Philosophy 170

Introduction

Fallacies are always around us. Every time we switch on a TV, radio, or even purchase a newspaper, we hear or read about news full of ‘idols’ or fallacies. Fallacies can be defined as statements, arguments, false notions, invalid inferences, false reasoning, or the quality of an individual being deceptive. Essentially, we use fallacies in all aspects of our life meaning to some of us that they have been found to be a staple part of our life. It has been argued that politicians and reporters could have been lost in their duties. They use fallacies to flavor arguments and reconnect to the society. In this essay, three common logical fallacies will be used to summarize and explain the claim “Real Christians don’t judge” (Lewis 56).

The topic has been chosen given that most of the TV preachers keenly stress on the Biblical verse that Christians should not judge others. The argument has taken a different tune from non-Christians and pagans who even use the verse to shield some evil deeds. The errors found in some of the fallacies are made to convince and inbox a society certain pertinent issues. Logical fallacies are mainly used in newspapers and Televisions by politicians; for example, The Citizen-Times newspaper revealed a certain Iranian foreign minister’s statement that targeted Americans (Blanton 78).

The minister was quoted revealing that Americans are hypocritical Christians because they are judging Iran on her uranium enrichment program. He said that Christians should not judge and so Americans should not see the nuclear weapon in Iran yet it synthesizes them. We are aware of some of the reasons why some countries use uranium to generate energy and make nuclear weapons (Blanton 34). Therefore, Iranian foreign ministers used the Biblical verse to shield their country and be seen as a sacrificial lamb. The Americans are genuine in taming all nuclear programs and therefore Iran should not be exempted on the basis that Americans are Christians and therefore should not judge others.

Discussion

1. Summary of the claim presented

Whenever we are driving behind some vehicles with stickers, the first thing catching our attention is the words on the bumper stickers. Now most of the vehicles have stickers with the words “Real Christians don’t judge”. Essentially, most of us do not give the stickers second thoughts. However, these words are full of fallacies. Imagine that a pagan, homosexist, terrorist, or even a Muslim put such a sticker (Lewis 45). What will always come across our minds is that the owner of the vehicle mocks Christianity. The vehicle is not as essential as the person within it. In fact, that very person driving the vehicle had a lot in the mind before using such a sticker.

It is essential for us to understand why such a sticker was used, the message conveyed by the sticker, the fallacies behind the message being communicated, and all the problems linked to such arguments. However, the sticker will be interesting if found on a vehicle belonging to a non-Christian. A non-Christian person’s vehicle mounted with a sticker “Real Christians don’t judge” reveals that Christians are hypocritical and therefore do not reflect the image of God. Another possible location of the sticker will be on a Homosexual activist’s car (Lewis 132). It can be interpreted to mean that Homosexual activists use the stickers to hide some of their evil norms or twist the scripture in order to bar Christians from judging them.

Essentially, it has been found that non-Christians are good in using biblical scriptures to bar their Christian brothers from cherry-picking and judging them. Sadly, most of the Christians sit at the back and watch how these evil-doers use this law from Scripture to commit evil acts. Some of the Christians go to Facebook or other websites and declare that those with such stickers on the bumpers of their vehicles are better Christians than they are (Blanton 66).

2. Present critical feedback by identifying fallacies

Fallacies are errors in reasoning created both intentionally and unintentionally by users in order to cheat others and distract them from the truth. The claim “Real Christians don’t judge” has several fallacies, such as logical fallacies, appeal to emotion fallacy, amphiboly, and non sequitur. The logical fallacy is used to persuade the Christians not to place judgments on the driver. The driver may have been overspeeding, an evil-doer or even a thug (Blanton 111). However, the sticker will help the driver avoid being judged, arrested or prosecuted. The sticker can even convince a Christian police officer on a road block and therefore allow an individual who has broken some of the road rules escape. This erroneous action will disguise an individual leading him or her to escaping the law of Scripture hence sensitive (Lewis 178).

The amphiboly fallacy arises where an individual makes an erroneous interpretation of the words on the sticker before making a false suggestion to the reader. It is applicable where the statements are ambiguous and deliberately used to meet certain hidden agendas. In our scenario, the sticker states, “Real Christians don’t judge”. The statement was ambiguous because it means that the non-real Christians can judge, which is not true (Lewis 89). This fallacy forces Christians to remain adamant in judging others. Moreover, the statement can be interpreted to mean that we have Christians who are not real and therefore they should judge others. We know that all Christians understand the law of Scripture and therefore there are different rooms for judgment.