At times, some people will say that we are not to approach God with logic — that we are supposed to approach Him on some kind of non-reasoning spiritual level and not try to make sense of His nature. This notion is, I believe, incorrect and highly dangerous. It is my intention with this article to explain why.

There are four basic types of knowledge that we as humans obtain, corresponding to four ways of obtaining information: sensory or empirical knowledge, logical knowledge, received knowledge, and mystical or experiential knowledge. There may be (and likely are) more classes of knowledge, but for our present purposes these shall suffice.

The first class, sensory or empirical knowledge, is fairly simple to understand. It consists of things we can observe with our senses — see, smell, taste, feel, hear. It extends to things that we can construct instruments to observe - things seen in a microscope or a telescope or in the results of a particle accelerator experiment would qualify. Sensory knowledge is rather objective — it can be verified and falsified by observation of external fact.

The second class, logical knowledge, frequently builds on the first. Logical knowledge consists of what we can deduce by reason. This applies to both logical analyses of observations (forming interpretations of sensory knowledge), and to "pure logic" — the derived statements in axiomatic systems such as mathematics.

Received knowledge is a fuzzy item that, in some ways, transcends the others. From one perspective, all logical or sensory knowledge we receive second-hand could be considered to be received knowledge. But here, I particularly consider it to be the realm of objectively documented divine revelation. Specifically, Scripture. It also forms a basis for logical knowledge — we can (and should!) apply reason to understand it and to extrapolate from it.

The last category is a tricky and dangerous one. Mystical or experiential knowledge pertains to spiritual experiences had by persons, and they are frequently of questionable credibility. Yet, a Christian cannot deny the existence, nay, the necessity of some mystical knowledge. Scripture describes the Holy Spirit communing with and encouraging our spirits in ways that go beyond "normal" communication.

The trick with mystical knowledge is being able to discern valid and invalid mystical knowledge. One thing can help: a person cannot receive valid mystical knowledge which contradicts objectively known truth. For example, if someone receives mystical knowledge that the world is flat, such a person has received invalid mystical knowledge and has issues.

But I digress. The point is that there are different types of knowledge. This includes logical or rational knowledge. And it is unthinkable that the infinitely knowable God of the universe would want us to set aside one of the ways He gave us of obtaining and processing information and developing knowledge in our approach to him. No, I firmly believe that we as Christians should exercise all our capacities — sensory, rational, and all others — in our pursuit of the knowledge of God.