Mitch Barnett - 6 Pathways to Living with God, Part 1

so here we go so welcome everyone we're excited about being able to finally reconnect Stevie everybody we're really happy to see everybody at least virtually and get back to learning which we haven't done in a while so let me begin the class was entitled six pathways I believe to a relationship with the Almighty business ship we've got and that's really what we're going to focus on but I want to give the overall reason as to why I feel compelled to deal with this subject now over the last three months as you know life has not been normal for us and in thinking through deeply this Korona I happen to be dealing having to be discussing this with a friend of mine and I said very clearly and passionately that this is coming for a reason and this is a message from the Almighty and he sheepishly said to me is that really true and what's the message so I recognized very clearly that the issue of whether or not there is an almighty in the picture makes all the difference because for us that notion if there's no mighty and we're going to talk about different aspects of what that almighty is and the connection that we have the almighty and how to develop that connection to the Almighty but I also recognize if you don't have that as your starting point and it seemed to me you're left with a world that's perhaps cruel that's perhaps not logical that's perhaps arbitrary it doesn't have to rhyme or reason and that's a very that's a very difficult reality said another way when I was confronted with the notion is there a god isn't there a god what's the difference Myesha taqueria back many years ago when it became clear to me that there was there was a likelihood that there was an almighty I mean he had a connection to us and had an ability to be involved and in events I recognized very clearly that the consequence of that journey was like none other I ever experienced meaning to say that the consequences of living with the reality of an almighty is is it makes all the difference it's awesome you know we know that the almighty a creator bespeaks of purpose to creation so obviously if you have that if you believe that then you hit the jackpot there's no more consequential discovery is there a god isn't there a God and is he connected to me and what's my purpose there's no more consequential discovery than that and if you don't have that for those of us that don't have that or don't have a crap life is not as rich life is not as productive life is not as logical you're left bereft and we all know that that in bad times and covet in sickness we look back into saying what's going on if we don't have that framework of an almighty in our lives that makes all the difference and therefore I feel quite strongly about talking about that reality and going through a particular approach to that reality is there isn't there a god you'll see we'll ultimately stem from one of six constant Commandments that we have as Jews of all the commandments 613 commandments that we have is only six that are constant and Rabbi Weinberg who inspired this class and all of my Torah frankly would say that the reason why there's only six and not 613 because I'll ask you for instance there's a myth there's a commandment not to murder does that seem like it would be a constant commandment and I think most people would say yeah that's i can't murder certainly that i'm just i can't murder the Rallye Weinberg would say no not murdering is not one of the six constant commandments because you see with a with a negative commandment don't do this you only have the commandment you're only fulfilling the commandments if you have an urge to murder someone got you so upset now you're ready to lose it and commit murder you hold yourself back then you are then you have to fill that but otherwise you don't have a constant commandment not to murder you can't fulfill a constant commandment not to murder and therefore these are there's only six constant commandments and all of terror and I want to give that over you that's what we're going to be working through and then X six or more weeks different aspects of the almighty different awarenesses of the Almighty which are encapsulated I'm one of the six constant mitzvahs and the first of the six consonants is to know there's a god there's a first is no they're their God no there's no other gods no God is one yeah I thought with my email that's what I had to do hi mom how are you well I had put myself on you alright man okay I'm you so we're in the six constant commandments we got to the fifth which is love God fear God I think fear God and the last is a negative which is don't follow after your heart or your eyes so the sixth constant commandments they're constant because we have a constant urge to do them to the opposite in other words there's a constant tug against us to know there's an almighty you could imagine constant tug against us and so we're gonna build a reality but what that means first of all what is the commandment to know God and how can we therefore build out reality in our lives to overcome the constant desire that we have as human beings not to connect to an almighty and that's what we're going to do for all of the six constants the six awarenesses that we need to have at all times you might ask me before we get in to the topic itself to know there's a god you might say how is it possible to be able to keep six constant awarenesses going at the same time it seems like an overwhelming task for something so important how could we do that and I'll put you back to when you were a new driver are you behind the wheel for the first time and you said to your father you're said to your coach you said you never how in the world can I Drive and look at those two mirrors and you want me to do it every three seconds how in the world is that possible and we all know that after a week maybe two weeks of driving not only are you looking in the