tautology

In our discussions, a tautology is a statement that is true by definition.  They are only good for drawing our attention to a word or idea, but they do not actually explain anything.  For instance, the saying “We can’t do anything about the things we can’t control” is a tautology because it doesn’t technically say anything: it is true by definition.  Things that we can’t do anything about are things that we can’t control, by definition.

Although tautologies do not explain anything, they sound nice and make for good poetry and speech material.  People sometimes use tautologies to avoid answering the question (while tricking the listener into thinking they answered the question).  Because they are deceptive, we need to be careful to recognize tautologies in evolutionists’ arguments.  When an evolutionist uses a tautology, he is really avoiding the question while making us think he answered it.

Examples:

1. Boys will be boys
2. Enough is enough
3. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do
4. If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure
5. We can’t do anything about the things we can’t control
6. The only ones who didn’t pass the test are those that failed
7. A lower voter turnout is an indication that fewer people are going to the polls

Evolutionary examples:

1. The fittest will survive. ¹  When defined a certain way, this is really saying, “The survivors will survive.”
2. The universe is finely tuned for life because if it weren’t, we wouldn’t be here to observe it.  By definition, our survival is required for us to observe the universe, and so this statement doesn’t actually say anything.
3. If evolution were true, then we would expect parasites to have evolved features that allow them to exploit host organisms.  By definition, a parasite has features allowing them to exploit host organisms whether evolution is true or not.
4. If evolution were true, then we would expect predator organisms to have evolved features allowing them to prey on other organisms.  By definition, a predator has features allowing it to prey on other organisms whether evolution is true or not.