Deconstructing Opposing Arguments: Substitution Method

1.0 OPPOSING ARGUMENT TO BE DECONSTRUCTED

Here is an example of a common claim about Jehovah’s Witnesses, as found on the World Wide Web:

Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks of humanity is to present logic to ones who are under the influence of mind control. Particularly with Jehovah's Witnesses, the effort to evoke common sense and logic at times seems pointless. Believing with full confidence that the Watchtower Society only speaks truth, the attempts of trying to explain reason to Jehovah's Witnesses is entirely frustrating. Former Jehovah's Witness David Reed in his book "Answering Jehovah's Witnesses" explains: "With JW's, however, there is much more at stake than wounded pride. They feel a strong obligation to bring you into "God's organization" and do not want to undermine their efforts by admitting uncertainty on their part. Even if you succeeded in introducing a few doubts into the JW's mind, but he has not rejected the Watchtower organization, he doesn't dare admit those doubts. It would spoil his efforts to convert you." As controlled members of the Watchtower Society, Jehovah's Witnesses will continually profess they are correct, regardless of pure logic. Watchtower members believe they have the truth even if they have not done the research to prove it, a defining factor of all cults. The following video will display a Jehovah's Witness encounter with a born-again Christian. As you will witness, it does not really matter what the Bible says, Jehovah's Witnesses have the mind set that they are correct, regardless of sheer logic. It takes much time and effort to get a Witness to listen, but if you can plant just one wedge of doubt, the possibilities are endless.

Those are quite the bold claims the author makes. But let’s do just a little experiment shall we? I have found over the years, that one of the best ways to tell the difference between an objective, fact based argument and a subjective, value-judgment based argument is through SUBSTITUTION. If the claims are indeed factual, specific and true, then we could expect that they would encompass mainly Jehovah’s Witnesses; but if the claims can also be used to trap innumerable other, non-controversial and commonly accepted groups in their logic, then we have a good indication of flawed argument.

2.0 GENERAL TEMPLATE

For the first step, let’s remove the proper nouns and the names, so that we are left with nothing but the general claims.

Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks of humanity is to present logic to ones who are under the influence of mind control. Particularly with [name of specific group], the effort to evoke common sense and logic at times seems pointless. Believing with full confidence that [pejorative name of organization] only speaks truth, the attempts of trying to explain reason to [members of specific group] is entirely frustrating. Former [member of specific group] [name] in his book "[name of book]"explains: "With [members of specific group], however, there is much more at stake than wounded pride. They feel a strong obligation to bring you into [pejorative name of organization] and do not want to undermine their efforts by admitting uncertainty on their part. Even if you succeeded in introducing a few doubts into the [member of specific group] mind, but he has not rejected [pejorative name of organization], he doesn't dare admit those doubts. It would spoil his efforts to convert you." As controlled members of the [pejorative name of organization], [members of the group] will continually profess they are correct, regardless of pure logic. [Pejorative name of organization] members believe they have the truth even if they have not done the research to prove it, a defining factor of all cults. The following video will display a [member of specific group] encounter with a [different, correct group]. As you will witness, it does not really matter what the Bible says, [members of specific group] have the mind set that they are correct, regardless of sheer logic. It takes much time and effort to get a [member of specific group] to listen, but if you can plant just one wedge of doubt, the possibilities are endless.

3.0 SUBSTITUTION I: SIMPLE SWITCHAROO AND CHANGE OF DIRECTION

Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks of humanity is to present logic to ones who are under the influence of mind control. Particularly with [apostate Jehovah’s Witnesses], the effort to evoke common sense and logic at times seems pointless. Believing with full confidence that [the ‘Watchtower’ organization] only speaks lies, the attempts of trying to explain reason to [apostate Jehovah’s Witnesses] is entirely frustrating. Former [apostate Jehovah’s Witness] [Tears of Oberon] in his book "[Jehovah’s Witnesses Re-defended]"explains: "With [apostate Witnesses], however, there is much more at stake than wounded pride. They feel a strong obligation to bring you out of [the faith] and do not want to undermine their efforts by admitting uncertainty on their part. Even if you succeeded in introducing a few doubts into the [apostate Witnesses’] mind, but he has not rejected [his apostate support group or resources], he doesn't dare admit those doubts. It would spoil his efforts to de-convert you." As controlled members of the [Anti-cult movement], [Apostate Witnesses] will continually profess they are correct, regardless of pure logic. [Apostate Witness, anti-cult movement] members believe they have the truth even if they have not done the research to prove it, an ironically defining factor of all cults. The following video will display a[n apostate Witness] encounter with a [real Witness] As you will witness, it does not really matter what the Bible says, [apostate Witnesses] have the mind set that they are correct, regardless of sheer logic. It takes much time and effort to get a[n apostate Witness] to listen, but if you can plant just one wedge of doubt, the possibilities are endless.

4.0 SUBSTITUTION II: FIRST CENTURY JEWISH PERSPECTIVE

Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks of humanity is to present logic to ones who are under the influence of mind control. Particularly with [members of the Way], the effort to evoke common sense and logic at times seems pointless. Believing with full confidence that [their leaders (the apostles)] only speak truth, the attempts of trying to explain reason to [members of the Way] is entirely frustrating. Former [member of the Way] [Tearius Oberonus] in his scroll "[Christians Re-defended]"explains: "With [members of the Way], however, there is much more at stake than wounded pride. They feel a strong obligation to bring you into [the sect] and do not want to undermine their efforts by admitting uncertainty on their part. Even if you succeeded in introducing a few doubts into the [Way member’s] mind, but he has not rejected [the apostles or other leaders], he doesn't dare admit those doubts. It would spoil his efforts to convert you." As controlled members of the [sect], [followers of the Way] will continually profess they are correct, regardless of pure logic. [Way] members believe they have the truth even if they have not done the research to prove it, a defining factor of all cults. The following amphitheatre drama will display a [Way member] encounter with a [true Jewish Rabbi]. As you will witness, it does not really matter what the Torah says, [members of the Way] have the mind set that they are correct, regardless of sheer logic. It takes much time and effort to get a [member of the Way] to listen, but if you can plant just one wedge of doubt, the possibilities are endless.

Fun isn’t it? We can apply the opposer’s basic template to any group on the face of the planet, so long as it has an organized structure, leader or leaders. This points towards a high level of subjective and personal opinion. And since the author is merely reflecting his own beliefs and subjective opinions, we as readers are free to accept, modify or reject his point of view completely.