mirrors the rearview mirror and the mirror is every three or four seconds but you're turning on the radio you're talking to a friend you do it about six to ten things we have the ability to keep awarenesses in our mind and it's actually about framing them and be able to retrieve them to bring them more and more to our consciousness during the day and we'll see that as we go along as we work together to build this journey of understanding how to keep awareness as the almighty in our lives and therefore build a rich relationship so that is our introduction rather long-winded introduction I might add to the sixth constant commandments and as I said the first of the six is to know there's a god to know there's a God so where do these come from this obviously comes from the Torah and it comes from the first of the commandments first of the Ten Commandments first one is an Okie hashimoto kapha I am Hashem your God I'll translate a sure it's a school emeritus Ryan took you out of the land of Egypt but they saw Bowden so the first the source sentence for know there is a God is from the first of the Ten Commandments I am I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt from the house of slaves okay so to understand what that is and there are several approaches we're going to deal with one today and two next time because know your God is such a big great topic we're going to break it up into two classes the first class is gonna deal with the first approach but we'll pick up the next two as we go on okay I want to ask a question which is obvious to me when I look at this commandment and that'll I think lead us to the first approach to what does know your God means and that it question is who is that commandment for who's that commandment for is that commandment to believers in Terra believers in the book or is that for people who don't believe in Terra and don't read the book who is that commandment for first question and if you tell me of course the commandments for non-believers I'm sorry this commandment is for believers is after all who's reading the book in other words if you're not reading the book if you're not tuned in then what's the purpose of the commandment to believe in God I'm not going to read the book I don't care I don't care so if that's the proposition it's quite logical that the commandments coming for believers then what in the world is the commandments again if the commandment to know there is a God is coming for believers what is the commandment so I will pause it anybody can can anyone in fact can go off mute and ask a question or participate but I will posit that it is much more logical that this commandment is surely coming for believers and I will suggest to us that the approach to this is what level of belief how deep is our belief and I'm going to suggest it in words as follows which is the words of Maimonides the Rambam the Rambam says belief in the Almighty is really to know he exists to take that concept of belief and bring it into knowledge take the concept of what I believe to be true and bring it into knowledge so therefore we can now appreciate that Jews who are connected who pay attention to the book who do believe there's a god you know what the commandment is for them to make it real to bring it into their consciousness in a way that they know it's evidence it's knowledge well go through what that means it's not just to believe to have faith in something but it's to know something Fivefinger clarity I know my hand exists I know I live in the state of New York even though I didn't go to Mississippi I know it exists and we're going to talk with me about that let's see why do we know things in our society we're certainly going to use that standard to talk about this question so I'll suggest to you that we know things in our society by evidence we get evidence of things so for instance I know the Civil War exists it happened I wasn't there there's a lot of evidence that it happened also by the way I only got been to Mississippi I've not been in all the states but I know Mississippi exists the same reason I've seen naps I've seen people interviewed in Mississippi so we know things because we have evidence and I want to bring it to hop down to home we will commit people to death and we're trying capital cases what's the standard of evidence that we determine is knowledge I know that I have enough evidence to commit this person to capital punishment standard is beyond a reasonable doubt right it's it's evidence beyond a reasonable doubt now we have a standard for something very important it's not evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt it doesn't mean that I have to go beyond a shadow of a doubt we make grave decisions important decisions based upon evidence and consequences consequences of putting something to someone to death is quite consequential one a lot of evidence when you're thinking of marriage you want to collect a lot of evidence on the potential spouse if you're getting a job setting off on a career a lot of evidence if you're determining whether you want to have chocolate or vanilla ice cream not such a big decision don't have to worry so much flip it around also if the consequences to your decision are so substantial you might need a little evidence so for instance if you're on the Long Island Expressway in rush hour big highway in New York in Long Island not rush hour people are flying on this highway and you want to cross over because you missed your exit you're walking you need a very little evidence by seeing a car to stop and not do it because the consequences are so significant I'll bring it down to a financial term my brother happens to be here listening and he used to sell disability insurance so dis bili insurance is a very small probability that someone's going to be disabled my brother was successful in selling people on insurance give me a thousand fifteen hundred two thousand a month to protect you from that very