Confirmed by the Enemy

If you're trying to prove something, who do you go to to make your argument? Your friend, who agrees with you, or your enemy? 

I'd bet that nearly all of you would pick the first option. Why would you ask your enemy to help you convince someone? They don't think the same as you, and any arguments they make will hurt, not help. If you want to persuade your friend who hates cats (you know who you are) that they're actually the superior pet, you don't go to a dog-lover. 

Except, what if that enemy actually proved you right?

 

Christianity is inherently logical. Being perfectly true, there's not much room for logical inconsistencies within it; and indeed, we don't see them. Many inconsistencies people claim to find often spring from either a misunderstanding of the text or a misunderstanding of the other information available to us—for example, many claimed that Copernicus's heliocentrism conflicted with Joshua 10:12–14, but if you consider the context of the verse and the time of writing, the apparent contradiction vanishes. 

So, you'd expect that the rules of logic rightly applied would never present a true obstacle to the Bible, yes? After all, God is a God of reason. He doesn't let his Word fail under such simple pressures; and that's what we see in the Bible. Any time someone tries to disprove Jesus with a clever trick of argument, Jesus immediately draws out the truth of the matter and says it plainly. God's incarnate Word knows how to speak, and the truth is on his side. 

But not all instances of this logic come from Jesus' mouth: in fact, one example comes from one of Jesus' enemies. 

In the early chapters of Acts, the Pharisees arrest several of the apostles of God and meet to decide what to do with them. Many want to kill them, so that they'll be sure to kill this new "Jesus movement" before it can do any harm. But, as one of their number points out, this is a bit risky:

But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. (Acts 5:34-40  

According to Jewish historian Josephus, Theudas was a Jewish rebel who, claiming to be a prophet, led his followers in a revolt against Rome. But, since he had no actual power, the revolt was soon put down, and Theudas was executed. Judas' story is similar, and from the historical evidence (and his rational brain) Gamaliel makes the following conjecture: if you leave them alone, their movement will fizzle out on its own, with some help from Rome. But, if they actually do have power, you don't want to mess with them. 

Yeah. That's accurate. Because the apostles, backed by God, went on to spread the word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Messiah to the ends of the earth, and nobody was able to stop it, no matter how hard they tried. Gamaliel's logic was sound, and his premises were true; so, his conclusion ended up true as well—just, perhaps not in the way he expected. 

So, don't be afraid of logic. Don't be afraid to take a long, hard look at the facts, because they will never conflict with the truth. Logic can only bolster our cause, never harm it. 

Because the God we serve is a true God, and his Gospel is the most rational thing that we can ever believe.