Comment on Don’t judge me! by Chuck.
OK, I won’t judge Samuel Koranteng-Pipim for using the following line in a debate:
And I said, “If it’s wrong to judge people, Mary, why are you judging
me? Are you God?â€
I won’t judge the author’s use of the ad hominem (“against the person”) and tu quoque (“you, too!”) and the false dichotomy logical fallacies since I doubt he was using them purposefully. I give him the benefit of the doubt because he actually seems smugly satisfied with the results of his syllogism. But I am strongly tempted to judge harshly the university that gave him a PhD and, therefore, devalue my own education–since we went to the same institution! But I will not do that because that would be falling for another logical fallacy (hasty generalization).
Actually, the whole article (and this whole web site) swims in the “slippery slope” fallacy. If someone questions your view of morality or strays from your way of interpreting Scripture you label them “relativists” and warn that we don’t want to go down that “slippery slope.”
Well, the reality is that some moral dilemmas are just that–dilemmas. And some dilemmas call for relativity in order to even approach dealing with them.
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So Chuck, Is “evolution as fact†a moral dilemma that we cannot judge except by humanistic relativism? Just wondering! (Quote)
Dr. Ron,
Did my entry say anything about creation or my views on it? Wasn’t the original article primarily about relativism? I was critiquing the author’s all-or-nothing thinking and his logical fallacies.
But since you brought up creation . . . I believe in a Transcendent God who we, using Paul’s terminology, we see but “darkly”. I embrace the mysteries of God–his eternalness, Christ’s incarnation, the person (or nonperson) of the Holy Spirit, and His glorious creation! These, and the many other mysteries of God (including His Word), I embrace whole-heartedly.
I purpose that this approach glorifies a transcendent God much more than your obsession with literalism. The Creation stories in Genesis are very important and meaningful to me and I believe they are based on a literal event (God’s creating the earth) however, I implore you, leave room for some symbolism and Mystery!
