A subtle point

The contrary of a bad idea is not always a good idea. Where two views contradict each other, at least one of them is false. It may be that both are false. People overlook that, with an easy assurance that because the other fellows are wrong, it must be that we are right.

It is valid to say something like this: If it is a given that either A or B is true, and then we prove A is false, then B must be true. The trouble is that, in real life, we sometimes do not have the assurance that it is a matter of A or B; the answer could instead be C or D, or perhaps some E we have not even thought of.

To say that a thing is true because a position that disagrees with it is false demands that we first limit the universe of possibilities to one or the other. We really need to use more caution on that point than, historically, we have been wont to use.

Of course the reason I am bringing this up is the cocksure tone Christians sometimes use when arguing against other Christians. I for one am not impressed by that tone, but amused. If you have beaten the other fellow's argument, or think you have, you have not necessarily proven your own. To read some past polemics on various subjects, you would get no indication or inkling that humility is a virtue. No one ever begins a polemic with "Hey, I could be wrong, but..."