Watch out for poor reasoning!

Poor reasoning may help you win an argument with a person who is not very smart but it won't guide you to the truth. Try to avoid the following errors when you enter the discussion.

1. Name-calling. Anybody can call another person stupid. What we need to do is actually respond to the argument that is being made.

2. Sentimentalism. We need to be sensitive to how people feel but we also have to be coherent. Try to take a step back and put the argument in more general terms. In that way, you can see whether it makes logical sense or not.

3. Playing the psychologist. We should distinguish between how we arrived at a belief from the logical content of that belief.

4. Separating faith and science. There is no opposition between faith and reason as it is one and the same God who created the world and revealed Himself in Jesus Christ.

5. Fundamentalism. In order to understand a Biblical passage, you need to ask yourself what the author is trying to say. The Bible is not a science textbook and doesn’t pretend to be.

6. Invoking one’s conscience in order to ignore certain Church teachings. A believer has a duty to follow his conscience but he must also form it for a Christian that presumes faith in the Word of God and love for the Church. The propositions of faith are not the product of individual research. To break the bond with the bishops who are successors to the Apostles is to seriously compromise the bond with Christ.