Society is losing the ability to think critically and determine good information from bad. This ability was given to us by Yahweh when He made mankind in His image. In this message, I address logical fallacies, which are errors in thinking that lead people to false conclusions. These concepts are biblical and we are even commanded to think properly in order to make sound judgments.
Audio only below.
Slide 2 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says YHVH, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of YHVH has spoken. (Isa 1:18-20)
Isaiah 1:18 famously reads “Come, let us reason together, says Yahweh. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be whiter than snow.”
This line is in the midst of a rather blunt rebuke of Israel for falling away while still obeying the festivals and, effectively, pretending to be righteous. This is rife in our society today. Putting on airs is how we coin it, or blatant hypocrisy. In the context of Isaiah 1, Yahweh is telling the leadership of Judah to stop doing this. He’s telling them to repent of their evil deeds, knock them off, and return to obeying both observing the festivals and all of the Torah. He’s telling them to use their ability to reason and come to the logical conclusion that He is the only true Elohim (God) and their only mechanism for salvation is through Him.
Today I want to talk about reason. Our ability to think critically and come to good conclusions. Because our society is almost completely been destroyed through the dismantling of this fundamental to human thought. Our ability to reason, to think, to weigh choices, to analyze data and experiences, in order to improve ourselves and our society, is what separates us from the animal kingdom. Adam was given the task of naming the animals because he was given the ability to do so. Humankind was made in the image of Elohim. Part of that was the ability to think and deduce.
One of my favorite topics in college, and even in High School AP English, which my daughters are learning now, are logical fallacies. When learning to write one task is learning how to author an argumentative essay. To do that, we get educated on logical fallacies, which are errors in reasoning that lead people to make erroneous decisions. Learning that this is still part of the curriculum in college, which is where my daughters are learning this, is a good thing. But it makes me concerned for society because if people are still learning about these things, why does our public discourse look like the population is completely ignorant of these things?
A case in point is that we bought a new truck back in 2017. Our old Suburban was crumbling and we needed a vehicle to take its place. A Suburban was out of the question because at that time, they cost about half as much as a house. Today, they are up to the price of a full duplex. So we need a truck that did a few specific things and at a certain price point. I contacted dealers who said they could meet our needs. However, they kept asking what color we wanted. We did not care about the color of the vehicle unless it was atrocious. It’s not like a manufacturer is going to put something out that people don’t want to look at, so our focus was on cost and capability. This is what should take precedence when making a large purchase of anything. We got to the dealership and they had two trucks waiting for us to test drive. They were stunning, one black and one royal blue. We drove them and liked them but realized they had us drive the nicest trucks on the lot. There was no way we could afford these things. When we got done driving them, the salesman asked “do you want the black one or the green one”? I asked how much they cost. He would not answer. I had to get blunt and ask if they were near our price point, where he told me that our price point couldn’t be met, we needed to come up. But he still wouldn’t tell us how much they cost. We ultimately had to leave, kids in tow, while the guy literally chased us in the parking lot.
This sales technique is successful because of logical fallacies. Marketing is almost completely base on these, which is why we need to be concerned for the fate of our society. We have all bought things that we just “wanted” based on attraction. I’ve made this mistake with purchases large and small alike. I once bought a lever action hunting rifle because it was simple beautiful. I had no idea how to hunt and had no need for this rifle whatsoever, but like a fool, I let it catch my eye and then I held it. Big mistake. $600 out the window and I was the proud owner of something I simply wanted. I ultimately learned how to hunt deer, got one, and then sold that rifle for quite a profit. That’s because it had the initials JM on it and turned out to be among the last lever action Marlin’s produced with John Marlin’s initials on it. Yes, I bought it on emotion and made money because someone else had a stronger emotional attachment to it. I should probably be ashamed of that transaction now that I think of it.
So let’s look at a couple logical fallacies. A great place to learn about this is the website for Purdue University here Fallacies – Purdue OWL® – Purdue University. Which is the site I’m using to define these things. Keep in mind that these concepts are in Latin, but are also in Torah. These things are ancient errors in logic that Yahweh has warned us about and that mankind has also learned to label and avoid the hard way.
