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Research limitations

שו”תCategory: faithResearch limitations
asked 2 months ago

Hello Rabbi,
I had a discussion with a friend in which we came to the conclusion that there is no escape and that a person cannot rely on the faith he was born with and must investigate with reason.
There is no escape, because even a Muslim is certain that Muhammad is the last prophet and that the Quran is the book from heaven, and a Christian is certain that Jesus is the last prophet and that anyone who does not believe in him will not receive his forgiveness. The idea is clear, everyone is certain of their rightness.
And we came to the conclusion that since you see how people believe wholeheartedly and with strong faith in contradictory beliefs, there is no escape but for a person to understand that just because he was raised and educated in a certain way does not mean he is right.
And in fact, a person can only trust himself after an intellectual investigation that he has studied properly and his claims are valid.
And here comes another insight: that a person who wants to ascertain the objective truth must be certain and clear to himself that he has made a completely objective inquiry, and that even if he had been born a Christian or a Muslim, he would have reached the same conclusions.
Because if he thinks that he would not have reached the conclusions he currently holds but that if he had been born a Christian, he would have been a Christian, it means that he understands that the influence of education and culture that he defines as faith is not objective and therefore he cannot trust himself.
So far, is the calculation correct?
 
And if we are right in this calculation,
Basically the question is: Okay, it’s true that there’s no escape and reason is what we have, but let’s face it,
Many of the topics are very complicated philosophically, they are very deep, they are not simple, even in your book, not everyone can read and understand it, and in fact most people in the world have neither the talent nor the mental strength to do serious and careful research into the big and fundamental questions.
Some people can be honest with themselves and say I don’t have the ability to make this effort intelligently, especially when one sees that smart, talented, and honest people have considered almost every possible belief, and that there are people much smarter than him.
And a person can also come to the conclusion that they were more honest and straightforward people than him, and if he is honest with himself, he can also admit that perhaps he is infected and is unable to conduct this discussion well.
So basically his conclusion would be that he simply doesn’t know!
He who does not have the ability to attain the truth does not have the talent or the mental strength, and if we speak honestly, it seems that most of humanity does not have this ability. It is a fact that they do not deal with it, and those who do deal with it fail to do it seriously.
So if so the question is:
A person who is at peace with himself is supposed to say to himself, “I don’t know and I have no ability to attain the truth.”
Does he have a solution where he can obtain the truth?
And could the solution be that that person needs to check who the most talented, honest, and sincere people he knows are and it’s very easy to trust them because they probably scored the best among the options he knows.
And always remain dissatisfied because he does not have the ability to achieve the truth.


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 2 months ago
Everything is correct. Every person is supposed to make the decisions for themselves, and even if they fear they made a mistake, the Torah was not given to the ministering angels.

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אלחנן replied 2 months ago

But one has to be realistic.

I know for example about myself that there are complicated issues in physics and mathematics that I try very hard to understand.
I can't.

And there are complicated issues in faith, in which I also stand confused and can't understand.

So isn't it more realistic that I simply look for the smart and clean people and trust their research?

Like I do in medicine for example. I trust the professional doctor. Even though it's life and death.

אלחנן replied 2 months ago

And a passing point:

Let's ask ourselves honestly for a moment,

How many people in the world can say that they would believe in their set of values even if they were born somewhere else?!

The fact is that most people who are born Christians continue to do so, and most Jews continue to do so,

So what does God want from most of humanity?

מיכי Staff replied 2 months ago

No, because there are smart and good people who hold opposing opinions. Even in deciding who is the smartest and cleanest, your biases and misunderstandings are involved. You can't escape the fact that you are the one who decides and the OCD should be left aside.

אלחנן replied 2 months ago

Okay, I get it.
I can escape the fact that Ahi decides what the truth is.

But I can also escape the fact that my ability is limited and therefore in many areas of life I do not have the ability to know what the truth is, at least for now.

It's not old, it's about looking at the depth and complexity and understanding the limitations.

משה replied 1 month ago

For the most part, it turns out that God wants most of humanity to do their best to find out the truth and act accordingly. Part of finding out the truth includes understanding that I am not the smartest person in the world and that I must consider the words of other people, especially those who seem to me to have a good understanding of what the truth is. (This also includes the work of virtue, which is critical to sharpening the spiritual sense to find the truth that is not always discoverable with intellectual tools.)

Since it is obvious to Him that the average person is limited in his ability to reach the truth both by the place where he was born and by his skills and character, the more a person did his best in this, the better he fulfilled his role.

מהורהר replied 1 month ago

C.S. Lewis, in one of the Narnia books (the last one, I think), proposed the same idea. Even those who worshipped the wrong god (name: “Tesh”) - while aiming for the truth (name: “Aslan”) - will receive a reward for their deed.

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