Logical Fallacies for Christians 2: Appeal to Authority

This is part 2 of a series of weekly articles about logical fallacies that often mislead Christians.

2. Appeal to Authority

What is it?

An ‘appeal to authority’ is when a person insists that something is true merely because some prominent person (e.g. the Pope) or organization (e.g. a church council) says it is true. They do not present evidence, nor do they consider that authorities and experts can be mistaken at times.

Examples

“Transubstantiation is true because our Church Council has ruled that it is orthodox teaching.”

“I know we are living in the last days because our Governing Body says so, and they are directed by God.”

Discussion

Authorities, experts, and intelligent people do, at times, get things wrong. Even experts change their minds at times, and many have their own biases. Therefore, it is not logical to argue that some doctrine is true only because an authority says it is true.

Evidence must be presented.

If an authority is truly correct, then it should be pretty easy to find the reasons why they take the position they do. You simply don’t need to appeal to someone’s authority, prominence, or reputation; there should be plenty of evidence.

For example:

“An angel of God came down from heaven and told me that only people who wear hats will get into heaven. So, all Christians must wear hats. Anyone who does not wear a hat will burn in hellfire for all eternity.”

This is obviously ridiculous, but here’s something interesting: even if we assume that there really was an angel, who really did come down from heaven, who really did deliver that message, it would still be a logical fallacy. Why? Because the angel would be appealing to an authority – himself.

Remember what Paul said:

When Jesus was on earth, he did not just say, “I am God’s Son,” no, he also provided abundant evidence by performing miracles, fulfilling prophecies, and eventually by being resurrected from the dead. That is some evidence!

Likewise, even God Almighty provided the Israelites with evidence. When Moses asked Yahweh, “How will I get Pharaoh to listen to me?” God replied, “I will bring many signs and wonders to the land of Egypt… And all the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” (Exodus 7:4-5)

Yes, even God Himself did not feel that providing evidence was beneath Him.

Likewise, if something is true, then we should be providing evidence, not appealing to authority. If nobody can provide any evidence for a position, then there must be a problem.

For Christians, there is one time that we can appeal to authority – when we appeal to what the Bible says. However, even then, verses can sometimes be taken out of context, misunderstood, mistranslated, or deliberately twisted in their meaning.

So when we appeal to the authority of the Bible, even that is often not enough. Much of the time, you must also prove that it genuinely does say what you believe it says. You must show, reasonably, that the verse is translated accurately, and that it is supported by other verses, the wider context, and the historical setting.

For example:

“My Bible lists the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and then says that ‘these three are one.’ That’s why I believe in the Holy Trinity.”

While some Bibles do say that at 1 John 5:7-8, they are also the most widely-known fake words in the Bible. There are thousands of ancient and medieval manuscript sources in which it is missing. Today, thanks to the Internet, you can even see scans of some manuscripts with your own eyes and see that the words are not there.

So in this case, citing “the Bible” as an authority does not work here because it seems that “the Bible” never really said it.

Let’s then all be very careful when citing authorities. It is not logical to claim that something is true merely because some prominent person or persons say so.

There must be more.

Seek out evidence – even when quoting the Bible.

As Mark Twain famously put it: