I wrote this paper for my Logic class at University of Phoenix. We had to pick 3 logical fallacies explain and give examples. Show where an organization or business uses them. Would you guys grade my paper! I had to keep it under 1200 words.
Jehovah’s Witnesses use fallacious reasoning to argue and debate the tenets of their faith. A Jehovah’s Witness who has tried to convince them that their religion is the true one have at one time or another approached most people. The Witnesses mislead many because people do not scrutinize the arguments that they use and do not carefully think things through. Another reason it is helpful to understand the reasoning they use, is so that a person can be better equipped to expose this illogical thinking to the Witness in order to free them from this religious cult. They employ many logical fallacies and I have chosen three that are most commonly used.
One way they mislead people is by attacking the person. In using this fallacy, they say something negative about the person rather than by arguing against what the person is saying. They will use this type of fallacy when they want to discredit a statement made by someone that other people believe to be true or in fact has been proven to be true, is wrong because it goes against what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe. If they can discredit the person saying it, then the statement cannot be true. If a person used information from a book that was written by a reliable source to prove a point, a typical reply would be “Maybe that book you quoted makes a good case, but I heard the author is a drunk."(Campbell, 2004), obviously, you cannot believe anything that author says because he is a drunk. In their publications, they use this fallacy quite frequently to discredit other religions by saying the religion is bad because look at this person who belongs to it therefore anything that organization does or says is wrong.
The red herring is a fallacy that draws attention away from the central issue at hand. The Jehovah’s Witness use this when debating with someone. If you can shift the focus of the debate, you do not have to debate the issue at hand. A person may ask them, how can you be so sure that you have the true religion? A typical reply would be something like; the bible says, “By your fruits you will recognize them” (NIV, 1995). We all know that Christendom’s preachers are known for their extravagant and immoral lifestyles so it is obvious that they are not Jehovah’s people. This statement says nothing to prove why they think they have the true religion; all it does is divert one’s attention to Christendom’s preachers and their shortcomings. They are taught to use this fallacy in their ministry school. Their ministry school teaches how to convert other people to their religion. They are told that if the householder brings up an opposing point and it is difficult to convince them, divert their attention to something that is easier, perhaps they will not realize you skirted the issue.
“The Slippery Slope also might well be called the "Appeal to Fear." It shows a proposition to be unacceptable by first stating that acceptance of the proposition will lead to an unacceptable result, and then stating that the unacceptable result will in turn lead to an even more unacceptable result.”(Johnson, 2000) Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that you can be saved by merely believing in Jesus Christ. “Modern Christendom, according to the Watchtower Society, believes that a simple statement of faith in Jesus Christ earns salvation and allows the individual to spend the remainder of his or her life in libertine indulgence”. (Barker, 2000) It would be typical for them to make a statement like, “so a person could be a murderer, but as long as they believe in Jesus they will be saved”. They have a very all or nothing attitude. They think everything they believe is the absolute truth and from God, if you challenge anything they say they immediately go into defense mode and they are trained for this.
If you have spent any time, speaking with a Jehovah’s Witness you may have found it to be extremely frustrating. You can prove your point to them with a seemingly overwhelming amount of evidence, but they do not budge. There are a few reasons for this. One reason is if you show them something that seems logical but goes against what they believe, they close their eyes in a figurative sense. It is like going to a scary movie and when a scary part comes, you close your eyes, you know what is going on but you close your eyes and it goes away. It is the same with them. Unless you understand that being a Jehovah’s Witness is not only what they believe, but also that it consumes their entire life. “Most people have a handful of beliefs that are "cast in stone". Jehovah's Witnesses, on the other hand, have an entire thought-system that is inextricably intertwined with their daily lives. It is set up in such a way that if you remove one brick from the edifice, the entire building may tumble. They are well aware of this danger, and thus they cannot allow any of their beliefs to be discussed dispassionately. They have a vested interest in proving to one and all (and especially to themselves) that everything they believe is The Truth (or as close to The Truth as it is humanly possible to know).”(Campbell, 2004) If a person shows them they are wrong and they vocalize their disbelief of any of the doctrines to anyone in their church they will be disfellowshipped, and this means loosing any contact with their friends and family members that are in that church.
When you are a Jehovah’s Witness, you have to give up thinking logically. They are told that everything printed in their literature is from God and that the people that write it are spirit directed. Therefore, if a person says anything against what they believe, that person is a tool that Satan is using to pull them away from the “Truth”, or Jehovah’s Organization. They are not allowed to think for themselves. Independent thinking is strongly discouraged. This would leave a person questioning what he or she has been told and then they may leave. This is how they retain their members, fear.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have always been known for their door-to-door preaching. They are trained very well for it during their many weekly meetings that they must attend. They are fully convinced in what they believe and their salvation depends on telling everyone else, that is why they preach door-to-door zealously. Having experienced this religious cult personally, I have experienced first hand how easy it is to fall prey to their teachings. That is why it is so important for people to use good critical thinking skills when listening to one of them. In this way, a person can spot their logical fallacies in order to prevent being deceived by them, perhaps they can help the Jehovah’s Witness and open their eyes to the real “truth”.
lv4fer
JoinedPosts by lv4fer
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You guys might enjoythe "Logical Fallcies" paper for class I'm taking
by lv4fer ini wrote this paper for my logic class at university of phoenix.
we had to pick 3 logical fallacies explain and give examples.
show where an organization or business uses them.
