Can Judaism be Proven?

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Overview: Our decisions do not need 100% certainty to convince us to do them. Comparing the consequences of performing Mitzvos versus not doing them. Why doesn’t God make the truth more obvious rather than needing complete books to uncover it.

 

No, it cannot

We all dream of that picture-perfect world in which we read an article or two and find the answers to all our questions. Which beliefs to have, which phone to get, which stock to invest in, and of course which article to continue reading. But unfortunately that is not the reality of this world. We live in a complex world, with many unknowns and many questionable decisions to make.

Belief in Judaism is no exception. No, Judaism cannot be proven and anyone who says otherwise is either arrogant or ignorant on the matter. Just like there is evidence in favor of Judaism, there is also evidence against. Looking at the bigger picture, it becomes impossible to prove or to disprove Judaism. In this work, we will attempt to outline the arguments in favor and arguments against Judaism. But ultimately there is no final verdict and the decision lies upon each induvial whether to live their life as if Judaism were true, or whether to live their life as if Judaism were untrue.

 

How we make decisions in life

So how do we decide in matters of question and doubt? Ultimately, each person must decide for themselves how to act. Given the exact same information, one person may do A while another does B. This is because we all have different life circumstances that will drive us to decide to do A or B.

In life, we generally decide based on three main factors: probabilities, consequences, and convenience.

Probability is when we measure the likelihood of something being true versus untrue. If chances are that by driving a car, you will not end up in a crash, then it is the smarter decision to choose to drive when you need to travel somewhere. Although you cannot prove with 100% certainty that you will not end up in a crash, it is still the smart decision to bet on the likelihood of you coming out from the car unscratched.

But not always do we make a decision on chances alone. Sometimes we weigh in the consequences of the potential unlikely result, even if the chances of it happening are slim. For example, most people won’t travel the war-torn streets of an embattled country, even if the chances of getting attacked are slim. This is because the consequence is too big – irrespective of the slim chances of it happening. It’s simply not worth the risk.

A third dominant factor in our decision-making is convenience. We often just decide on whatever decision is more convenient for us based on our life circumstances. For example, one may decide to eat an unhealthy meal just because it is cheaper or tastier – not because they actually believe it is healthier.

Each life decision ultimately has an element of each these factors, plus more. When it comes to deciding whether or not to live a religious Jewish lifestyle, we each must decide based on the probabilities of it being true versus untrue, the risks involved in keeping it versus not, and the personal benefits of keeping it versus not.

 

Weighing the incentives to serving God

I firmly believe that in the vast majority of cases it makes more sense – based on all three factors: likelihood, consequences, and convenience – to choose a religious Jewish lifestyle, at least to some extent.

The likelihood of Judaism having truth and supernatural elements to it is greater than the chances of it being an entirely man-made religion – as we attempt to demonstrate in this work. Even if there is only a 60% chance of Judaism being true, then it is already worth to live a Jewish lifestyle (based on this factor alone). Note, that while many parts of Judaism are likely man-made, the focus here is on Judaism containing any divinity at all – and to that the answer is probably yes.

Also based on the second factor it makes more sense to choose a religious Jewish lifestyle. If Judaism was, theoretically, not to be “the probable,” it is still a worthwhile endeavour. If there were even a small (yet real) chance of being able to cure cancer or to save the environment, most people would take the gamble of embarking on that mission, despite the low probabilities of yielding results. It’s simply too good an opportunity to dismiss. The spiritual gains that religion and Judaism have to offer are too good to dismiss.

This is perhaps analogous to a senseless businessman investing in a stock which bears a %90 chance—for argument’s sake of course—of being profitable $100, versus investing in a different stock which carries a %10 chance of being profitable $100,000,000.[1] We discuss the benefits of serving God in this article.

Even based on the third factor, it makes more sense to live a Jewish lifestyle – in most cases. There are many physical and emotional benefits of living a Jewish religious lifestyle – irrespective of whether or not Judaism ultimately ends up being the truth. A full discussion on the benefits of religion can be found here.

There’s the benefit of a loving community, optimism, hope, idealism, purpose, meaning, belonging, high moral and civil standards, self-discipline, tradition, ritual, and family structure that all come along with staying true to our family’s tradition – be it the truth or not. Jewish culture is far superior in most ways to secular culture. Of course this isn’t always the case, but most religious people have these advantages. There are even more advantages to one who was born into the religious Jewish community and it’s most convenient to remain religious. So even by an atheistic or secular perspective, Judaism is the right choice for most Jews. Many studies show that religious people tend to be happier and make healthier life-choices than non-believers.[i] Sure it is pragmatism, but pragmatism is the best life decision in an atheist’s world and certainly in an agnostic’s world. And sure Judaism may be hard to keep (at least some elements) but what good comes with no effort?

