Another hallmark example exists of a false dilemma being used in the church. In her book, Shepherds for Sale, Megan Basham points out how many stances—on everything from immigration to taking Covid-19 vaccines to transgender issues—are dependent on a love your neighbor principle. As Basham points out, the argument goes something like this: “Why should the United States reward tens of millions of illegal immigrants with citizenship despite the fact they broke our laws, and immigration drives down wages for blue-collar workers? Simple: love your neighbor.”
(Joshua Parcha – American Reformer) Chip and Joanna Gaines have a new show out on their Magnolia Network titled, “Back to the Frontier.” The show “is facing backlash from conservatives evangelicals because the show features a same-sex couple” and “their 10-year-old twin sons who were born via a surrogate,” according to AL.com and The Daily Beast. Responding to this controversy, Chip Gaines posted the following on X:
“Talk, ask qustns [sic], listen. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never It’s a sad sunday when ‘non believers’ have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian💔.”
Later, Mr. Gaines told Christians that they should “‘judge not….’ ‘Love one another’ it’s not difficult,” apparently having complete amnesia to the fact that just minutes prior he had unequivocally judged all of modern Christianity as hateful and vitriolic.
The substance of the controversy aside, the response from Gaines illustrates perfectly what I will call the faulty logic of a false dilemma. This faulty logic is prevalent in the public responses and arguments of Christian leaders today, no matter the topic. Understanding the way this faulty logic functions is essential not only to making better arguments but to protecting yourself from succumbing to faulty arguments. Others have sufficiently and effectively confronted the opinions and actions of the Gaines’s. What needs to be further understood, however, is the rhetorical and polemical strategies in play.
Related
Chip Gaines Attacks Christians on Twitter
An Open Letter to Chip and Joanna Gaines
CRN has compiled a list of false teachers and several other professing Christians we’ve warned you about over the years. The list also contains those we must keep an eye on plus movements, organizations and “frauds, phonies and money-grubbing religious quacks” to mark and avoid as per Romans 16:17-18 such as Chip and Joanna Gaines