Post hoc or false cause logical fallacy is when conclusions are drawn based on coincidences. This is also similar to the phrase “non-sequitur” meaning “does not follow” or, in southern US language “you can’t get there from here”. False causes and non-sequiturs are when things happen at the same time that might look related but really aren’t. A way to think about this are these commercials for vitamins and health products that show people doing athletic or active things and try to make you think that the product they are advertising caused them to be able to do those things but they really didn’t. It could be the person adopted a lifestyle change, changed their diet, and consciously decided to get out more at the same time they started taking the healthcare product. In this case, the product may have helped but it’s not clear causation for the change. Another way to think of this is if someone said they played the lottery for years and never won. But after they started taking these health products, whamo, they hit the jackpot! That’s an extreme example to make the case.
This one shows up in scripture when Yeshua talks about the people who died when a tower fell on them in Luke 13:1-5. He makes the case that all are sinners so the manner of death is rather irrelevant if one doesn’t repent, that their horrific death was not the result of some special level of sinfulness they had attained.
Ad hominem logical fallacy means “to the person”. This is when people are smeared to get folks turned against the person rather than deal with the person’s argument. This happens so much in politics I don’t think we will ever return to debating issues. Each campaign smears the other candidate to the point of making that person seem like a demon when they really aren’t. This can work in reverse as well where people will follow someone’s advice because they like them, irrespective of whether the person is putting forth sound advice. This is why actors, who are popular because of acting, are often used in advocacy campaigns. The people are comfortable with a certain person telling them things so they are more receptive to other information from that person. But we really should be looking at topics and arguments objectively, without regard to the person making the argument. In scripture, the spiritual leaders of Yeshua’s day tried to smear Him at every turn to get the people to dismiss Him and His teachings because they could not refute His words. This was an attempt to use the ad hominem logical fallacy.
Ad Populum logical fallacy is when people go along with the crowd just because the crowd is doing it. We can see this today with social media trying to make immorality popular so more people agree with it and legalize/normalize it. We see it very often when the media gets us all mad about an issue in order to change our behavior, such as to favor one candidate or another in an election. What does the Torah say about this?
Slide 3 “You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice;” (Exo 23:2)
Today, this is probably the most dangerous logical fallacy in existence. Because our entire foundation for understanding the world comes from a flawed cultural experience. In the days of Moses, when this mitzvot was given, Yahweh had established His culture and all the children would be raised in a proper culture, knowing right from wrong from when they could learn. So their population was intended to be inherently sound. Our culture is, let’s face it, crazy. There is no right or wrong anymore at all! So we start our life experiences without being surrounded by a population with and foundational morality that is sloshing around in a living cultural experiment. At any given moment, we do not know what will become popular and a new norm and what virtue that has been held dear for hundreds of years will become unpopular to the point of being exterminated. When we are at the will of the a volatile populous, we are in a state of pure chaos, never knowing how to think or react to any situation. This situation happens often in history. People get ginned up on a large scale to make decisions they would never normally make and almost instantly regret. The Bolshevik Revolution when Russia became communist is one. The NAZIs coming to power is another. Our own country is at great risk of this today, as we have had incredibly emotionally driven protests and riots in the last few years where people were clearly being manipulated through media to perform certain behaviors.
You probably already know where this is going, but there’s a big place in scripture where this logical fallacy was employed by none other than Satan himself.
Slide 4 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Yeshua to death. But the governor said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Yeshua who is called Messiah?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!” (Mat 27:19-23)
The people had been ginned up to despise the Messiah and Pilate allowed himself to be swayed because he didn’t want a riot or civil war, thus yielding to the ad populum logical fallacy. Don’t let the irony that it’s in Latin to be lost. The nation that was told to not follow the masses into evil persuaded the nation that knew better than to follow a logical fallacy to murder an innocent man, the very Son of Yahweh. The lesson today is to not be a part of this.
By the way, this one works in reverse, too. Just because the masses do or believe something doesn’t make it right or wrong. We also need to be careful not to discard information because it is popular, but do our best to judge each situation on its merits, which is what will happen at the end of days when the books are opened and all mankind are judged based on the context of their lives.
