Appeal to Belief (Ad Populum)

Aurora Australis

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/07/fideism.html

Appeal to Belief (Ad Populum)

According to Conway and Munson, this fallacy consists in asserting that a claim is true because people generally believe it is. This type of inference is in error because there is no reason to take what most persons believe as a reliable indicator of what is true. Conway and Munson (1997: 127). The authors note that the most common use of this fallacy is to have the premise that most persons in the world believe in God. The conclusion being that it must be true that God exists. Conway and Munson (1997: 127).

Even if it is true that most persons in the world believe in God, it does not suffice for evidence for God’s existence. I can ask; ‘Which God'? Revelation from God in our actual world can serve as one indicator of God’s existence, and natural theology and philosophical deductions concerning God can serve as another indicator of God’s existence. These two indicators could serve as premises in a formulation of an argument with a conclusion that God exists, and these are not merely appeals to popular opinion. Within Christian tradition an appeal to revealed Scripture is an appeal to documented historical interaction between God and persons, and with natural theology and philosophy, the existence of God is reasoned through deduced concepts concerning reality, which are reasoned to point toward the existence of a first cause creator.

CONWAY DAVID A. AND RONALD MUNSON (1997) The Elements of Reasoning, Wadsworth Publishing Company, New York.

From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, California State University

http://www.iep.utm.edu/f/fallacy.htm#Appeal%20to%20the%20People

Appeal to the People

If you suggest too strongly that someone's claim or argument is correct simply because it's what most everyone believes, then you've committed the fallacy of appeal to the people. Similarly, if you suggest too strongly that someone's claim or argument is mistaken simply because it's not what most everyone believes, then you've also committed the fallacy. Agreement with popular opinion is not necessarily a reliable sign of truth, and deviation from popular opinion is not necessarily a reliable sign of error, but if you assume it is and do so with enthusiasm, then you're guilty of committing this fallacy. It is also called mob appeal, appeal to the gallery, argument from popularity, and argumentum ad populum. The 'too strongly' is important in the description of the fallacy because what most everyone believes is, for that reason, somewhat likely to be true, all things considered. However, the fallacy occurs when this degree of support is overestimated.

Example:

You should turn to channel 6. It's the most watched channel this year.

This is fallacious because of its implicitly accepting the questionable premise that the most watched channel this year is, for that reason alone, the best channel for you.

End

Some fun paraphrased statements

From a church acquaintance friend in the church eating area:

She: I am really concerned about you. If you do not %#@%&^ buy that CPAP machine soon for your sleep apnea, and you die, I will be angry with you forever in heaven.

She had asked me out for lunch a couple of times previously and I had said sure, but I did not follow up with it. I think I was on to something…

Two women my friend and I met in Manhattan on a date via Christian Cafe:

She: You (me) are quite normal, but your friend (Documentary Man from England) is like a talking Encyclopedia.

Chatting with a woman on Yahoo Messenger from Asia:

She: I want to spend more time with you.

Me: Sorry this is Yahoo Messenger and I have a PhD to finish, but I do like being friends.

Chatting on Yahoo Messenger and MSN with a woman in Africa:

She: You should move to my African country (she has asked me more than once over the years), as you will be treated like royalty here.

Me: Sorry, I am strictly a first world type of guy, especially after four degrees as a full-time student without full-time income. I am not going to live in the third world, God willing.

Chatting with a woman on MSN after one local date:

She: Now I require that you tell me five things you remember about me from our date. You must get these right.

Me (thinking): You are out of here…

On a date from someone from Vancouver Island :

Me: I collect some live bootleg albums of live performances.

She: I really hate more than one version of one song, ever.

She makes a big deal of this issue.

Me (thinking): We are done…hooray.

An email from a Eastern European scammer:

She (after I blew the whistle): I love you.

Me: Boy, I must be really special!

Happy little semiautomatic assault rifle, there.

