Sophistry

soph•is•try [ sóffistree ] (plural soph•is•tries)

noun Definition: 1. flawed method of argumentation: a method of argumentation that seems clever but is actually flawed or dishonest.

I like to kick the tires on words as if I were checking out a car. Some words (like prejudice, racism, sensitive, equality, sexist, bigot, gay, progressive, liberal, conservative – there are many) have had the life sucked out of them so violently and often that they wander aimlessly through dictionaries like the homeless begging for change. But demons have entered their empty shells and use them to sow confusion among a population that has become increasingly more visually than word oriented. That’s a joke (though true in a very real sense) if you didn’t get it. I’m no charismatic who sees demons behind every rock.

“Sophistry” is a good word; a strong word. The tires have tread on them. We hear it so much that we’re rather hardened to it. Ever hear those commercials on TV or radio when they’re trying to sell you something, and then towards the end the guy starts talking machine gun fast, ending with a quick, “certain restrictions may apply” or “two year contract required to take advantage of discounts”. Those are two examples of many. The point being that what is generally advertised in the beginning is usually undone by the end. Sophistry. There is a colloquial, well known street term for it that’s always been held down by a certain animal that matadors like to harass in arenas in Spain. If I used the term you’d wonder about the veracity of my godliness, and you’d be wrong. But let’s not go there.

I mention that because my earliest introduction to the definition of sophistry in street terms was given to me by my father. I don’t remember how old I was, probably around ten. We were parked outside Rink’s Bargain City waiting on my mother to reappear from shopping, which always seemed like an eternity. I was in the back seat with my brothers and sisters, a typical kid trying to figure out how to keep boredom from crushing him until mom came to end our prison terms. So I started reading signs. I noticed that the word “discount” was written all over the store windows in flamboyant lettering, so I asked my dad, who was sitting patiently in the front seat, what it meant. He said, “It’s a bunch of bull s…” Ok, dad. Thank you. But tell me what you really think. Later on the Revised Version (of life) told me he meant sophistry. No, if you knew dad you’d know he meant exactly what he said. Anyway…

The largest and most plentiful repository of sophistry has to be government no matter where. In fact I don’t think they know any more when they’re “sophisticating” or being truthful. When using government the examples of sophistry are so voluminous to choose from that it’s like trying to count sand grains on a beach. Nobody has that many years of life.

Beyond government, sophistry will, if you let it, overgrow your life like vines covering a thousand year old castle. No money down, no interest until hell freezes over, lose fat with ten minutes of exercise (it takes that long just to warm up) per day, lose fat with a pill, increase penis size with a pill, make money stuffing envelopes, quit your job with a quick and easy internet business, open a home equity credit line, kills germs on contact, keeps breath fresh for hours, shipping and handling costing more than the item purchased, that actor looks just like he did twenty years ago, I’ve got a time-share for you, $29.95 for six months…it never ends.

One that strikes me, that I just remarked on recently, is no child left behind. It’s common, irrefutable knowledge that the state schools specialize in leaving children behind. So I got to thinking, Bush sits back and laughs every time he hears that one. He chuckles to himself, “Those idiots don’t understand. I meant no child left behind like when the Marines say nobody will be left behind. They’re talkin’ about body bags! I’m such a riot!”

So many people are used to sophistry now that they can’t handle the truth when confronted by it. Young people increasingly can’t handle the truth of what it really means to be self-supporting. Single people can’t handle the truth of what it really means to be in a relationship. Married people can’t handle the truth of what it really means to stay married. People can’t generally handle small truths like the weatherman is not responsible for your bad day even though he was wrong about the forecast. You can’t make other people do anything. You can’t have trifling ways in secret and expect to be believable in public to anybody except people who watch too much television. Addiction to sophistry creates the need for it to be true, though deep down you know it isn’t.

The mirage is pleasing
While lost in desert waste
Desire’s product
Leaving ashes in hope’s hand
Thirst burning
The sophistry is pleasing
Inordinate desire’s product
Sweet rationalization
A beacon of plausibility, artificial light
Maintained to exhaustion
Where the sun of purpose failed to rise
Enough light to stumble
But not to live by

More and more, I am heavily into simplicity. If you can’t summarize something in a few sentences, you’ve complicated it. If you have to jump into the middle of every argument, you don’t believe your own. If you have to be constantly stimulated, see the colors flash and smell man’s scent on every trail, you’ve allowed sophistry to seep inside. Sophistry draws strength from the secret pride of wanting to be always in control.

But should pride’s armor fall away
Allowing eyes to see
The stream of simplicity
Ever at one’s feet
Drink to the full
And remember your voluntary servitude
To a tyrant of iron fist
Yet invisible to all his subjects

Increasingly, the answer to everything is complicated now. Complication (sophistry) generally hides a roach’s nest of deceit. Despite all the books they continue to write and all the therapists that peel back our layered psyches like an onion, they will never improve on one simple statement.

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. – Matt. 5:37

Article Source: http://christian-topics.info

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated