(Been thinking about this…) The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exodus 16:3, NIV) In my geometry class, I learned about logical reasoning and conditionals. A conditional is an if-then statement (e.g.: If a city votes against drilling holes in the Alaska wildlife, then its citizens are mostly Republican.). However, its converse follows the same if-then statement backwards (e.g.: If a city’s citizens are mostly Republican, then they are against drilling holes in the Alaska wildlife.). A conditional may have a truth value, and it may be true or false. The conditional may be false, but the converse may be true. If both conditional AND converse are true, they are combined using a biconditional with if and only if (e.g.: A city votes against drilling holes in the Alaska wildlife if and only if its citizens are mostly Republican; is it true?)
I do not mind the value of conditionals and biconditionals. However, I do not see them with good eyes when it comes to the things of God. I look at the desert, where the Israelites suffered –for their own good at the end- during four straight decades. They were hollering infinite “If only’s” and complaining –REAL killers of the power of the Mighty! “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand…!” This time, per verse, they were complaining about the food. “If only…” “If only…” “If only!”… Seeing how “if and only if” as a way of limiting God has made me view things differently about stuff. If you are a Christian, then you are going to Heaven, but if you are going to Heaven, then you are a Christian? If Jesus is the Savior then He died for us, but if a man died for us, then He is Jesus the Savior? If God is holy, then He has big standards, but if God has big standards then He is holy? Wait a minute! These conditionals I don’t view well definitely speak a truth…for us who believe! On one side, they show a complaint which is not pretty; on another side, they will always be true with Jesus, in any way or matter. Let us try how it looks with each conditional… If God is love, then I am glad to be alive. If I am glad to be alive, then God is love. God is love if and only if I am glad to be alive! |
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