{"id":85,"date":"2009-08-31T08:02:13","date_gmt":"2009-08-31T08:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/?p=85"},"modified":"2009-09-28T07:35:19","modified_gmt":"2009-09-28T07:35:19","slug":"chapter-17a-i-think-therefore-you-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/belief\/logic\/chapter-17a-i-think-therefore-you-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 17a – I Think, Therefore You Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c’Contrariwise,’ continued Tweedledee, ‘if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’\u201d<\/em> \u2013 \u2018Through the Looking-Glass\u2019, Lewis Carroll<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I had an argument recently with someone over the Internet. It had to do with the origins of the Hebrew names for God, as part of the overall argument about the origins of the Bible itself. \u201cAccording to the Bible,\u201d he said, \u201cthe name \u2018Yehova\u2019 was being used around 3500 BC. Therefore, the archaeological Canaanite findings from 800 BC are much more recent.\u201d \u2013 He actually wrote \u2018Ye-ho-va\u2019 (including the hyphens) rather than \u2018Yehova\u2019, well, you know\u2026<\/p>\n

One of the most curious methods of arguing about the origins of the Biblical text, is to use the stories told by the text itself as some kind of absolute evidence. Of-course! It is God\u2019s word! The Bible itself says so, end of argument!<\/p>\n

Has something gone wrong with the inference mechanism in some people? It seems as if this issue was deeply imprinted within us during our religious education, up to the point where some of us simply ignore the circularity<\/em> within this kind of logic. \u201cIt\u2019s written in the Bible\u201d has become to be considered hard evidence, regardless of the fact that the issue under dispute may be the integrity of the Biblical text itself.<\/p>\n

Such circular logic is much more common than what you may think. In previous chapters we discussed the Jewish perception that \u201csucceeding generations are said to lessen in spiritual power\u201d as well as the Biblical text \u201c\u2026and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they shall teach thee.\u201d<\/em> (Deuteronomy, chapter 17, verse 10). God tells me I should do what the old sages say. In turn, they interpret these words as an order to follow my rabbi\u2019s instructions. Thus the chain of \u201cdecreasing spiritual power\u201d is followed all the way to me, instructing me<\/em> to follow and obey the very concept of decreasing spiritual power, and teaching me to take the Biblical God for granted. In other words, as has already been written: God says I should listen to my rabbi, which in turn teaches me that everything God says is right. Hallelujah!<\/p>\n

Monty Python\u2019s \u2018Life of Brian\u2019<\/em>, which has been mentioned in a previous chapter, is a masterpiece of satire that has appropriate scenes for many religious whims. This time we\u2019ll quote the somewhat educational discussion between the reluctant Brian and his followers:<\/p>\n

Follower:<\/strong> Hail Messiah!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brian:<\/strong> I\u2019m not the Messiah!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Follower:<\/strong> I say you are, Lord, and I should know. I\u2019ve followed a few.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> Hail Messiah!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brian:<\/strong> I\u2019m not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the Messiah, do you understand?! Honestly!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Girl:<\/strong> Only the true Messiah denies his divinity.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brian:<\/strong> What?! Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right! I am the Messiah!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Crowd:<\/strong> He is! He is the Messiah!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brian:<\/strong> Now, fuck off!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Follower:<\/strong> How shall we fuck off, O Lord?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Imagine yourself in the following situation: Someone sells you precious consultation advice on a topic that is very important for your future. The consultant also warns you that others may say totally different things about this topic. However, when they do so \u2013 it\u2019s just a test, actually managed by the consultant him\/herself. Wouldn\u2019t you be a bit suspicious about such strange advice? What sort of chance does that give you or the other consultants?<\/p>\n

In the same vein, here is what the book of Deuteronomy advises you in the beginning of chapter 13 (verses 2-4):<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee, saying: \u2018Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them\u2019; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; For the Lord your God putteth you to proof, to know whether ye do love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201c’Contrariwise,’ continued Tweedledee, ‘if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’\u201d \u2013 \u2018Through the Looking-Glass\u2019, Lewis Carroll I had an argument recently with someone over the Internet. It had to do with the origins of the Hebrew names for God, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,14,10,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-book","category-logic","category-the-truth-is-wrong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107,"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetruthiswrong.com\/indeed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}