small consequence because that consequence has dramatic impact on our lives so therefore what I'm suggesting now is two things first of all we know things with evidence I was a banker by the way and I want to suggest to you that in decisions in life which is what we're going to talk about we have evidence then we have to make decisions we have knowledge and we make decisions based on that knowledge when I was a banker I am a banker now when I was missing to these ideas 25 years ago it was brought out to my attention that we will never go with a hundred percent certainty that the almighty exists I can't provide you with that narrow that but I can come up with enough evidence because I have to weigh the evidence is very consequential I have to either be in the side of someone who believes in God or not on the side of leaving God it's very consequential in my life therefore I want to get enough evidence and at one point I can make the intuitive leap of faith and say you know what good decision very much like I was given proposes in banking by this company I want to borrow a hundred million dollars I'll pay you back in five years I never know with a hundred percent certainty that I would get paid back but at one point after collecting a lot more information due diligence I could be comfortable I made a good decision to make that loan and that's what we do with decisions in our life and I would submit to all of us that that's what we have to do that's the lens that we have to have when we're thinking about belief in the Almighty we're making our decisions about belief in the Almighty it's about evidence and consequences now as I've suggested it's so consequential to believe or not to believe the Almighty what I mean to say is there's only two possibilities with action now we can in our mind say yes no I don't know the middle I don't know but you see in the world of action if we say I don't know as it relates to living with the reality that the Almighty exists and we have really lived out a version of no he doesn't there's no in-between in the realm of action you have to act and that's why this is so consequential it was a philosopher called Pascal and he had something called Pascal's wager and that wager was effectively saying that you know what the consequences are getting this decision so wrong it's so significant that you should need a very little bit of information to be able to say I'm all-in I'm gonna say something different to you I'd like us to use the standard of evidence that we use in the courts take what you need to make a very reasonable determination it's not beyond a shadow of a doubt it's beyond a reasonable doubt and that's the standard that I believe everyone has to come to whether you're religious not religious or in between I want to make one last point as I mentioned this commandment is to everyone it's the most religious person that lives in Jerusalem and it's one the person who doesn't not even aware of the Almighty so therefore that person is well who's chosen to live a life with the Almighty is meant to up his game up his or her game and make this information which is belief knowledge to make it so rock hard and solid that they're able to live with it and to act on it and we'll talk about what that means as we progress through this series okay before I now start to frame the Mitzvah the commandment in the Rambam and go through the information of really having us know the Almighty any questions before I go okay I did an amazing job that no questions okay okay fine so again as I said the Rambam says that knowledge Lleida taking belief and turning it to knowledge is what the Mitzvah is about and it'll also suggest to you that when you look through some of the works of what's called the ballet masseur those people to try to have you develop your character traits and morality and ethics they will say on this point they will say on this point that when you're challenged and they use Abraham our Father as an example of this he was called homo a wall the wall he had rock-solid faith in the Almighty that's what I went to the rabbi Kelemen in Israel he said don't think that rock-solid commitment to the Almighty came from just getting it transmitted through your parents it didn't Avraham Avinu as you know Abraham our Father looked into the Almighty Himself through knowledge and looking at the environment to determine does he exist doesn't he exists and rabbi Kelemen would suggest to all of us with backgrounds if you want to fortify your sense of being a wall unshakable when you have assistance of life going through you have to be very clear on your knowledge of the Almighty not your belief in the Almighty so that context let's talk about that so let's just understand kind of let's say four four levels of knowledge as we said before laid the knowledge and I'll tell you that that I've written these out it's very easy to talk about clarity which comes from a comprehensive grasp of evidence clarity that comes from a comprehensive grasp of evidence that's knowledge as we say it that's knowledge you can have evidence by seeing something and you can have evidence that is not by seeing some well it's knowledge born through evidence then there's something once stepped down let's call it belief an example of belief would be something that's reasoned informed but you're not a hundred percent sure so for instance let's say my friend Steve Sauckel gave me a check for $1000 I have a reasonable belief that that's not gonna bounce I know the guy he's not gonna bounce my check but I don't know because I don't have his bank account that's belief I have a reason informed judgment as to something but I no I don't know and there's something that I would call one step below that it's more of like believe beliefs that we have that are taken in from our society their rote beliefs you know I believe is an American who understands secularism and grows up in this country that there's no absolute