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lv4fer
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Bisexuality Quiz
by JH inhttp://www.golivewire.com/forums/viewquiz.cgi?action=624
you are 90% straight and 10% bisexual.. .
out of the 1646 people who have taken this quiz, the average person is 40% bisexual.
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lv4fer
100% straight
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THANK YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH
by lv4fer inyou know i'm not sure if i've ever thanked all of you.
thank you simon!!!
when i was coming out 3-4 years ago, i don't know how i could of done it without you all.
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lv4fer
I was in such a state of shock, I didn't use any of the info from the site. I just did my part using the garbage from the society. It was like a ton of brick on my head. I really thought I had the truth, then it all just fell apart. I'm happy for it now but there is no description for the feeling you have. It is like someone rips your world out from under you.
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THANK YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH
by lv4fer inyou know i'm not sure if i've ever thanked all of you.
thank you simon!!!
when i was coming out 3-4 years ago, i don't know how i could of done it without you all.
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lv4fer
Yes, that is the web-site. It is very well done. I actually stumbled upon it while looking for some info for a part I was putting together for the ministry school. What a rude awakening. After reading that, it gave me the courage to question other things and then I found this web-site and everything just fell apart after that. It took me about a year to stop attending meetings completely.
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THANK YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH
by lv4fer inyou know i'm not sure if i've ever thanked all of you.
thank you simon!!!
when i was coming out 3-4 years ago, i don't know how i could of done it without you all.
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lv4fer
You know I'm not sure if I've ever thanked all of you. Thank you Simon!!! When I was coming out 3-4 years ago, I don't know how I could of done it without you all. Your encouragement. Your information. I'm out, I'm Free. And I LOVE my Lord Jesus Christ more than ever. My husband and kids are out. We celebrated our 3rd Christmas with my family and it was so wonderful. It was a difficult journey. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. When I first realized it was NOT the truth. I was a lurker for many months before I posted. People are reading and watching and listening. It is OK. I just wanted to let you guys know how much of an impact you've had on my life and my family. It is HUGE. I'm not sure I can ever thank you enough. The person who made the site 607vs587BCE is the person who started the ball rolling. If he posts here THANK YOU.
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Panic Crisis after talking to JW
by Genesis init's very strange what happened to me those days.
right now im leaving the borg and moving from my appart(im with a pioneer).
im keeping myself informed and right now im reading crisis of conscience by raymond franz.
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lv4fer
I think Panic is one of the first things you go through. Sometimes you will feel disgust for them and for yourself for allowing yourself to be misled. A sense of relief that you are out, once you get there you will begin to feel pity for those still in. Your still young and have your whole life ahead of you. Go back to school, make new friends.
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Please help us to fill out our Blood card!
by Gill inmy parents just came round with their new blood cards, asking for help to fill them in..
friend of satan!
in my mothers words, the last time we discussed the wtbts.. anyway, i said i would help them if they crossed out and signatured the part that gave access to their medical notes to the hlc.
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lv4fer
This is so wrong. I came from a congregation shere oiver half the elders didnt believe in antibiotcs or vaccinations. They said they weakened your immune system. Don't you want these elders making your healthcare decisions! Oh yeah did I mention that some of them did not graduate from high school and the highest education any of them had was a high school diploma. There fields of occupation were truck drivers and janitorial services.
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When you were a JW, which would you have prefered living on earth or heaven
by JH inwhen you were a jw and believed that either you could live in heaven or on earth eternally, which did you prefer and why?.
although we were told that heaven was a better place to live, that we would see god, and that we would live eternally and never die, i prefered living on earth, never see god, and not 100% sure of living eternally, cause we would still be mortals forever, even though we could live eternally on earth.
most jw's i know said that they would have prefered living on earth eternally in perfect health than living in heaven.
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lv4fer
OK maybe I'm a weirdo and am intrigued by the unknown, I was quite upset when they told me I wasn't going to heaven. I am quite relieved now to know that is where I am going. I always wanted to go to heaven. In fact I look forward to the day.
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Which religion is right for you?
by seesthesky inyou scored as judaism.
your views are closest to those of judaism.
if you are not a jew, do more research on judaism and possibly consider becoming one; however, realize that conversion to judaism is difficult.
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lv4fer
88% Christian, but I could of told you that! I'm wondering why I wasn't 100%
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Help Needed
by Genesis inhi there its my first post here and i need some help (sorry if im on the wrong board).
in march 2005 i was very weak spiritualy and began to read apostate litterature.
by one month i was wishing to quit the wts.
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lv4fer
It is so difficult when you have doubts. Take it one step at a time. I suggest you get together with some other XJW's who are now christian (there are a lot out there) it will help for you to know you are not the only one. IT's been almost 4 years and I wouldn't or couldn't go back.