tool and not as a belief.  If I believe in reason I mean I believe in MY reason.  I may say I believe in how Kant or God has thought things out.  I do not.  I believe in my reason that their reasoning is right.

Reason then is a sign of self-confident independence.  The person might bond with others who reason much the same way but at the end of the day their agreement is a sign of their independence not an undermining.  Try and see how reasoning is a sign you have some confidence and let that confidence grow through reasoning.

Some say, "We believe in reason for it is it's own undeniable testimony and not because reason says reason is true."

But we should not believe in reason. Reason is a tool not a belief. It is something that you have to commit to rather than believe. Thomas Nagel says that trying to have faith in reason shows you have one thought too many.  It is like thinking, "Why is fire warm?"  It is a sign of mistrust.  Thinking this one thought too many about reason shows you want to doubt reason.  The reason you want to doubt is because you are surrounded by an irrational community and want to fit in.

Use reason - don't believe it!  You don't need to.  You don't need to believe you can lift your arm to be able to lift it.

Reason is a tool - it is not a belief you use.

You hear some assertions. Logic cannot tell if they are true. It only tells you what follows from them. Logic only shows an argument is valid not that it is true. It shows that if x is true then what follows from x is true.  So it gives you ifs.

Arguments from logic that God must exist are fraudulent the same as arguments that anything must exist would be. Such reasoning, "Logic shows there is definitely a God", are tautologies or circular reasoning.  They in fact are more about you making a God out of your arrogance than about God! 

What if a religion claims to be logical?  Logic is able to show if it is or is not. So logic can refute a religion that is based on false claims about logic or on the abuse of logic.

It is true that logic cannot prove a personal God but it can only prove that such an idea is possible. For atheists logic proves that the non-existence of God is possible. One side claims to make do with how good their view functions as an explanation rather than logical proof and so does the other.  This assumes that whatever side is right is avoiding contradictions in the explanations.  God can make sense as an explanation but there is no way to prove him.  You prove that God is logical but you cannot prove logically that he exists.

Believers say that God himself is reason just like he is love.  So to believe in God is to believe in reason.  It is to believe you must use the reason tool for he gave it to you and can be trusted.  What you have here is belief in God inviting you and leading you to believe in reason.  Belief in God is evil for that is an insult to your rational nature as we have learned.  To make reason a belief or to treat it as one or even suggest it should be one is unnacceptable.

Logic is greater than God for it has more force than God or anything God communicates. Does that mean it is greater than atheism too?  Yes.  And who cares?  Atheism is not a God or meant to be.

USING GOD TO VALIDATE REASON SHOWS YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN REASON AT ALL

Reason is based on the fact that a contradiction is not a thing or a truth but rubbish. It is best to see reason as a tool for working out if ideas fit together and to weed out the false from the true.  Even if the principle of non-contradiction were a guess, it would be a guess we would need to make. If you use reason to work out that God might exist or does exist, then because you are guessing it follows that your mind will always be greater than any God and more important.
 
Those who say our logic works because a trustworthy God gave it to us are making logic abolish itself. It is the biggest way to try to abolish it.  "Logic may be wrong. But we can reason that there may be a God of truth.  We can reason that he gave us logic so that is how we know it works."  Nobody in their right mind would reason, "Reason is guilty of being useless until proven usefull.  Guilty until proven innocent.  Therefore we reason that there is a God who makes sure reason works for us."  That is abolishing reason for it is incoherent.  It is deadly for it can make a person look and sound rational until you find out what their core attitude to reason is.

If logic cannot be trusted then reasoning that there is a God to create it in us and make it accurate is making the cure worse than the disease.  It makes more sense to just try reason out and then decide it works than to use something that you suspect is dodgy to lead you to the idea of a God who gave it to you correctly.

The biggest sceptic of all is the one who uses God to validate his reason and perception of evidence. If you need God to convince yourself you have the thumb on your hand that means you are more convinced than ever than you do not have one. You still do not believe you have a thumb. You are using God to validate not that you know something but that you do not but want to feel you do.



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