Bob Ross, Mountain Retreat

From:

It is not well-written, and I did not write it.

http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=71972

Church Sponsored Teen Gun Giveaway Canceled

Windsor Hills Baptist Church of Oklahoma has canceled it's giveaway of a semiautomatic assault rifle at its weekend youth conference because one of the organizers injured his foot. The gun is a prize in the weekend's shooting competition.

The church’s youth pastor, Bob Ross, says “We have 21 hours of preaching and teaching throughout the week,I don’t want people thinking ‘My goodness, we’re putting a weapon in the hand of somebody that doesn’t respect it who are then going to go out.. and kill, That’s not at all what we’re trying to do.” The gun, which cost $800 will be given away next year.

Source: www.koco.com

http://www.koco.com/news/16860079/detail.html

I am not against someone in a home owning a gun for self-defence. But I have two points.

1. Why is a Christian church even considering giving a semiautomatic assault rifle to a teen which is not an adult and may not be responsible with the weapon? Why is a Christian church involved with distributing guns at all? That should be up to licensed gun shops and stores and the civil authorities.

2. The youth pastor's name is Bob Ross! There, a happy little gun for you, and when you shoot those happy little burglars as they break into your happy little house, if you shoot the wrong person during the burglary, remember, there are no mistakes just happy accidents.


Canaletto: An Allegorical Painting of the Tomb of Lord Somers 1722-29

I have viewed this painting.

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/07/power-of-positive-linking-joy-of.html

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/07/these-are-my-terms.html

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/07/dangers-of-sentimental-theology.html

How do these people survive?

Note: Blogger spellchecker does not always work properly! It actually messes up some words! I had to republish this article as Blogger messed the original up.

July 1 and July 4 are gone for another year.

My birthday was yesterday. The fireworks were not for me.

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/07/these-are-my-terms.html

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/07/dangers-of-sentimental-theology.html

The last two articles on this blog were time consuming, controversial, and blog trolled, and so I think this article will be short, sweet and entertaining, I hope.

I will not censor this blog of all potentially controversial material, however.



Bud Light 'Jammin'

My Mom sent this list to me by email:

How do these people survive?

ONE

Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. 'We don't have half dozen nuggets,' said the teenager at the counter. 'You don't?' I replied. 'We only have six, nine, or twelve,' was the reply. 'So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?' 'That's right.' So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets (I'm gona try this.....)

Is the word dozen passé with the youngsters?

TWO

I was checking out at the local Woolworths with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those 'dividers' that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the 'divider', looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, 'Do you know how much this is?'
I said to her 'I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today.' She said 'OK,' and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.

Hey, I would like to know how much those dividers cost now. Perhaps I can purchase one and take it to every grocery store I visit.

THREE

A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM 'thingy.'

Yes, I pull cash out of my computer ATM all the time. I think this number three incident is misplaced and does not belong on this list. I do not go to my local bank anymore as I just use my computer ATM.

FOUR

I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. 'Do you need some help?' I asked. She replied, 'I knew I! should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?' Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?' I asked. 'No, just this remote thingy,' she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, 'Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk..'

Does she stop watching her television when the batteries for the remote control run dry?

FIVE

Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, 'I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do? Just use copier machine paper, the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five 'blank' copies. Brunette, by the way!!

I hope that she was an exceptional typist.

SIX

A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room, the kid was eating ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and he should be fine, the mother says, 'I just gave him some ant killer.....' Dispatcher: 'Rush him in to emergency!'

With the stories like this one, I realize why some suggest that potential parents should have to take a course and receive a licence before being allowed to have children.

