False Dichotomy

We don’t need to even delve into theology to notice glaring problems with the arguments of the guys who claim to be Lutheran and Fascist, which are terms I disagree with. I don’t understand what government control of the economy while maintaining private ownership of property has to do with Mahler’s vision of the world. Neither does he. As these guys become increasingly excommunicated, they no longer qualify as Lutheran. They somehow read Scripture and came out on the other end angry, resentful, and bitter toward other people. That’s not Lutheran.  

One of the most glaring logical errors they like to use of the “False Dichotomy,” sometimes known as an “Either-Or” Fallacy. The Fallacy works like this: You are given two options. One is wrong, and so you must agree with the other option.

The Stone Choir crowd uses this false dichotomy to describe our culture and its myriad problems, suggesting only one alternative.

You’re either a Marxist or a White Nationalist. You’ll meet one of two people in heaven: Bonhoeffer or Hitler, and Bonhoeffer allegedly denied the Resurrection of Christ. Yesterday, someone said that the “Holocaust Narrative” and Christianity could not coexist. You’re either stoning sodomites to death, or you are a child rapist. Matt Harrison has to run the synod flawlessly, or he’s a washed-up, baby boomer, pinko commie.  

You probably noticed the problem already: There are other options.

We notice these garbage arguments easily from the progressive atheists and Marxist stormtroopers. When BLM tells white people you’re either racist or your just don’t understand racism well enough, we notice there are other options. When they tell us you can either take another COVID booster or you want the elderly to die, we notice there are other options. I am especially amused to see these “Either/Or” arguments from the same crowd who believes in dozens of gender identities. The reality of the Male/Female dichotomy offends them because the objective truth of God’s created reality offends them.

Unfortunately for patriots, conservatives, and the faithful, we must guard against misunderstanding of true and false dichotomies. We are so surrounded by the world's lies, manipulation, and theatrics that some of us don’t notice this kind of illogical, irrational, and false argument when we see them. But when we see them, we must understand what they are: They are emotional appeals designed to make us think less, not more. They are a lie.

So don’t be fooled, friends. You have other options. You can be neither a Marxist nor a fascist.

You may not meet Bonhoeffer or Hitler in heaven. And if you meet either of them it has nothing to do with them or you. It has to do with Jesus.

You can hate sin and love people. You can cast the unrepentant out of your church and still forgive them later. You can vote against abortion and not execute your gay neighbor.

Concordia Publishing House and the LCMS can sometimes be flawed, mediocre, and regrettably underwhelming organizations. So is the place I work. It’s full of sinners. It can be flawed and not be a demon-possessed communist front. There are other options.

There’s a whole world of options that Mahler either doesn’t want you to consider, or he can’t imagine them.

Now there’s a little fine print to the false dichotomy- there are actual dichotomies. There are some situations where you have only two choices. You can repent, or not.