Why do people believe what they do?
Have you ever wondered why people believe what they do? There are so many different ideas as to what the truth is that logic would tell us there must be an immense amount of error in the world. Yet it seems that the best most religious leaders can do is specialize in exposing the errors of others. We’ve all seen it. Let’s take for example three differing theologies and label them doctrines A, B, & C. All three have some truth and some error. Doctrine A specializes in exposing errors in the doctrines of B and C, and the vast majority of those who were born into A and raised as A remain A for the rest of their lives. Doctrine B specializes in the errors A and C, and C points out the errors of A and B. Occasionally, two will unite against the other. A and B will team up against the errors of C on which they agree, but virtually no A’s convert to B’s, or B’s to A’s. B and C will occasionally join forces against A’s errors and so on. It would seem that everyone can see the errors with everyone else but themselves. The fact remains that very very few convert to something different from what they were born and raised into. This is true of every religion. Christians remain Christians, Jews remain Jews, and Muslims remain Muslims. Catholic Christians remain Catholic, Baptist-Baptist, and Lutheran-Lutheran. Ultra-orthodox Jews remain Ultra-orthodox, Orthodox- Orthodox, and Reformed- Reformed. The identical is true of the many factions of Islam, and every other ideology on earth.
So why do people really believe what they do? It should be apparent that the reason the majority of people believe what they do is for sociological reasons. Most people can be taught to believe just about anything if the acceptance of friends or especially family is at stake. Once people are secure in their surroundings, many of them don’t really care what the truth is. But among those who have the courage to care, for many of them, if changing their mind means it will cost them the respect of family, and friends, then it is too much to consider. Of the small percentage of those who do choose to cross a line and pay the price of rejection, the vast majority do so for the purpose of being accepted into a new group or family. Most of us have seen numerous cases where a man or a woman will change their faith so they can marry someone of a different faith. But even in this, people remain within their general faith system. Christians generally move to another branch of Christianity, Jews to another branch of Judaism and so on. Very few people change to a completely different faith system, and those that do, again, do it mainly for acceptance reasons. It seems that true objectivity in searching for the truth is of little serious consideration. In a marriage, the decision on which way the couple will go seems to always land in favor of the one who has the most to lose if they were to change.
Many people have made significant sacrifices to support a certain belief system where they are accepted and held in high esteem. These people are the most unlikely to consider possible errors in their particular belief system no matter what the facts might indicate. The greater the sacrifices a person has made in time and money on behalf of the institution they are attached to, the greater the unlikelihood that they will ever be able to consider the possibility they’ve made any grave errors. For them, there is simply too much to turn their back on and walk away from. No one wants to admit that their blood-sweat and tears have been invested in something that is wrong.
So for the majority of people, it really doesn’t matter what the truth is or what makes the best sense. They will embrace their respective group’s teachings and gladly perpetuate their teachings for the underlying purpose of being accepted by their peers. So strong is this drive that many become perfectly willing to die for what they believe. If this describes you, and you are comfortable with where you are, this book is not for you.
If on the other hand you are one of the few who are desperate for sense-making truth, and you would change and become absolutely anything for the joy and security involved in being able to stand on your own two feet intellectually, then you might thoroughly enjoy reading this book.
Teachers and institutions
Many of today’s teachers make use of analogy and allegory in their endeavor to convince a student of the supposed truths they teach. Many use Scripture stories and allegorize them to paint their analogies. Though there is a place for analogy, one must recognize the fact that there is very little a clever teacher cannot prove by analogy! Yet every day, millions are convinced a lie is the truth by the use of analogy. An analogy is not logic. In a court of law, the analogy goes nowhere. If a teacher has no solid logic to back up their claims, then their analogies should be taken with a large measure of skepticism. In this book, I begin chapter one with an analogy, but from there on I use very few. The bulk of my positions are supported by solid logic and reason. It should also be noted that virtually all of my positions are based on what is found in the Bible itself.
Other teachers make use of their authority as a certified representative of their institution, as the final word on a given issue. The assumption is that God officially recognizes their institution. I believe the only individuals who have a right to pontificate truth in this manner are those whom God has clearly endorsed as His representatives with His power. I speak of men like Moses, Elijah, and Yeshua. These people have demonstrated a God-endorsed right to be heard.
