Can Fuzzy Logical Thinking
Ever Be Effective In Ministry?

Logical thinking is simply the art of using words to form ideas...without contradicting yourself before you get to the end of your sentence...

People who "talk out of both sides of their mouths" are usually contradicting themselves.

Any normal person is aware of this when they hear it. Politicians do it professionally.

For example...

You may have heard a famous politician say "War is Peace"!

You don't need a course in logical thinking to spot the contradiction coming from each side of his mouth. One word cancels the other whether you say it forwards or backwards.

Or

"I'm against the war and putting our troops in harm's way...but I want to show support for our troops...so I'm voting for more money to keep them on the front lines (i.e. to keep them in harm's way)."

Any problem spotting that contradiction?

It's irrelevant whether you're for some war or against it...it's not political ideology that we're talking about....

it's simply whether the conclusion...and the action that's going to be taken...follows from the reasons given for that conclusion.

If you never had a course in logical thinking don't worry. You've got the advantage because...you've never been turned off to logic!

If you did have a course in logic and reasoning...you probably exhausted and frustrated millions of brain cells trying to decipher any meaning for your daily life in Venn diagrams and...

millions more of your brain cells probably died of torture...trying to decide what real object in the real world could ever be in an "empty set".

Well forget about Venn diagrams and empty sets.

Nobody ever taught you how to apply them to a newspaper editorial...to a speech...to a reason given for doing anything.

When we want to argue with somebody...we don't draw them a diagram do we? No...

We're using the ancient logical thinking still used today that Aristotle developed...and he knew a great deal about human beings and how they think...and how they don't think!

that is...we're using the logic of language to deal with the world...not mere circles drawn inside rectangles.

we use words...words...and more words...just like Aristotle did. And...

that way you understand me and I understand you.

No normal person would ever make a case for irrationality as the best way of acting when the stakes are high. Would they?

To the contrary...

• don't we always try to calm down people who are behaving hysterically and not thinking logically...that is...when they are not acting rationally?


• Don't the best shoppers compare prices and make the most logical choice on what they found?


• Doesn't the waitress use the merciless logical thinking of arithmetic to add up your bill? Don't you check the bill to make sure it's not an inflated approximation of what you owe?

If there's a mistake on the bill...don't you show her the objective evidence on the menu that says exactly what the price should be. Doesn't that precision make your logic irrefutable?

Logical thinking plays a role in nearly every one of our important daily decisions.

That's the right question!

Since there is no "rationality" without accurate definition of words...

I think you would agree that anything with the power to destroy both minister and ministry should be defined.

If you haven't read the short Aristotle quote making that point...you can go from this Logical Thinking page to the Defining Words page to read about the chaos that grows like weeds when words dont' have a specific meaning. Or...

you can click on Aristotle's image below instead.

Great! You're back. And there's good news.

You should now have a conviction that chaos is the result of contradictions....where the words cancel each other...or the speaker means one thing and the listener understands another.

So ministers must use the sharp edge of logical thinking to define ministry....

but they need fuzzy logic to make that carefully defined ministry effective!

What??? you say.

You read that right.

The goal of political speech is to lull the listener's mind into uncritical acceptance.

And guess who has written extensively on rhetoric! If you said Aristotle...go right to the head of the class.

Every effective modern day speech maker relies on him. Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy were masters at forming the persuasive phrase.

persuaded every Englishman to fight the enemy...even though there's not a trace of logic in it!.

And what Christian remains unmoved by the rhetoric of Jesus....

• Blessed are the poor in spirit...for theirs is the kingdom of heaven


• Blessed are they who mourn...for they will be comforted


• Blessed are the clean of heart...for they will see God

No logic anywhere in those statements...nor should there be! There is a time to speak directly to the heart.

That's an important question...for a number of reasons.

• It implies that logical thinking and fuzzy logic are interchangeable (remember "War is Peace"?). they are not. So they have to be defined so their difference is clear


• Rhetoric is always used to persuade others...when you turn it on yourself you run the risk of persuading yourself of something that is not true.
• Logical thinking always aims toward truth...the rhetoric of fuzzy logic can be used for good OR for evil...to persuade someone that a lie is the truth

Hitler was a master at using rhetoric for evil. So was Lady Macbeth. So was the serpent in the Garden of Eden(Gn3:1ff)

To see how a minister...who substituted mere rhetoric for spiritual direction...ruined a family click here. Then use your browser's back button to return to this page.

I'll wait right here for you.

he used rhetoric for evildoing...he broke two commandments and destroyed a family in the process.

His ministry could not be effective without properly defined boundaries. It could only fail...as have so many other ministries for the same reason.

Had he defined ministry as...religious actions that bring minister and people closer to God...he might have helped that family rather than destroying it.

But he chose to define adultery as a religious action that brings people closer to God. A contradiction if ever there was one.

Turns the Scripture on its head doesn't it? So...

by not thinking clearly according to a well-defined ministry...that priest confused loving his neighbor with making love to his neighbor. And everyone involved paid an enormous price.

So...to answer the question posed at the beginning....Can fuzzy logical thinking ever be effective in ministry? the answer is a qualified yes...

Only if the ministry is defined properly to begin with to insure that it is religious action and to give it proper scope and boundaries.

If that condition is present...then the ministry actually needs fuzzy logic...or rhetoric to inspire the mystical yearnings of the heart.

But mystical rhetoric can never define a ministry...it can only make a properly defined ministry effective. Put another way....

the fuzzy logic of rhetoric is a quality of a well-defined ministry...not its cause.

You can leave this page on logical thinking and return to the home page. Or you can use the links below or to the left to continue to navigate the site.

And because boundaries and proper thinking are crucial to effective ministry...

we encourage you to Contact Us to give us your comments...questions...examples...successes...or

to request information about our services to ministers.