THE IMPORTANCE OF LOGIC IN CHRISTIANITY
FOR A SOUND DOCTRINAL, SPIRITUAL & MENTAL LIFE
Part 5: The 6 logical fallacies of the Jehovah’s
Witnesses with respect to John 17:3:
The Formal Fallacies
We are in the midst of studying the
six logical fallacies the Jehovah’s Witnesses (J’sW)
commit in their own chief “proof” text of John 17:3—which they use to deny the full
deity of Jesus Christ.
Three are informal: equivocation, begging the question,
and undesirable/untenable results. Three are formal: Illicit Major, Illicit Minor, and Weaker Premise. Today we take a
look at the formal fallacies (this material is taken from Aaron Tuazon Shelenberger's excellent
article in Christian Apologetics Journal, Fall 2009).
Formal fallacies deal with the form of the logical argument in the
syllogism (sil-o-jism). Syllogism is the
basic tool of all deductive logic. It is rather easy to recognize. Whenever you see
two propositions that have one term in common and are followed by a conclusion
(a proposition that might be introduced by hence,
therefore, so or thus), that’s a
syllogism. It
may not be a good one, but it is a syllogism nonetheless. Simply put, a syllogism is the format
that we use to put the propositions together so we can analyze their
relationships to one another to see if they make sense.
The
most basic kind of syllogism is called a categorical
syllogism. It is called categorical because it is made up of two
unconditional premises leading to an unconditional conclusion: in other words,
three categorical statements. The first term is called the major term. The second term is called the minor term. Then
you have a conclusion based on the relationship
between the two premises.
There
are seven simple rules of the categorical syllogism. The seven rules
and examples below are taken from Norman Geisler’s, Come Let Us Reason, An
Introduction to Logical Thinking:
(1)
There must be only three terms.
Major: All inspired
writings are included in the Scriptures
Minor: Handel was inspired when he wrote the Messiah.
Conclusion: Therefore, Handel’s Messiah should be included in the
Scriptures.
Note the fallacy: a fourth term is smuggled
in the syllogism: the fourth term is
added to the middle term as “inspired” here means something different than in
the major premise–i.e. fallacy of equivocation.
(2) The
middle term must be distributed at least once.
Major: All Baptists are baptized
Minor: All
Presbyterians are baptized
Conclusion: Therefore, all
Presbyterians are Baptists.
Note the fallacy: Presbyterians is not distributed in both premises:
(3) Terms
distributed in the conclusion must be distributed in
the premises.
Major: All Hindus are vegetarians
Minor: No Jehovah’s Witness is a Hindu
Conclusion: Therefore, no
Jehovah’s Witness is a vegetarian.
Note the fallacy: Jehovah’s Witnesses is not distributed in the premises:
(4) The conclusion
always follows the weaker premise.
Major: No wicked person will escape judgment
Minor: Some Americans are wicked
Conclusion: Therefore, some
Americans will not escape judgment.
Note the fallacy: The chain of an argument
is no stronger than its weakest link. Because the major premise is negative,
the conclusion must be negative. Because the minor premise is
particular, the conclusion cannot be universal.
(5) No
conclusion follows from two negative premises.
Major: No humans are
angels
Minor: No angels are God.
Conclusion Therefore, ?.
This is often called the
fallacy of “Exclusive Premises” because two negative premises exclude the
possibility of any relationship between them.
(6) No
conclusion follows from two simple particular premises..
Major: Some premillennialists are charismatic.
Minor: Some Catholics are charismatic.
Conclusion: Therefore, some
Catholics are premillennialists.
Whether the statement is true or not is beside the
point when dealing with formal fallacies. It is all about the form of the
argument where deductive logic gives us necessary conclusions.
(7) No
negative conclusion follows from two affirmative premises.
Major: All members of the Trinity are fully God.
Minor: Some members of the Trinity take order from God the Father (Jn 16:5-7)
Conclusion: Therefore, not
all members of the Trinity are equal to God the Father.
This argument has been used for ages to show that
Christ was not equal with God, but obviously the conclusion does not logically follow. No negative conclusion can come from
affirmative premises.
The logical conclusion is “Some who take orders from the Father
are fully God.” They
are still God but act in voluntary submission.
That’s
it! Only seven
rules for evaluating all syllogisms. Now let’s
take a look at a sound syllogistic argument that does not violate any of the
rules.
Major: 1. All men are
mortal
Minor: 2. Socrates is a man.
Conclusion 3. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
Now
let’s put the Js’W argument
in syllogistic form:
Major: 1. The Father is the only true God
(proper form based on text of Jn 17:3).
