Here’s the trilemma

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Here’s the trilemma (3 bad choices):

Naturalists have three possible foundations for thought: infinite regression, circular reasoning, and axiomatic thinking (bare claims). These are all fallacies. There’s no truth value in any of them. That creates a problem for syllogistic thinking and science. In essence, Agrippa was claiming to know no one can know anything about anything.

I discussed the trilemma in more depth in the three-volume set titled Real Faith & Reason. I’ll give a short description here. If you want to know more, you can download that three-volume set for free from RealReality.org/downloads.

Five Choices, Not Three

Fortunately, Agrippa’s trilemma is wrong. It’s a false trilemma. The trilemma refutes itself. It falls into the pit it dug for others. Agrippa used one of the three fallacies of the trilemma when he claimed the trilemma exists. Therefore, his trilemma is self-refuting. It disproved itself. That’s just one problem.

Here is a simple example of the self-refuting logic:
1. Take Naturalism as an Axiom. (unproven statement taken as fact without evidence)
2. Commit the Axiomatic Thinking Fallacy. (Make up stuff)
3. Use that Fallacy to Claim “Only 3 Choices Exist.”

Agrippa also missed some information. His trilemma eliminated two choices that go beyond the three he proposed. Five choices exist, not three. The reason he missed two choices is he took the philosophy of Naturalism as an axiom. He committed the axiomatic thinking fallacy. Then he used that fallacy to claim only three choices exist. The trilemma has three horns. One horn is the axiomatic thinking fallacy. That’s why the trilemma refutes itself. And Agrippa left out the two choices that aren’t naturalistic. The trilemma assumes Naturalism. Assumption is one flavor of axiomatic thinking fallacy.

The trilemma only limits ungodly thinkers. Ungodly thinkers take Naturalism as an axiom. Naturalism eliminates the chance for ungodly thinkers to be rational. That makes the trilemma irrational since it’s the product of ungodly thinking. The trilemma leaves out the supernatural. It leaves out divine revelation and demonic influence as possible foundations for thinking. Of those two, only divine revelation can get you to truth.
If you eliminate the axiom of Naturalism, you have the freedom to examine the other two choices. Those two choices are divine revelation and demonic influence.

Then, you have five choices. If you choose infinite regression, circular reasoning, or axiomatic thinking (a fancy way of saying making up stuff), your reasoning will always be irrational. That leaves the two choices: demonic influence or divine revelation.

Demonic influence is real. Part of Naturalism denies this reality. However, this denial of demons also depends on axiomatic thinking. And the denial of demons is also an assertion contrary to fact. Spirits are involved in Wicca, witchcraft, Satanism, the occult, paganism, Neopaganism, religions with multiple gods, religions following impersonal gods, and New Age religions. Those who conjure demons know the demons are real by their experiences with those demons. They might call them helpers, familiar spirits, gods, or other names. They’re demons.

Demonic influence is dangerous. It cannot lead to truth. Therefore, demonic influence will always result in irrational thinking. Demons can be extremely clever and deceptive. They answer to Satan who is the father of all lies.

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Can you know the truth by making up stuff?

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“Your Metamorphosis”
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The philosophy of “Rationalism” claims human reason in the human mind can conjure knowledge without the benefit of either revelation or observation. The human mind can’t reason to truth, and rational thought depends on truth. Jesus is the Truth, and ALL wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him.

You might wonder how the philosophy of Rationalism deals with the problem of truth. Some rationalists claim they have built-in and true knowledge they can use as premises for logical arguments. Others say they can grasp certain truths directly. In other words, they believe they can make up stuff, and the made-up stuff is true stuff because of some miraculous ability they have. However, there’s no proof of the philosophy of Rationalism other than a bare claim and circular reasoning. Rationalists make up stuff and use that made-up stuff to “prove” the philosophy of Rationalism. It’s circular support for the claim. In other words, they base their claim “the human mind has built-in and true knowledge” on itself. Rationalism is a circular-reasoning fallacy. For rationalists, all logic resolves to one final premise of “It’s true because I think it’s true.”

Other people believe imagination can self-generate truth. These people use the same loopy logic the Rationalists use to support their claims.

And we’ve already discussed the people who believe no one can know anything, but there’s no proof of that belief either. It’s a self-refuting belief as I’ve already pointed out. These are the skeptics.

In the first century, a man named Agrippa the Skeptic defined a trilemma that no one who assumes Naturalism has successfully refuted in 2,000 years of trying. A trilemma is a problem where only three choices exist, but not one of the choices is a good choice. In this trilemma, all the choices for reasoning are fallacies. You can’t know any truth through fallacies. Agrippa observed this problem. He tried to disprove it, but he wasn’t able to because he assumed Naturalism.