Worst comes to worse, by serving God and practicing religion we followed our evolutionary tendency to seek spirituality and connection with the divine that we created in our heads. Just as evolution makes us feel that murder is wrong (see here) – and we feel no reason to fight that embedded feeling – the same may apply with religion. Why fight this evolutionary inclination to seek meaning in our life?! Evolution wired us to seek meaning since, by doing so, we generally live happier lives. So relying on the possibility (and I would argue – strong possibility) of religion and serving God being a real thing and not merely a construct of human imagination is not the worst bet to make. In most cases, it is truly a win-win situation.

 

But why is the truth hidden?

After all said and done, why would God hide Himself from us and yet still expect us to keep His Law and Torah? If truth is the truth, shouldn’t it be obvious?

So first of all, truth does not always cry out truth. Truth often hides itself. The reality of this world is that it is very hard to find the truth of certain things. It took scientists thousands of years to realize truths that were until recently very not obvious. The question of God’s existence and His Torah is equally as difficult to uncover.

But why would God hide His very own existence if He wants us to serve Him?

Well, being that we know almost nothing about God, it would be impossible to answer this question. We cannot assume anything about God – not to ask questions on Him (“why didn’t He…?”) or answer anything about Him (“He did so because…”). Yet still we could speculate reasons as to why God would do something.

We can suggest that God didn’t make His existence clear to mankind because He wanted Judaism to be a decision rather than a conclusion. You see, if Judaism were to be visibly true to every person, then that would in a sense minimize the freedom of choice that we have. We would easily be convinced of its truth and as a result would be much more inclined to acting upon that truth. But God purposely gave us challenges that we are to overcome and obstacles that we are to conquer.

In the current setting of things, we need to decide that we want to serve God – despite all the questions and doubts we may have. We need to decide that although Judaism may ultimately not be the truth, still it is proper to act on the probability of it being true and weighing the consequences of it being true. Now that Judaism may or may not be the truth, it is truly our decision to choose how to act. Do we really find spirituality and God’liness to be of importance that we are to live a religious lifestyle. Or is it not of such significance to us and we would therefore choose a non-religious lifestyle. This is the test God is giving each of us.

As for what God expects from those who haven’t even heard of God or know of His existence, see this article.

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[1] While this argument, often referred to as Pascal’s Wager, won’t convince one to follow specifically Judaism over any other religion (for they too can claim this advantage over skepticism), it does at least give Judaism, or any religion for that matter, the upper-hand over atheism. This is even the more so because Judaism is the most probable among other religions.

[i] For example: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/religion-happy-atheism-psychology-faith-belief-emotion-mental-health-christianity-a8766376.html

For a comparison of well-being and happiness by group and religion see https://news.gallup.com/poll/152732/religious-higher-wellbeing-across-faiths.aspx

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6 Responses

  1. Anon ankn says:

    See ACJA pascal wager discussion. TH ?

    • admin says:

      Thanks Anon! The objections to Pascal’s Wager only apply when all religions and beliefs are in equal standing, so that choosing one over the other “to be on the safe side” makes no sense. But when there’s some evidence favoring Judaism (e.g. the Covenant argument discussed on this site) – albeit not concrete evidence – then a form of Pascal’s Wager does make sense.

      • Anon ankn says:

        So you did not think any of ACJA counterarguments agaisnt the wager are valid ?

        • admin says:

          I thought the counter-arguments to Pascal’s Wager by ACJA were excellent. However, over here I’m not arguing Pascal’s Wager but rather a modified version of it based on the evidence in support of Judiasm. Do you have a specific counter-argument to the point being made in this article?

          To be clear, I’m merely arguing why *some* people will rely on this rationale. I totally understand those who decide not to. I’m not a fundamentalist in either direction.

  2. Manny says:

    How do you resolve the beliefs in Judaism that if a person comes to another belief then they are held accountable. The only way to hold accountability is for there to be an extremely strong rationale for the belief that all can come to. If a Christian looked into his belief and determined that it was the most practical based on those 3 factors then how can the Torah expect any more.

    • admin says:

      You ask a great question, one I’ve pondered about for a while and haven’t found a completely satisfying answer.

      But I do think it’s important to realize that we know close to nothing about the judgment of God. We don’t know His ways. Does He hold such a person accountable? Traditional Jewish theology claims yes, but perhaps that is merely a method of keeping people within the faith. In reality it can be that God will not blame such a person and the sincerity of their decision renders them innocent. In short, we simply don’t know enough about the world Above to make any grand claims about it.

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