Minor: 2. The Father (is the one who) sent
Christ.
Conclusion: 3. Therefore, Christ is not the only true God.
Can
you see the fallacies of the argument? The first premise is based on what the
text actually says (not their conversion/corruption of the clause). The second premise
is rather simply and undisputed. But what about the conclusion? Does this follow? There are at least
four violations here, Illicit Major, Illicit Minor, Weaker Premise (#4)
and #7.
Fallacies of Illicit Major and Illicit Minor. Note the violation of rule #3
above, terms distributed in the
conclusion must be distributed in the premises. Violating
this rule results in the argument’s committing two fallacies: Illicit Major and
Illicit Minor. In
Illicit Major the major term “the only true God” is distributed in the
conclusion but not the premise. The proposition “Only the Father is the only
true God” is smuggled into the conclusion without at all being established
in the premises. In
other words, the Father is not necessarily the only “only true God.” The major premise establishes the Father as
in the category “only true God;” however, nowhere does it establish that
another member does not belong in the category. The minor premise merely affirms the
fact that the Father sent Christ, and says nothing else. Hence, the argument is invalid. Another violation
in this areas of terms distributed is called Illicit Minor.
The
minor term “Christ” is distributed in the conclusion but not in the premise. Similar
to the previous case, the argument is claiming more in the conclusion that
it has in its premises.
The premises merely establish that the Father is in two
categories, namely, “only true God” and “one who sent Jesus Christ.” They do
not even come near to disqualifying any other member as the one true God, as
the conclusion purports it to be.
Fallacy of
Weaker Premise (#4) and #7. In #4 if both premises are positive, then the weakest possible
conclusion is still positive. In #7
above, no negative conclusion follows
from affirmative premises. There is just no way to
sneak a negative conclusion if it wasn’t there in the premises. Both the major and
minor premises have positive quality, and the least one can get from them is
positive. The
negative conclusion cannot be drawn from the premises. Hence, the argument is invalid and no
confidence can be reposed form the truth of the conclusion.
The
J’sW might attempt to reconstruct the syllogism to
look something like:
Major: The Father is the only true God.
Minor: Christ is not the Father.
Conclusion: Therefore, Christ is not the only true God.
This argument
does not commit Illicit Minor, since the minor term “Christ” is distributed
both in the premise and in the conclusion. But it does commit Illicit Major, since the major term is
distributed in the conclusion but not in the major premise. The conclusion is claiming more than
what the premises establish.
Again, the proposition “Only the Father is the only true God”
cannot legitimately be drawn from the available premises and be forced into the
conclusion. For
the major premise merely establishes that the Father is called the “only true
God”; it does not disqualify any other entity as a member in the class. The minor premise
establishes that Christ is not classed with “Father” and vice-versa, so that
the subject and the predicate are interchangeable. Hence, the second form of the argument
does not obtain what it claims due to its being invalid and the fact that the
conclusion cannot be ascertained to be true based on
the given premises.
While
on a technical level the formal fallacies in and of themselves do not in any
way touch on the truth of an argument, they do establish sound principles for
necessary conclusions.
Again and again we see that the arguments by J’sW
are unsound and unsuccessful. The bottom line here is that on the
basis of pure logic, according to the principles of informal and formal logic,
the Watchtower (publication of the J’sW) has not been
able to prove that “Only the Father
is the only true God.”
John 17:3 has become a favorite verse of J’sW
and other groups who deny the deity of Jesus Christ. These detractors seem to think that
the verse is a liability to orthodoxy. Quite the contrary, it serves as an
asset to the Trinity. For
the verse affirms the doctrine in part: there is but one God, which affirms biblical
monotheism; the Father is called God; and the Father and the Son are two
separate persons, which denies heretical Modalism (i.e. that the Father are Son
are just different roles played by the same person). No one is saying that John 17:3 fully establishes the orthodox view. To successfully
establish any argument, the whole counsel of God, the Bible must be taken into
consideration. The
point here is that when a J’sW “hits” us with John
17:3 we do not have to run to other verses “to pit” one passage against another one. We can show them that their chief passage does not teach what they
are saying. Then
after destroying their foundation passage, we can go to many other passages which declare in no uncertain terms the full
deity of Jesus Christ and His equality with God the Father.
Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternal Life, Prince of Peace. 7
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it
and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
John 10:30 "I and
the Father are one."
2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to
the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are
destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised
up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive
to the obedience of Christ,
Christian doctrine matters!
Pastor Don