Are you honest when it comes to making decisions? What does this have to do with Religion? It really does not have anything to do with religion specifically. To assure that you come to the correct answer in any decision situation, you need to first start with all the possibilities on you list. The next step is to pick the correct possibility out of that list. If you don't have the correct possibility on your list, the best that you can do is to "pick" the "best" answer that "is" on your list. Many people assume that the "best" answer from the list is the "correct" answer. That is "wrong". Did you ever take a test in school where "none" of the multiple choice answers on the test was correct? I know that most of you have never had this happen and thus have been mentally programed by our school system to fall for the "wrong" answer. Let's see if you are honest.
Is religion a hoax? If you were asked why you believe in religion would you consider the possibility that you have been taken in by a hoax? I have talked to a lot of people about why they believe in one religion or another and 90% who believe in religion believe in the same religion as their parents. With all the possible religions in the world, what are the chances of 90% accepting the religion of their parents by "chance"? Is this random? No way. The religion of ones parents has more to do with the religion they chose than does their brain coming to a logical answer. Do you believe that?
Is it possible that one of your friend's beautiful new baby might be mentally retarded? If you held the baby and their eyes moved in a strange way, would you consider that they might be mentally retarded? Similarly, if you were having a conversation with a friend and they asked about something that you had just explained, would you think that they were mentally retarded? I know that most people would think that the baby was "normal" as was their friend. Neither would consider that either was mentally retarded. This is not a question of whether or not either was mentally retarded or not. Only an examination by a qualified doctor could determine if they were mentally retarded.
How about our President, Obama? Do you think that he is a Judas who is out to destroy this country? I have put this question to many people over the past 5 years and "none" have had this possibility on their lists. I have noticed a few people now on the TV news who appear to be coming to the conclusion that Obama wants to destroy this country. My main concern is that for 99% of the people don't even have the possibility on their lists. If that is the case, how can they be sure that they have come the "correct" answer and not just the "best" answer? I know that most people are very proud of themselves for coming up with the "best" answer off their list. Coming up with the "best" answer is a requirement for coming up with the "correct" answer but is not a sufficient reason. Do you recall this from your class in "Logic".
I could have presented other examples, but I think that you can get the idea for those above. Most of us think that we are good at coming up with the "correct" decision when, in fact, all we have do is to come up with the "best" answer. I think that in a prior blog that I pointed out that the most common reason why decisions turn out to be wrong is that the "best" answer was chosen off their list of possibilities which did not contain the "correct" answer. If "all" possible answers are on your list, it is guaranteed that some where on that list is the "correct" answer.
In the case of Obama, we can construct our list with just two possibilities, Obama is a Judas and Obama is "not" a Judas. Being honest with your decisions is not all that complex as pointed out above. Back to the top. Is religion a hoax or not a hoax. Are you honest enough to add the "correct" alternative to your list?
