An intriguing question (to me)
In honor of Dr. Michael Avraham, good morning,
I know the following question is a little unconventional – but you’re not exactly unconventional either, thank God.
Years ago, I asked Gilad Diamant, the owner of the blog “Sharp Thinking” , a simple question to encourage skeptical thinking:
Can you imagine a direct, empirical-public scenario, one that doesn’t require dragging out statistics, graphs, surveys, and references, but rather “bang and go,” in which you would be convinced of the truth of the Torah and faith?
He stuttered, (probably from the depth of the concept and the shortness of the grasp) so I formulated a scenario for him:
I take you to the graves of your ancestors, and there – before your eyes – a miracle occurs: your relatives come back to life, identify with you all the childhood memories and secrets that were only yours, tell you what really happens after death, confirm that everything that “those pesky Haredim” told you is true and stable: the world to come, reward and punishment, commandments, heaven, hell, prophecy, even studying Torah as a strategic combat skill… (This is for you, Mikhi 😉).
I asked him: Will you be convinced? Will you repent?
And he answered – not necessarily. Maybe these are aliens with advanced technology who “dressed” as my relatives.
And here’s where the chip fell on me: Skepticism is not a critical stance – but sometimes an immune system for self-doubt. Total immunity. An auto-epistemological disease. And I left him and his logo (This is also how I treated Yaron Yadan when I discovered on the Atsur website that they think some Haredi caught him in a mathematical error and he continued to squirm and stutter and did not admit his mistake. I realized that the man was not serious and I stopped being interested in him and his teachings.)
Therefore, my question to you is divided into two parts:
A. What do you think of this scenario – in your opinion, could it be considered “evidence” or at least a strong indication in favor of the position of faith?
(That is: is it possible in principle to reach an empirical decision in the religious-faith field as well – or is any attempt to offer evidence doomed to infinite dissolution?)
B. If even that is not enough – can you outline a scenario that would be?
Let’s say 20 famous atheists from the podcasts and blogs you know, including yourself (for the purpose of getting internal feedback), gather in a room with neutral witnesses.
A rabbi arrives, says Pesuk, and within five minutes you all find yourselves in London (or Kyrgyzstan, or any other place agreed upon in advance), and within a day you are returned on a regular flight to our tiny country.
The event is publicly documented, the witnesses outside the room confirm, the media goes wild.
Would that change your position? And if not, what would ?
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