besides that there's no absolute way we grew up relative truth relative morality is kind of a standard and most of us kind of take that in and it's a level of belief but generally speaking it's not tested it's not as tested as knowing my friend for many many years and feeling comfortable that my track is not gonna bounce and then be beat and then the lowest level is blind faith believing a concept is true because we desire it to be true it doesn't have any evidence it can often eat even be against evidence so for instance you might see someone saying ah cigarettes won't harm me smoker cigarettes won't harm me doesn't want to look he or she doesn't want to look at the evidence blind faith now interestingly as you know Marx said that religion not Judaism religion is the opiate of the masses I wrote reciever rabbi Weinberg would say secularism is the opiate of the masses because Judaism posits you have to know you have to have evidence of your core beliefs and that's what we're going to march through we march through that understanding we covered some of them I went ahead so we have something to Dan I'm just going to catch up right and this is an important point before we kind of go into the evidence because I want to then spend a little bit of time the back end of this session of what is the core evidence for our belief in God how do we bring this concept that we believe in to knowledge okay we're gonna start us off on that path but before that I want to get to a different question it's related and that is why do you see so many people not living with us and the related question is how do we know that we're right right first question is if there's so much evidence I'm going to say and suggests to everyone that did evidence for this how could we don't see people living with the evidence dealing with the evidence being persuaded by the evidence now something called cognitive dissonance and that is even though what you see could propel you down a path of belief there's something else that's blocking you for that belief there's a gap there's a dissonance between what you see and what you do what you see as evidence of what you believe and it's often because it's not something you want to do and what I'm suggesting is you'll make you'll be the arbiters of whether there's bias or not thoughts I'm suggesting in the search for truth identifying your bias and identify bias and other people is one of the most important things you can do identified the bias that will lead you in one direction or not extremely important and we're looking honestly in ourselves we have to try to move our biases away to actually hear the evidence extremely important I want to suggest to you like this this idea was something on my mind back 25 years ago is expressed in two questions the first question was if you're gonna tell me rabbi at the time that there's so much evidence that supports the existence of the almighty and you'll see much of the evidence comes with how extraordinary complex and designed this world is if you're a biology major if you're a biology student if you're a doctor if you're a scientist you're a physicist you should all be believers because the strength of someone who really understands how miraculous our creation is speaks of a creator yeah we see that many many scientists the majority of them for sure are not believers and perhaps even atheists so how rabbi could that square why aren't the people the doctors the fishes us the the physicists engineers why aren't they believers rabbi yitzhak Berkowitz said an amazing idea and I think it's something we should just hold on to and that is he tells a story and I think we're about Conan Wasserman said the story original that you guys got a guy going into the Louvre museum in Paris right the Louvre and he wants to see him great impressionist works was actually a better Museum right next to the Louvre I don't remember the name but you want to see great impressionist works so you go to the loop and you say this guy go to this section and you're waiting for him to come out because you're really an art enthusiast he's your best friend when he comes out you say them so how did you like to be impressionist paintings and he said to you I hated them you hated them how could you hate them it was so good what what didn't you like he said they all look like splattered yogurt every single painting looked like splattered yogurt and you go a little closer to the guy and you realize that his glasses have splattered yogurt on it and you say my friend the reason why you see the yogurt is because you're looking for this splatter glasses with low cure bead on it take your glasses off take your filters off take what you want to see off and you'll see what really exists and that's what's going on with most of the people I'm now pausing but I want you to just realize the importance of the idea its biases you're gonna make your own decisions about all this information not me I've already looked through this information I've made my decisions you're gonna make them and you'll continue to make them all your life it's important for us first and foremost to isolate our biases because if we want to live with truth it's the most important thing to do okay by the way the same Allan and Wasserman said that Aristotle if Aristotle couldn't figure out that there was a God in the world someone asked him how could we and he said the problem with Aristotle was not his intellect but it was his honesty it's the same point like an upset on that okay so now as I said design the complexity of the universe is it bespeaks a creator something you feel is created this speaks of creator so I'll ask you all if you're walking through the forest I went with a hike with my kids Bushkill I think it was called when our trip near Lake George and we were going along a trail and we saw a series of formations of rocks they had four and then three and then two and then one and we saw kind of three of them in