I am tired of the smears, the illogical accusations, the false accusations, the outright lies, the guilt by association imputation… These are irrational ploys to appeal to our emotion and take us away from making a rational, well thought out decision. This comes into play during election season, irrevocably, and it is unbelievable how the masses are sucked into this emotional hijack.
Listen. This is not a plea for or against any one candidate, rather it is a petition to your common sense.
Anytime you hear a defamation of character, an accusation of falsehood, or a association to shadiness; please to not take it as truth. Be watchful, be temperate, and be diligent in seeking our falsity and lies. For some reason the flesh (our sinful nature) loves succulent morsels of gossip, hearing about the failings of others, the sin and the greed… Shouldn’t we rather be cautious in judgement, not jumping to conclusion on one accusation of guilt but being watchful and curious with questions of innocence. It is in this questioning that we will find the truth. The Law of the Land dictates this… and the Bible speaks against the practice of gossip and slander, which is at it’s root an accusation of guilt: [youversion]Leviticus 19:16[/youversion], taken from the Old Testament Law for Israel; also check out [youversion]Proverbs 18:7-8[/youversion] in the book of common sensicals (yes, i know this is not a word). Jesus himself brushes aside the “guilt by association” logic in [!youversion]Matthew 11:16-19[/!youversion] and in [youversion]Luke 7:33-35[/youversion] and Paul denounces this line of reasoning:
Paul had a flexible conscience when it came to matters with no moral significance. “In every situation, though, a lost man’s soul should have precedence over the opinions of some within the body – [youversion]Romans 14[/youversion]… and Paul made himself flexible to another man’s interests, concerns circumstances, opinions, and backgrounds. He transmigrated himself into their souls and clothed himself with their feelings, burdens, and concerns -[youversion]1 Thessalonians 2[/youversion]. 1
Finally, I will end with this first-order logic, that guilt by association is a faulty premise with with to judge one’s integrity, “according to propositional logic, the following translation is invalid:”
Premise: A is a B
Premise: A is also a C
Conclusion: Therefore, all Bs are Cs
“Propositional logic validates arguments according to their structure, and nothing in the structure of this translated argument (C follows from A and B, for arbitrary A, B, C) suggests that it is valid.”2
footnotes_________________________________
1. Aldrich, J. (1993) Lifestyle Evangelism. Sisters, OR: Multnomah. p. 67-69.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-order_logic
Listening to This Will Destroy You S/T
