Recently, I did a blog titled “No True Scotsman.” It dealt with the logical fallacy of a person’s stating a position and holding on to it, even when confronted with irrefutable evidence against it. Theologians do it when they say that no Christian would commit a particular sin. When they see a Christian commit that sin, they simply say, “He isn’t a true Christian.” Here is a link: https://faithalone.org/tag/perseverance/.
I remember a humorous, non-theological example of this fallacy and wanted to share the laugh with you.
I attended a military university. For part of that time, I had two roommates. One was Joe, who was full-blooded Chinese. The other was Don, a black guy from Texas.
One day, our whole class had to take a swim test. Those who failed to swim the required distance were placed in a separate group that would have to take remedial swimming lessons. A very large percentage of those who failed were black cadets. I think most of us probably thought that the black community did not spend a lot of time at swimming pools when they were growing up.
At dinner that night, a group of about ten of us were eating together, and Joe said that he had learned something new that day. When asked what it was, he said that black guys can’t swim. Don said, “I can swim.” Joe nonchalantly said, “Well, Don, then you ain’t black.” Everybody at the table, including Joe and Don, busted out laughing. Even today, more than forty years later, I laugh when I think about it.
The humorous part of the conversation was obvious. Joe made a statement about something he saw. When presented with irrefutable evidence that his statement was false, he doubled down on what was patently false. All of us, including Joe, knew his original statement was ridiculous. Doubling down on it was very funny. If Joe had been serious, he would have looked like a fool.
How strange, however, that this happens in theological discussions all the time. Imagine sitting at a table with ten people, and someone says, “A person who believes in Jesus Christ for eternal life can never cheat on his wife.” Someone at the table says, “I am a believer in Jesus Christ, and I cheated on my wife.” The first person says, “Then you have never believed in Jesus.” (You could pick any other sin that a Christian supposedly cannot commit, and it would be the same.)
With any other topic, everybody at the table would laugh at such nonsense. It would be like Joe in the dining hall. But there’s a big difference: Joe was joking. Theologians are serious when they double down. They actually tell the guy who cheated on his wife that he isn’t a believer. They know more about what the other guy believes than he does!
But they do more. They actually write books that expound their views. Imagine my roommate Joe writing a book titled “Black Guys Can’t Swim,” and being serious about it. We could only hope that it was just a big joke.
But there are a lot of theologians who don’t realize the humor in their statements. The harm they cause is not funny, but their example is. If Joe had been serious in stating that Don was not black, we would have laughed, but our laughter would have been directed at Joe. He never would have lived it down.
The words of these theologians are both sad and humorous. They don’t realize that the joke’s on them.
