If I were to come to you and say “I found this seed. The label said it was a money tree seed. If we plant it, the branches will bear cash, rather than fruit!” You would immediately use your suspicion, skepticism, and general ability to doubt any wild claim brought to you. We’ve all encountered it. On everyday commercials someone makes a wild claim, saying this herb will cure that disease, or this item has this effect on the body.
So your natural reaction would to ask something like, “I don’t think it’ll grow money. Why would you believe that?”
Now, here’s the baffling part. Your innocent healthy dose of reservation has sent that person into the offense. You have questioned their word! Their mind! Their ability to know something! And so they argue. But they have a poorly constructed argument.
“Because the label said it would!”
The label said it would grow money, and it will grow money, because it said so on the label. It’s a circular argument, one that no sane person would ever accept. Until we throw a twist in to the mix.
Now it’s a new argument. Same principle, and we’ll see if you catch it.
“The bible is written by God!”
“I don’t think it is. Why would you believe that?”
“Because God said he wrote it. And what God writes is true!”
The bible is true, because it says it’s written by God, and what God writes is true, and so the bible is true.
Some people cannot even conceive that this is a circular argument, making no more evidence for itself than the money tree seed. If I want to prove some statistics are correct, I do research in fields outside those statistics. Citing the statistics are correct because they said they are is not a valid argument. The fragile “god wrote it” argument is so brittle because they have not given evidence from outside the bible that it could be true. And if even one part of that line can be shown to be false, then the whole thing crumbles. If the bible was not written by God, then it is not perfect, and is not true. If the bible is not true, then it was not written by God. If what God writes is false, then the bible is false. Any one of these scenarios breaks the world that is a religion’s foundation.
But we need to recognize these sorts of fallacies, which brings us back to the first thing we did. We used our doubt. Hesitation is not an evil spawn of Satan – it is how we as a species have survived. To this day, we tell our children “Do not believe someone if they say they have something good or fun in their car,” we are asking our children to use skepticism to protect themselves. Even as adults we must use this skill to avoid scams and rip-offs. We know that magnets don’t balance our chi, or that you can suck out toxins through the bottom of your feet. Everyday our ability to doubt fantastic claims (such as previously mentioned commercials) keeps us sharp.
So why in the world would you turn off this ability with some things, especially something that is supposed to be as important as a religion? Or worse yet, why would you want to be a part of something that would tell you to turn it off? If your religion tells you that having reservations is the devil in your ear, or that if you’re having conflicts with facts or morals of your religion to just ignore it; that should be a red flag to get the hell out of there. This is a belief system that is supposed to influence your everyday life and decisions, and is supposed to tell you what the afterlife (and in some religions, prelife) was/is like. If they can’t answer important and difficult questions (and I mean, full and satisfying answers) then you may need to rethink if you have fallen for another scam, or worthless effort.
How much money have you pumped in to your church?
Let me backtrack and clarify “full and satisfying answers”. I’ve asked many religious people, religious leaders, and other people in general some hard questions about a belief system. In my experience they sometimes do have answers to some of my inquiries. But most of the time I get answers that involve long stories that never actually tackle the question at hand, or I’m told to pray about it (I take that as, “go make up an answer”). Don’t get me wrong, if they give me the round-about answer option, I always ask the question again. “So why did God endorse slavery before? You only told me about Martin Luther King. I’m not sure how that correlates here.” They normally give me an exasperated look, like I just missed the plane over head. If I had to ask, then I couldn’t conceive an answer myself, so believe it or not – but I do want you to spell it out for me. You’re not Jesus, so please stop attempting parables. You really suck at it. Give me an answer and explanation if you will, not a story that you hope answers my question in some far-off way.
Lack of satisfying answers keeps me away from religions. I often joke that I am the queen of bullshitting. I can write enormously long papers when all the while I’m really saying nothing. It is a handy skill when the teacher is more concerned about length than quality, but it gives me a stunning ability to recognize bullshit when I see it. And you wouldn’t believe how many people talk out of their ass.
I once wrote a very long note in my facebook about historical facts versus the bible. Maybe one day I’ll post it here, but my point is that throughout that loosely written impromptu paper, I sourced just about EVERYTHING I had to say. I even quoted bible verses, and some general Christian leaders. I did my homework, and my facts came from everywhere. I’ve always had a fundamental problem with “praying to God if you are doubting the existence of God” solutions. You don’t ask your church about history lessons any more than you would ask your math professor how to paint (if someone points out that their math professor is an artist I swear… just get the point I’m making). Research what historians say about history, and then you can check that against what your church said had happened. Treat the historians as the accurate source, not your religion.
I have to say though, the whole concept of “proving” religions irks me slightly. In the scientific community, we find facts and then we draw conclusions. In that order. Any instances to the contrary in our past have ended in disaster. To use an old elementary school story: Newton had the fact that the apple fell, then he drew the conclusion of gravity.
Religion on the other hand has this nasty habit of trying to find facts to support their conclusion. They figure the same principle works, but honestly it is only going to end in disaster – I guarantee you.
As Bill Maher said, “Doubt is humble, and that's what man needs to be, considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong.”