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Three Problems: bare claims, infinite regressions of unproven proofs, circular reasoning.

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All human reasoning ends up in either a bare claim, an infinite regression of unproven proofs, or circular reasoning. Human reasoning can’t be trusted. Jesus can be trusted. All who sincerely seek Him and His will do find Him. If you ask, He will answer you. You must wait in His presence, listen to His voice, and yield to His Spirit to the point of obedience. If we add anything to what Jesus says, we have spoiled it. That includes our interpretations of experiences, conversations, interactions, observations, or even Scripture. The problem is that we sometimes add our preconceived ideas without even realizing we’re doing so.

What is an infinite regression of unproven proofs?

1. Ungodly Thinker: A is true
2. Questioner: How do you know A is true.
3. Ungodly Thinker: A is true because of B
4. Questioner: How do you know B is true.
5. Ungodly Thinker: B is true because of C
6. Questioner: How do you know C is true.
7. Ungodly Thinker: C is true because of D
8. Questioner: How do you know D is true.

The ungodly thinker is no further ahead than when he or she started. That’s why a person without God ends in an infinite regression of unproven proofs. This fallacy is a smokescreen.

Smokescreens cover the real problem. The real problem is the bare claim. Bare claims are axiomatic thinking fallacy. Axiomatic thinking is the art of making up stuff. Smokescreen fallacies are ways to give the illusion that made-up stuff is true stuff. In all cases, ungodly thinker’s premises consist of made-up stuff—if they even bother with premises. Most ungodly thinkers just make bare claims and don’t bother with premises. Some ungodly thinkers use all sorts of smokescreen fallacies to make their bare claims appear reasonable. They generally include one or more smokescreen fallacies to give the illusion their made-up stuff is real stuff. However, it’s not real. It’s just made-up stuff.

We see infinite regression in the idea of citations.  If you ask ChatGPT artificial intelligence how infinite regression applies to citations, ChatGPT’s programming will defend citations.

Here’s part of the answer I got:

Why Citations Aren’t an Infinite Regress

Citations usually trace knowledge back to some foundation. That foundation might be:

Empirical evidence

• Experiments
• Observations
• Measurements
• Statistical data

Artificial Intelligence programs tend to give extremely secular answers when asked this type of question, but they often back down when asked a follow-up question. I asked this question:

Do the citations just cite the experiments, observations, measurements, or statistics or do they also state the conclusions based on those experiments, observations, measurements, or statistics?

Here’s part of the answer I got:

Citations typically do both of these things:

1. Point to facts (data, observations, experiments)
2. Point to conclusions or interpretations drawn from those facts

So the citation refers not just to the data but also to reasoning and conclusions.

I asked a second follow-up question:

Is there any truly empirical evidence given the fact that no one can get outside himself or herself to be objective?

From that, I pulled out this information:

• We can’t be purely objective.
• Peer review can become groupthink.
• Science operates in paradigms.
• Grants are written to get funding, not just to explore truth.
• Researchers may focus on data supporting the funded hypothesis, avoid exploring unexpected results, “torture the data” to find statistically significant findings.

There’s more to this, but the bottom line is that citations are indeed an example of infinite regression.

A solution for infinite regression is to just hook the logic back into itself. That’s called circular reasoning or reasoning in a circle.

We know how old the various rock layers are because of the index fossils in the rocks. And we know how old the index fossils are because of the rock layers they are in.;

Only the material realm exists. Therefore, only what I can physically observe and test exists. Since I can’t observe or test the spiritual realm, the spiritual realm doesn’t exist. Therefore, only the material realm exists.

If ungodly thinkers are skilled persuaders, they might fool you. What they say can seem reasonable. Smokescreen fallacies make it seem reasonable. And yet, where is the proof for what they say? A charming or charismatic person can suck you in, and you may never realize you’re being taken along for a ride into the land of fantasy. Most ungodly persuaders don’t even know they’re lying. They’re sincere as they try to convince you of things that aren’t true. They’re sincerely deluded.

Unproven Proof, Circular Reasoning, Bare Claims, and Other Smokescreens

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Proving Proof, Circles, Claims, and Other Smoke

Relativism and postmodernism deceive ungodly thinkers. That’s because ungodly thinking is limited to those philosophies. Without divine leading and divine wisdom, you can’t know anything for certain. Without divine leading and wisdom, no one can reason to true premises. And without true premises, no one can know anything. That’s the trap skeptics have fallen into.

