{"id":781,"date":"2008-08-24T13:58:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-24T13:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/2008\/08\/24\/jesus-mad-bad-or-god\/"},"modified":"2008-08-24T13:58:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-24T13:58:00","slug":"jesus-mad-bad-or-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/2008\/08\/24\/jesus-mad-bad-or-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus – “Mad, bad or God?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following on from preceding post, the “Mad, Bad or God” challenge so often put by Christians (first put by C.S. Lewis) is really an example of the fallacy of false dilemma (as Kyle P. points out in comment on preceding post). In the Philosophy Gym, I call it the salesperson’s fallacy<\/span>, because it is commonly used by salespeople.<\/p>\n

The “Mad, Bad or God” challenge is being used to “sell” Christianity by presenting us with just three options, which then seem to force us to choose “God” as most probable answer. It works by airbrushing out other, far more likely, answers (see preceding post<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Here’s the entry:<\/p>\n

False dilemma<\/span> (the salesperson\u2019s favourite)<\/p>\n

It is common to argue like this:<\/p>\n

Either A or B<\/span>
Not A<\/span>
Therefore B<\/span><\/p>\n

This is often a perfectly acceptable form of argument, as in this case:<\/p>\n

Either John has a driving license or else John is not permitted to drive.<\/span>
John has not got a driving license.<\/span>
Therefore, John is not permitted to drive.<\/span><\/p>\n

This argument, on the other hand, is not acceptable:<\/p>\n

Either 1 + 1 = 5 or 2 + 2 = 5<\/span>
It is not true that 1 + 1 = 5<\/span>
Therefore, 2 + 2 = 5<\/span><\/p>\n

Why not? Because, unlike in the first argument, the alternatives presented in the either\/or premise could both be false. People often construct such arguments without registering that both alternatives might be false, as in this example:<\/p>\n

Either we cut welfare or the government goes into the red<\/span>
We cannot allow the government to go into the red<\/span>
Therefore we must cut welfare<\/span><\/p>\n

In this case, there are other options not mentioned, such as raise taxes. Customers are often railroaded into making bad decisions by a salesperson\u2019s use of false dilemma:<\/p>\n

Either you give a substantial donation to the Blue Meanie Cult or you will have an unhappy life.<\/span>
You don\u2019t want an unhappy life, do you?<\/span>
So make that donation!<\/span><\/p>\n

Either you buy the Kawazuki K1000 for great home sound entertainment, or else you make do with second rate rubbish.<\/span>
Are you really prepared to accept second rate rubbish? I thought not.<\/span>
So you have no choice, do you? You have to buy the Kawazuki K1000!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following on from preceding post, the “Mad, Bad or God” challenge so often put by Christians (first put by C.S. Lewis) is really an example of the fallacy of false dilemma (as Kyle P. points out in comment on preceding post). In the Philosophy Gym, I call it the salesperson’s fallacy, because it is commonly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jesus-mad-bad-or-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}