At FCS we teach our upper grade students logical fallacies because we want them to glorify the LORD with their thinking. One such fallacy is a Red Herring (Ignoratio elenchi). The term Red Herring comes from the smelly dead fish used to get a tracking dog off the intended scent he was pursuing.
In our case, a Red Herring is an irrelevant topic introduced to distract from the real question. My uncle, in his humorous way, would say in response to my question, Because chocolate doesn’t have any bones, to which I would just laugh.
We observe Red Herrings in politics as people try to distract or side step the issues. We see them in our own hearts to justify pet sins or feel O.K. about our spiritual walk by comparing ourselves to others or by shielding our hearts from the light of God’s Word and people.
Talk with your family about the smelly fish in your own heart so as to legitimately condemn the smelly fish in the world around us.
