First Premise: The best-selling book is divine.
Second Premise: The bible is the best-selling book.
Conclusion: Therefore, the bible is divine.
SELLS THE MOST, MUST BE DIVINE!
Interview with Ronald Reagan:
Mr. Otis: We would like to know… what the Bible really means to you.
President Reagan: I have never had any doubt about it being of divine origin. And to those who… doubt it, I would like to have them point out to me any similar collection of writings that have lasted for as many thousands of years and is still the best seller worldwide. It had to be of divine origin.
Mr. Reagan is misusing the statistics to persuade the public of his personal conviction of the book’s validity. In other words, his reasoning involves “questionable use of Statistics.” Also implied in Reagan’s response to Mr. Otis’ question is an assumption that best-selling books must be divine in their origin. This reasoning involves a “questionable cause” because divinity cannot be proven empirically and certainly not by the number of the books it sells.
Though he claims that the Bible is the bestseller, there are cultural reasons hidden underneath its claim as to why it seems to be the bestseller. The book became the bestseller because the world, in many ways is becoming more and more westernized. Since the invention of the printing press, the people of the West have been obsessed with printing books. For example, with the wealth and advanced technology, American printing companies as a combined force can print more books in one day than what North Korean printing companies combined can print in months. We see the Bible everywhere in America. Most of the hotels have a copy in every single room. Many individuals who never read a page have several copies: in different languages, in different sizes, and in different colors, and so forth. With the sizable donations given to church organizations, on a daily basis, evangelical ministers and missionaries distribute the bible free of charge to different countries and cultures. In other words, people are not necessarily buying the book, but the book came to them as an allotment or as a gift. No wonder it appears to be the best seller! The devout Christians of western countries, where most of the world’s wealth is held, have committed to this movement of spreading the gospel to the entire world.
Christianity for centuries has been the core of the Western culture. As different countries all over the world become more akin to western culture, they start to adopt Christianity. As Christianity becomes more deeply weaved into the people’s mentality, it becomes quite natural for the Christians to embrace the Bible as a divine revelation. But for many other countries that are not yet Christianized, the book is less familiar to them and has less psychological effect on the people. For example, would the bible have a chance of being the bestseller in North Korea? To the North Koreans, the biography of Kim Il Sung is probably the bestseller. Then, Mr. Reagan, according to his reasoning, would have to admit that Kim Il Sung is a divine figure for the North Koreans.
How about China? The Chinese government, though they are slowly opening up to capitalism, have not legally allowed western religion to enter their domain. To many Chinese people, even the word “divinity” has a very different meaning. To them, Buddha was not divine in the beginning but became divine by practicing good virtues. Therefore, to the Chinese, the meaning of the word “divinity” is something attainable by humans with good ethics and virtues: definitely, not a Christian mentality! Thus, the statistical fact of the Bible being the bestseller world-wide, represents only the westernized and Christianized cultures exclusively and does not represent the minds of the orient. Therefore, using this statistical figure to represent the whole world is guilty of “unfairness” and is a case of “unrepresentative sample” and can be used to prove that Mr. Reagan had misused the statistics to justify his personal conviction of the bible.
The tangible matters and aspects of the world have distinct qualities, but “divinity” doesn’t; it cannot be touched nor be reached. One can never be certain about the world that is out of our reach. Mr. Reagan’s argument is superficially persuasive and it might appeal to the ignorant public who look up to him as an authoritative figure, but logically, his certainty about divine matters is questionable and his reasoning of it falls into the category of “questionable cause.” Since divinity can never be proven empirically, the Bible being the oldest and being the best-seller cannot substantiate the book’s divinity. In fact, the argument’s premise is utterly unrelated to its conclusion. For example, instilled in the Regan’s reasoning is the following structure of deductive argument:
First Premise: The best-selling book is divine.
Second Premise: The bible is the best-selling book.
Conclusion: Therefore, the bible is divine.
By laying out Regan’s reply in this manner, one can clearly see that his first premise is less than believable. Obviously, the best-selling book does not guarantee its divinity. Thus, his first premise is a perfect example of “questionable premise.” Mr. Reagan’s reasoning is not “deductively valid” because his first premise is not true nor relevant to its conclusion. Thus his entire argument is less than cogent and is a fallacious statement.
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