G. K. Chesterton: Fallacies

"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become popular."

~G. K. Chesterton

    I love this author so much; he wrote the Father Brown mystery stories, where a humble, small town Catholic priest goes about solving murders. The stories are really awesome not just because they're well written, but Chesterton has a talent with balancing the pure, precious subject of faith and the gruesome topic of murder. In his writing, he also reflects biblical principles without bluntly preaching in the readers' faces.

    Which gives a bit of foundation work when considering this quote he wrote. Chesterton clearly had a solid faith and a strong awareness of spiritual matters and people; he wasn't ignorant to God's truth, or to the way people think, and he specifically stated that fallacies--practiced characteristic flaws--are not good, but that they tend to be thought of as acceptable.
    That's definitely happening today. A lot of things that are common now were unthinkable a hundred years ago, particularly things that the Bible deems sinful. Taking the Lord's name in vain, getting into brutal arguments with parents, idolizing rebellious figures, entertaining inappropriate humor. Issues like this have somehow become so common that everyone seems to take it as the norm in life.
    And it's not just the non-Christians who go with it. A couple years ago I started hanging out with a classmate who said she knew the Lord, and had a testimony of a genuine conversion (meaning that she recognized her need for a Savior, asked Christ to redeem her from sin, and became serious about her faith), and finding this fellow believer was really awesome, a cause for celebration. But the happy dance I was inwardly doing kind of faltered once I heard this fellow believer sprinkling cuss words into most of her sentences. It was a little shocking, to say the least, for someone who's grown up being taught that cussing is something we're never supposed to do.
    The other Christian acknowledged that the profanity wasn't exactly Christ-like, but didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal.
    Wasn't it?
    I'm not a preacher, and neither was G. K. Chesterton, but Chesterton was well acquainted with them. And from the way he spoke about fallacies in this quote here, it's very apparent that he thought fallacies are not acceptable at all, even when everybody else doesn't see what the problem is.
    And just what is the problem? Well, let's look at cussing. Foul language can be identified as wrongful in the Bible; in Colossians 3:8 (NKJ), Paul says that believers need to take "filthy language out of [our] mouth;" and in Exodus 20:7, one of the Ten Commandments reads that we are not to "take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain" (NKJ).  Plus, there's the fact that Christ never cursed or used the term h-e-double-hockey-sticks unless He was actually talking about the place. So with these examples in Scripture, it's clear that cussing displeases God, and since we want to please Him, it'd make sense to not practice it, right?
    Another thing to consider is that the way we behave affects how people view us, and in turn, how they view God. As Christians, we represent the Lord; the Bible calls us His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). If I wasn't a believer and I looked at that Christian who cussed as a prime example of a follower of Christ, I wouldn't see the Lord the way He truly is. I would see someone who uses more profanity than my war veteran grandfather; and if things got really bad, I might think about all the Christians who have said that cussing is wrong, and come to the conclusion that the church--and basically the whole Christian faith--is full of hypocrisy.
    So there are two serious problems that come from embracing a fallacy; but yet it can still be so tempting to think that some of it is just a natural thing in life.
    All I can say is: thank goodness we have God's word. The Bible is so clear cut and detailed that it offers explanations for every aspect of life. And with the discernment it gives, whether we just abstain from practicing a fallacy, or if we actually speak out against it, we'll understand where we're standing and why.
    So what are your thoughts? What do you think of fallacies?