The problem with proving premises is simple but difficult to explain. How do you know your conclusion is true? You have a premise you use to prove your conclusion. How do you know your premise is true? If your premise isn’t true, it can’t prove anything. You need proof for your premise. You need a premise for your premise. How do you know your premise for your premise is true? You need a premise for your premise for your premise. You can never prove your premise is true.

What God says is true. God never has this problem. God can reveal the truth to you and give you discernment so you know He is the One Who is revealing the truth. He shows you He cannot lie and He knows all things. He also reveals He wants to reveal certain truths to you and wants to keep certain truths from you. God is the ultimate authority. He’s the only legitimate authority. Some intellectuals would object since they think they have authority. They don’t.
However, those who don’t want to depend on God and honor Him as God never have a way to reason to true premises. Their proof always needs proving no matter how many layers of logic they lay down. They must prove the third set of premises and the fourth and the fifth and so on. It’s called an infinite regression of unproved proofs. Finally, they usually get confused and confuse everyone else.

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Why do some people say you can’t know absolute truth?

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Why do some people say you can’t know the meaning of life? And why do they say you can’t know absolute truth? It’s because the human mind has no way to reason to true premises on its own.

They don’t consider God.

They eliminate God because they don’t want God and His righteousness. Ungodly thinkers can try to find meaning or truth, but all they do is deceive themselves. Every time they try to reason to a conclusion, the conclusion isn’t conclusive. Every logical argument they make requires further proof. No logic is sound unless the logic begins with truth. And truth only comes by divine revelation. The human mind can’t self-generate truth. Instead, the human mind self-generates made-up stuff. Some people accurately call this naturally-generated product of the human mind hot air or lies. Call it what you will, the human mind can’t self-generate the truth. It generates something else.

And yet, you can find the truth. However, any truth must come from God. You must stand in His presence and listen to His voice. You must yield to His Spirit to the point of righteousness. You must allow God’s love to flow through you.

The human mind can’t reason to anything true unless it starts with truth. Agrippa, Münchausen, and many other philosophers have tried to get around the problem of the inability of the human mind to reason to anything true. They’ve all come up empty. Modern scholars have struggled with this problem without finding a rational solution to it. Most scholars ignore the problem or try to project it onto others without dealing with their own lack of substance and inability to think rationally. Here’s what they ignore. Before they can rationally claim anything, they need a true basis for that claim. They need truth but avoid the obvious answer to their problem. They could have the path to truth. There’s a solution, but they don’t want that solution. They don’t want Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Sadly, they can’t handle the truth.

Sound reasoning is impossible without Christ

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“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
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If an idea or philosophy conflicts with itself, then it’s called “self-refuting.” To refute is to prove something false or wrong. Skepticism and relativism refute themselves. They prove themselves false. Skepticism and relativism are self-refuting. They are philosophies that demonstrate they aren’t true. The same arguments the skeptics and relativists use to support their claims also prove their claims false. Here’s why skeptical and relativistic thinking is irrational. If “no one can know anything absolutely,” then no one can know “no one can know anything absolutely.” If you “can’t know some things for certain,” then you can’t know for certain you “can’t know some things for certain.” You might have to think about that for a while to understand it. Self-refuting claims tend to confuse most of us. Relativism and skepticism don’t work in the real world since they always refute themselves.

Of course, some thinkers speak only for themselves. They don’t presume to speak for all humanity. They may just assert they don’t know any method by which anyone can have certainty. And it may be they don’t know any method. How sad it would be for them to go through life not knowing anything! They need to know how they can know the important things in life with absolute certainty.

Sound reasoning is impossible without truth. Being rational is all about finding the truth. And yet, many people say truth is too high a goal. They say something like this:

Just surviving is the best you can hope for.
Life can never have real meaning.

Instead of meaning and truth, some people say you should just live for sensual pleasure. That’s called hedonism. It’s just one of many philosophies people invent trying to deal with not having any truth or meaning. Hedonism is an empty philosophy. None of the other godless philosophies work either. You need the truth. You need meaning. No philosophy will give you the truth. You can’t get to the truth through any philosophy. You can get to the truth, but not through any philosophy. Philosophy isn’t the way to truth. Philosophy is a way to deception. Without truth, there’s no hope of sanity. Truth is a Person: Jesus Christ.

Even many Christians believe you can’t know any truth absolutely

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Relativism and Post-Modernism

Growing up, I never thought much about logic, but I did wonder how you can know the truth. I noticed that people on both sides of arguments could make their cases and sound convincing. Some were more convincing than others, but I tried to understand why. Often, it wasn’t obvious who, if anyone, was right. The one who put on the best show (the best persuader) was the one who seemed right, but putting on the best show doesn’t prove anything. As I observed, I realized how dangerous persuasive people can be when they’re wrong.

