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Five Common Fallacies--Don't Be Fooled by Them!
The Awake! magazine May 22, 1990 begins an article
on page 12 piece titled "Five Common Fallacies--Don't Be Fooled by Them!"
It is about distinguishing truth from fallacy and contains warnings on how to
not be mislead by the deceptive persuasiveness of logical fallacies. Five in
all are enumerated. I shall explicate each but, for the life of me, I do not
understand why the WT Society would print such an article; it clearly fingers
them as employing deceptive fallacies. They fit each of the five!
FALLACY NUMBER 1 - Attacking the Person
Awake:
"This type of fallacy attempts to disprove or discredit a perfectly valid
argument or statement by making an irrelevant attack on the person presenting
it...some attacked Jesus himself, saying: 'He has a demon and is mad. Why do
you listen to him?' (John 10:20; comp. Acts 26:24, 25)...But while personal
attacks, subtle and not so subtle, may intimidate and persuade, never do they
disprove what has been said. So be alert to this fallacy!"
Is the Watchtower guilty of Fallacy number
1? YES!
Comment:"Yes,
apostates publish literature that resorts to distortions, half-truths, and outright
falsehood. They even picket Witness conventions," [sounds familiar] "trying
to trap the unwary. Hence, it would be a dangerous thing to allow our curiousity
to move us to feed on such writings or to listen to their abusive speech!...What
now, are the fruits of the apostates and their publications? (1) Cleverness...(2)
Pirdeful intelligence. (3) Lack of love. (4) Dishonesty in various forms."
(WT 7/1/94, p. 12)
FALLACY NUMBER 2 - Appealing to Authority
Awake:
"This form of verbal intimidation is accomplished by invoking the testimonials
of so-called experts or famous people. Of course, for advice it is only natural
to look to people who know more about something that we do. But not all appeals
to authority are based on sound reasoning...Interestingly, clergymen today are
known to resort to similar tactics when unable to prove from the Bible such
teachings as the Trinity, the immortality of the soul, and hellfire."
Is the Watchtower guilty of Fallacy number
2? YES!
Comment:Finest
examples of appealing to authority (and INTENTIONALLY misquoting them and taking
their words out of context) in order to provide support for their unsupportable
doctrines include the brochure "Why Should You Believe in the Trinity?"
and the incredible "Life--How Did it Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation?"
(1985) Talk about resorting to distortions, half-truths, and outright falsehoods!
FALLACY NUMBER 3 - 'Join the Crowd'
Awake:
"Here the appeal is to popular emotions, prejudices, and beliefs. People
generally like to conform. We tend to shrink at the thought of speaking out
against prevailing opinions. This tendencyto view the majority opinion as automatically
correct is used with potent effect in the 'join-the-crowd' fallacy."
Is the Watchtower guilty of Fallacy number
3? YES!
Comment:"Come
to Jehovah's organization for salvation".
"Avoid independent thinking" (WT 1/15/83,
p. 22)
"Do not run ahead of Jehovah's organization
but humbly submit."
FALLACY NUMBER 4 - Either/Or Reasoning
Awake:
"This fallacy reduces what may be a wide range of options to only two.
For example, a person may be told: 'Either you accept a blood transfusion or
you will die.'"
Is the Watchtower guilty of Fallacy number
4? YES!
Comment:"Either
you refuse a blood transfusion or you will be destroyed at Armaggedon."
Awake:
"So when presented with either/or reasoning, ask yourself, ' Are there
really only two possible choices? Might there be others'?"
Comment:"Come to Jehovah's organization
for salvation".
FALLACY NUMBER 5 - Oversimplification
Awake:
Here a statement or argument ignores relevant considerations, oversimplifying
what may be a complex issue...For example, you may read: 'Rapid population growth
is the cause of poverty in developing countries.' There's an element of truth
in that, but it ignores other important considerations, such as political mismanagement,
commercial exploitation, and weather patterns. Oversimplification has resulted
in many misunderstandings when it comes to God's Word, the Bible. Consider,
for example, the account at Acts 16:30, 31. There a jailer asked a question
about salvation. Paul answered: 'Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will get
saved.' Many have concluded from this that simple mental acceptance of Jesus
is therefore all that is required for salvation!"
Is the Watchtower guilty of Fallacy number
5? YES!
Comment:"The
word Trinity is not found in the Bible". There's an element of truth to
that WT Society, but understanding the very being of the Almighty God is not
so "cut-n-dried". Also, the above Awake! quotation is intentionally
deceptive in that it makes it appear that the jailer was giving mere "mental
acceptance" to his believing on the Lord Jesus and that anyone who uses
this scriptural passage is merely giving mental assent to Jesus as Lord and
Savior and nothing more than that. Believing is more that mental acceptance.
It is a heartfelt appreciation and unshakeable faith in something. In the jailer's
case, faith in Jesus Christ. One does not have to go through "80 Questions"
or pass any other kind of bible quiz in order to qualify as a believer in Jesus
Christ.
Note also that the WT is also guilty of UNDERsimplification
in that they take a simple bible truth and slab layers upon layers of doctrinal
fat in order to make it look like something it is not.
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