When it comes to religious institutions, I have come to the firm conclusion that God does not officially recognize any on earth today, be it any branch or sect of Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. This statement alone is more than enough to brand me a heretic by all of them. Every group naturally believes that God officially recognizes their organization, and many believe theirs is God’s one-and-only.
It is my purpose to spell out for the honest seeker of truth that the greatest bulk of truth is found at the core of the three great monotheistic religions of the world. Each religion claims to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. All of them claim to endorse what Christianity calls the Old Testament as the word of God. This much is indeed true. But each of the three main monotheistic religions has a cancerous growth on their version of the truth that has been steadily sucking the life from it. Christians know that the problem with Islam is the writings of Mohamed in the Koran. Jews know this truth as well. Christians know that the problem with Judaism is with the writings of the sages as found in the Talmud. Muslims know this truth as well. What Jews and Muslims know about Christianity is that the writings of Paul are to blame for Christianity’s errors. The sad thing is that none of them can see the problem in their own religion. It is those writings that make them what they are.
Since beginning this book and posting its progress on the web, I have had numerous responses from Jewish individuals who have congratulated me for accomplishing the seemingly impossible feat of turning my back on what I was raised to believe. But at the same time, they were quite perplexed as to why I hadn’t completely converted over to Judaism! I have also had numerous similar experiences with well-meaning Muslim individuals who can’t understand why I haven’t converted over to Islam! As I laid out earlier, it would appear that each can clearly see the problem in the others, but none can see it in themselves.
For the most part, I will be writing to Christians because I come from a Christian background and was immersed in Christian teaching since I was a child. I am in a position to refute much of Christian doctrine that Jews and Muslims will never find themselves. I leave the bulk of work needed to convince a searching Jew of the errors of Talmudism to someone who was raised as a Jew, and I leave all the work needed to convince a searching Muslim of the errors of Islamic doctrine to someone who was raised as a Muslim. There are some great speakers for each!
For many reasons which will be borne out in this work, I continue to embrace the truth that Yeshua (known as Jesus to the English speaking world) is the son of God and the promised Messiah of Israel. It will also be an obvious working premise of mine. But for most of Christianity, this won’t be good enough. For nearly all of Judaism it will remain totally unacceptable. To the few searching Jews who might read this book, I ask you to please bear with me and my dealings with the problems of Christianity. You may find that some of them are applicable to Jewish doctrine as well. But, near the end of this work, I will discuss at length the issues concerning Yeshua and his Messiahship.
Translations and terminologies
Most of the Scripture quotes in this work come from The New King James Version. The NKJV has become a favorite of mine because of its greater overall accuracy compared to the others. The NKJV is not perfect and does make a number of errors though. Those of concern to the subject matter at hand I point out. In these cases I make use of Hebrew and Greek texts, as well as other translations, to demonstrate the error.
When it comes to Hebrew names and titles, one could make so many changes that the average English-speaking person would quickly become lost. One could substitute Elohim for God, Miriam for Mary, Kepha for Peter, Ya-cobe for Jacob or James, and the list goes on. In the case of the title “God”, it is just that… a title and not a name. In its capitalized version, it is the English word that is most commonly understood to mean the God of the Bible. So I continue to use the title ‘God’ to refer to YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This title, along with other commonly recognized names like Peter, James, and Mary, I continue to use in my work for the sake of avoiding confusion. The few changes I have made that the reader should be aware of are the following:
Because of the significance and importance of the name, from this point on, unless I am quoting someone verbatim, I use the name Yeshua in reference to the person whom the English speaking world calls Jesus. Also, when quoting from any translation of the Bible where the name Jesus and/or Christ occurs, I commonly substitute Jesus with the name Yeshua. Also, the phonetically harsh title of Christ I replace with the title Messiah. The evolution of the name of Yeshua to Jesus alone demonstrates how far the truth concerning this person has drifted over the millennia. There is nothing in “Jesus” that comes from “Yeshua” either in sound or meaning. For more information on this issue please see the article in appendix How the name Yeshua became Jesus.
There is one other change I make that the reader should be aware of. Because the term “Old Testament” automatically carries with it the picture of something that is Old and Obsolete, I avoid using it as much as possible. The Jews refer to this same piece of literature from Genesis to Malachi as the Tanach. So for the most part, I will refer to what Christians have called the “Old Testament” as the Tanach.
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