I grew up repeating clichés like “everything is relative.” It was second nature for me to say, “There are no absolutes.” I would say, “The one thing you can know for certain is that you can’t know anything for certain.” I felt very wise, but I didn’t realize how foolish I was. My statements were self-refuting. I looked at the idea of logic as a boring subject that wasn’t relevant to my life. I assumed my thoughts were logical and reasonable, but I had never studied logic. My beliefs seemed to make sense to me. I thought they must be logical. And yet, I had no idea how logic works. I didn’t know I had to base logic on truth and I could only get truth through Christ.

You live in a naturalistic society. This naturalistic society thinks it’s too bold to talk about absolute truth. After all, the majority of people believe no one can know anything absolutely. They say everything is relative and no one can be certain about anything. Even many Christians believe you can’t know any truth absolutely. They claim to be certain no one can be certain about anything. It’s a philosophy called “relativism” or “skepticism.” Skeptics say you can’t discern between truth and error. They claim to know absolutely that no one can know anything absolutely. Does it do any good to know the truth if you can’t know for certain the truth is the truth?

Only by listening to Jesus can we know the truth.

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Every route other than Jesus Christ will eventually lead to Satan and his demonic host.

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“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason, Volumes One, Two, and Three”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
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The Prince of Power

Anyone who continues to ignore God will continue to walk toward the prince of power of the air, Satan. Satan can offer them his leading, teaching, and correcting. Satan is a liar and the father of all lies. He can grant them success for a while, but he will control their minds.

Following Satan doesn’t always happen by means like Ouija boards, tarot cards, psychics, or astrology. Many gateways exist. Every route other than Jesus Christ will eventually lead to Satan and his demonic host. If you don’t direct your mind toward Christ, your mind will drift toward Satan. Demons can be extremely subtle as they try to influence you. Sometimes, demons are out in the open and obvious. Some methods of demonic influence can seem scientific or fun. Satan can cloak himself in light. Demons can seem good and spiritual. They may even say they have a message from Christ. At other times, demons quietly make suggestions into your mind. You might say, “Where did that thought come from?” It’s not your fault if a bird lands on your head, but don’t let it make a nest.

If you sincerely want the truth, God will expose these demonic beings. He’ll show you that they’re bringing spirituality without Christ.

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The fallen brute-beast human mind can process thought in amazing ways, but, without truth, rational thought is impossible.

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Even without the Light of Christ, the brute-beast mind can process thought in amazing ways. The brute-beast mind has no access to truth without Christ. Without Christ, anything that conflicts with your current preconceived ideas feels like a lie. It feels crazy. Even the truth feels crazy. For instance, when you hear a claim, you immediately compare the claim to your worldview, your inner fake-reality. That fake reality contains all your memories of perceptions of experiences and observations. These aren’t your memories of experiences and observations. They are memories of your perceptions. Perceptions aren’t reliable. You can’t avoid having a bias that works as a lens as you go through any experience or observe anything. No one is objective. Some of your perceptions are more accurate than others.

You compare any new perception to the memories of previous perceptions in your worldview. Your mind makes these comparisons without trying. And your mind works at lightning speed. Most often, you aren’t even aware of these comparisons. You filter out what doesn’t fit in your worldview. That means you filter out parts of reality. Sometimes, you make decisions based on the emotions that come out of this inner processing. You don’t even know why you’re choosing one answer over another. Sometimes, you think through a structured decision-making process. However, you’re still comparing opinions to reality unless Christ reveals the answer to you.

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Brute Beasts to be Destroyed

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The Brute Beast

But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. ~ 2 Peter 2:12-14

These are people who operate like brute beasts in that they depend on their own failed reasoning and their natural senses to survive. In the same way animals learn what works and doesn’t work, these people can experiment and learn what works. However, the truth escapes them. They may teach physics or geography at the university. They may run a cash register in a gas station. However, they don’t have access to the truth. They operate based on pragmatism.

But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed. ~ Jude 1:10

Other versions use the word “instinct.” It seems God has given humanity some basic instincts just like animals have instincts. Without the Holy Spirit and the truth that flows from God, they can’t understand spiritual things. They can’t understand the truth about material things. However, there are things they understand naturally. They can find out what works and doesn’t work. For instance, they can do science. They can function in a career. They can grumble, complain, do what they desire, boast, flatter, and gain advantage. They are skilled in doing evil.

These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of your Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. ~ Jude 1:16-19

These are sensual persons. They depend on their senses to guide them rather than the Holy Spirit. Every one of these verses is referring to people inside the church. These are Christians. These verses also apply to unbelievers. However, God is talking about those inside the church who are lacking the Holy Spirit.

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