{"id":577,"date":"2012-03-26T21:16:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T02:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/?p=577"},"modified":"2012-08-23T20:16:19","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T01:16:19","slug":"broad-stroking-deception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/broad-stroking-deception\/","title":{"rendered":"“Broad Stroking” Deception"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I recently wrote an article on the number one complaint we receive here at www.BaptistDeception.com which is that IFB churches are \u201cIndependent\u201d of and from other IFB churches and therefore are not a denomination or group of churches.\u00a0 You can read more about that here<\/a> and I would recommend doing so before you proceed with this article if you haven\u2019t already.<\/p>\n

So it’s only fitting that I should write an article about a VERY close second most frequent complaint, that of painting a picture of the IFB using broad strokes, or for those of you who might not understand that analogy, overgeneralizing.<\/p>\n

This is really nothing more than at attempt at misdirection, which the IFB is notorious for – great job of being consistent at least.\u00a0 You see, people in the IFB, in continuity with\u00a0their desire to be “independent”, want people to think that\u00a0they are somehow better than everyone else.\u00a0 So the natural progression is to next complain that we are overgeneralizing the IFB in our attempts to provide the truth to those who seek it.\u00a0 This allows the typical IFBer to make judgments from afar, never stopping long enough to evaluate their own unique situation to see if what we write here is true.\u00a0 I would venture a guess that the emotional underpinnings of this are either extreme denial or being too deeply enmeshed in their IFB church that they are unable to see it.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, it\u2019s my hope that this post will serve as an intercept of sorts so that maybe I will get fewer emails complaining that I\u2019m making sweeping generalizations.<\/p>\n

Before I proceed, I\u2019d like to define the fallacy of sweeping generalizations.\u00a0 Overgeneralizing is actually a logical fallacy and is a common debate tactic.\u00a0 Simply put, the fallacy of sweeping generalizations is applying a general statement too broadly.\u00a0 Now on the surface that might seem like what we\u2019re doing here, but upon careful inspection we can see a couple major differences.<\/p>\n

First, and probably biggest, is that this concept of sweeping generalizations (also known as Hasty Generalizations) is often confused with Inductive Reasoning<\/strong> \u2013 which is what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

Inductive reasoning is the ability to generalize from repeated experiences or observations. The soundness of an inductive generalization can usually be determined by asking the following questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Do we have a sufficient number of instances to draw a conclusion?<\/li>\n
  2. Is the breadth of the conclusion drawn supported by the evidence?<\/li>\n
  3. Are the terms of the conclusion consistent with the terms of the evidence?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Fallacies typically result if any of these questions can be answered in the negative.\u00a0 In the case of this site, all three can be answered in the affirmative.\u00a0 True, I do not PERSONALLY have sufficient number of instances to draw a conclusion, however, combining my personal repeated experiences with my repeated observations of other people\u2019s repeated experiences and I\u2019m able to vastly broaden the \u201csufficient number of instances\u201d.\u00a0 This is due in part to the consistent testimonies of others who have experiences that are very similar \u2013 and even the exact same \u2013 as me.\u00a0 This tells me that my experiences are not isolated events.\u00a0 The testimonies of others also allow us to make conclusions based on a wider evidence trail and anyone reading through the site can see that the terms of the conclusion are consistent with the terms of the evidence.\u00a0 Please allow me to repeat\u2026 We are performing Inductive Reasoning here NOT Hasty Generalizations.<\/p>\n

    Second, I\u2019m not applying a general statement to the IFB \u2013 which is required to commit the fallacy of sweeping generalizations.\u00a0 I\u2019m actually talking about some very specific beliefs, teachings, traditions, behaviors, etc. that are unique to the IFB.\u00a0 This by itself negates that idea that we are making the fallacy of hasty generalizations.<\/p>\n

    The issues I present in this site are specific errors of doctrine, teaching and exegesis that are toxic to the Christian and to Christianity. I am telling people the specific things that are wrong in the IFB church which are things that most, if not all, IFB churches teach\/preach. I am warning folks about the errors that are specific to that \u201cbrand\u201d of church. Yes, there are individuals that run the different churches, but they are still teaching\/preaching the SAME message \u2013 the teachings of the IFB.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019d like to illustrate this second problem with the idea that we are making sweeping generalizations with an analogy. \u00a0Let\u2019s pretend for a moment that this site is about McDonald\u2019s. I give specific errors that McDonald\u2019s makes and I caution people to be careful about the food McDonald\u2019s serves because it is high in saturated fats and salt content and eating at McDonald\u2019s has been shown to increase the risk of obesity and diabetes. I share my experience and educate people on how McDonald\u2019s gets their food, processes their meat and preserves their vegetables. Did I have to experience EVERY McDonald\u2019s in the world to know this? Of course not, that would be near impossible. Since almost every McDonald\u2019s does business and cooks their food the same way, after all it is a franchise, what I\u2019ve discovered about them can be easily \u201cgeneralized\u201d to almost all other McDonald\u2019s. That doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m making the fallacy of sweeping generalizations. That just means that caution is warranted since most McDonald\u2019s perform their food preparation\/service in much the same way. If those things don\u2019t concern you then by all means feel free to eat at McDonald\u2019s. However, to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, those things are \u201cdeal breakers\u201d for eating at McDonald\u2019s. The same is true for the IFB.<\/p>\n

    Make sense?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I recently wrote an article on the number one complaint we receive here at www.BaptistDeception.com which is that IFB churches are \u201cIndependent\u201d of and from other IFB churches and therefore are not a denomination or group of churches.\u00a0 You can read more about that here and I would recommend doing so before you proceed with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2180,3,2179],"tags":[2182,2181],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baptistdeception.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}