I do not know if this story is fact or fiction, but I see it is on quite a few web pages. Theologically and practically I reason that parents should take the job of parenting very seriously. Parenting should not just be a result of unintentional procreation, but should consist of parents gaining knowledge in how to bring up their children in the best way possible. When Exodus 20: 12 tells one to honour your father and mother in order that your days be prolonged, this would largely require one's parents to possess a certain amount of common sense and wisdom that the mother in the story lacked. It would be difficult for a child to honour foolish parents that do not lead them to a prolonged life.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/soccer/2008/0702/1214949282890.html

With Spain winning the 2008 European Championships, they are now rated the #1 national soccer club in the world by FIFA and these dubious rankings. Brazil and Argentina fall down in the rankings just because they do not play in the European Championships, being South American teams. It is too difficult to properly rank almost two hundred national teams that do not play games regularly.

Fifa Rankings (previous position in brackets):

1. (4) Spain
2. (3) Italy
3. (5) Germany
4. (2) Brazil
5. (10) Netherlands
6. (1) Argentina
7. (15) Croatia
8. (6) Czech Republic
9. (11) Portugal
10. (7) France
11. (24) Russia
12. (12) Romania
13. (13) Cameroon
14. (20) Turkey
15. (9) England
16. (17) Scotland
17. (18) Bulgaria
18. (8) Greece
19. (14) Mexico
20 (16) Ghana
33. (32) Northern Ireland
41. (42) Rep of Ireland
54. (53) Wales

© 2008 The Irish Times

Pick-up lines

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/07/dangers-of-sentimental-theology.html

Blogger posts a July 1 article on June 30...whatever.

I have never used pick-up lines, and will not use them. I think that they obviously lack sincerity. One is better off researching the subject of dating and relationships from professionals, rather than goofing around with this type of material. But, some of it is funny. This is my second attempt at a scheduled article for July 1 at 00: 00:01 and there will be another article on thekingpin68. I have had some problems with this article, including with posting images, and obviously the article has been posted a day early and so there are Blogger bugs. Please do not be too critical if there are mistakes. I will fix when I can.:)

I am no relationship expert, but I reason a healthy potential relationship should be based on sincerity, honesty, and integrity. If one finds someone attractive and there is not mutual attraction, one should move on...next! That is so simple, but can be difficult to accept.

http://saltnpepper.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/christian-pick-up-lines-a-collection-of-the-worst/

“nice bible.”

Perhaps you will be beaten with it.

“is this pew taken?”

Yes and her boyfriend as in 6 foot 5, 250 pounds.

"i just don’t feel called to celibacy.”

She might after she sees you.

“you are so unblemished that i would sacrifice you.”

She may be willing to sacrifice you.

“i didnt believe in predestination until tonight.”

You have seen the light...well I hope so: Ephesians 1 and Romans 8.

“i believe one of my ribs belongs to you.”

Just go eat some chicken and ribs and don't speak.

“marry me.”

Women have told me that this is stated on Christian Cafe.com.

“if you say no, i will rip out my hair and my beard”

A few of my friends would have little to worry about.

“so, my parents are home, you wanna come over?”

Do not be tempted to use this one, even if Mommy is a good cook.

“you’re totally depraved but i’d still like to go out with you…”

Yes, you have seen the light, again.

http://www.christianpickuplines.com/

What do you think Paul meant when he said, 'Greet everyone with a holy kiss'?

How about a holy slap in return.

How about a hug, sister?

This is worthy of a two-handed, Incredible Hulk slap, perhaps.

Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?

Not as much as your ego is going to hurt in a few moments.

What are your plans for tonight? Feel like a Bible study?

No, I am not that stupid;)), I would not use that one.

Lines Christian Women Use to Break-up

I'm sorry, I've found someone more spiritual.

In the late 1980s, a young blonde told me that I did not have enough Christian friends to have a girlfriend, lame. Hmm, I probably knew more theology when I was 18 than she knows now.

I think we should just be prayer partners.

Thank you, please pray that I will meet women different than you.

You need someone with lower standards.

Now that you have said that, I realize I need higher standards.

Russ;)

I do not, and have never had an account with BMO, and have received many of these messages, supposedly from banks.



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