a certain place now would you say even though it's possible but would you say that those were just randomly put together or does that look like it was designed I think anyone who sees that would say that's design I was put there by somebody it was created it was designed their design this misspeaks a designer so let's go one step further you walking in a desert and you see a Seiko watch see a Seiko watch you have any doubt that that Seiko watch had a designer and also posit no it's far more complexed the watch is far more complex than the compilation of rocks which we also think is from a design this universe is so complex and is so many moving parts you know when I first started looking into this and you learn a little bit about biology I didn't we had a great and quite focus on this point and the point is when a baby is born there's a death system happening he's not breathing oxygen he's breathing from the blood oxygen from the mother's blood all the systems within it's not ten seconds it's in the last five and maybe even less turn around the lungs inflate everything turns around and that baby can be born it's absolute miracle every single time every single time is a miracle so this notion of creation when we look around I was diving you know everybody's not in their shoes but thank God they relaxed the abilities to dive in outside to pray outside so I was in a minyan this morning and you know there's some benefits begin the meeting I was kind of enjoying the fresh air I was a bit hot today I was enjoying the fresh air and what was I noticing I noticed that yesterday and today as I was thinking about this class I noticed the birds chirping the birds the birds chirp here they jumped there and chirping around right did you ever think to yourself why don't the birds that can peck probably your skin to death you could probably be pecked to death but all these and how many birds are there and they stay up there they don't touch you nor do the wild beasts basically touch you everybody stays in place isn't that a miracle isn't that a miracle we take it for granted that it's organized and it's and it works and everything works but you know what it's a huge miracle by Miller who's a rabbi was a Brooklyn he would look into the universe the bria and say that it speaks God and when the Rambam talks about what's the best way what's the most immediate way to see the almighty he says in the creation and it's miraculous creation he says it's also in the Jewish people when you start to have a lens of looking in to the miracles the interrelationship between our world and something beyond our world bespeaks a creator I want to go just further with two more points to go into before we go to something else it's also the scientists really it's a scientists who focus on this stuff who really you know they don't want to all tell you that this is what's going on and so they equivocate but it you you you see it yourself as you go through some of the evidence and by the way there's a book called constant connection that's a connection it was a book written by Rabbi Eric coopersmith based on remember based on my Rocha Shiva's understanding of the six consummate misses it's worth buying and reviewing so out of this out of this book there's many things in the design section but one thing in the design section says you know you need a spontaneous generating self I mean that spontaneously generates from nothing if you're one of the evolutionists to say it's not a created universe spontaneous generation so by Robert Shapiro Nobel laureate Sir Frederick oils Kalki he's cited in one of his works he's also well-known I think it's a physicist he cites sir Fred coils understanding also a colleague of Fred Hoyle Chandra with promising okay and they were looking at this idea can a bacteria what's the probability of a bacteria spontaneously generating itself so it says a typical bacterium which is the simplest of all cells it's made up of two thousand enzymes these two scientists that the probability of randomly assembly now and they came up with odds that was one in 10 to the 40,000 so it says coil himself was an atheist said the likely that this happening is comparable to the chance they're tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials they're in like off the chart improbable off the chart improbable so you know in talking about these complex issues a great physicist Stephen Hawkins he wrote a book called a brief history of time America member he was I don't know if he's still alive he was paralyzed big thinker Stephen Hawkins he's he passed away okay okay not around any longer big thinker so I don't believe he came on to the party right but there's a notion that you know what if it's long enough if there's a lot of years enough time then it could happen like I don't really see that it can happen because those odds they're pretty astounding like it's enough time for something it probably could happen so I want to read you what he says and this gets to the bias issue says like this it's a bit like the well-known hoard of monkeys hammering away in their typewriters most of what they write will be garbage but very occasionally but pure chance they will type out one of Shakespeare's sonnets similarly in the case of the universe could it be that we are living in a region that just happens by chance to be smooth and uniform in other words if we have enough time maybe it can happen so Gerald Schroder a big book Genesis the Big Bang this notion of whether a sonnet can be randomly put together look at the probability left he says there 488 letters of the sonnet the chance of randomly typing these letters in the same order as this one sonnet is 10 to the 690 it's 10 followed by 690 zeroes check this out the immense scale of this number becomes even more significant when one considers that since the Big Bang which scientists say occurred 15 billion years ago only 10 to the 18th number of seconds have ticked away that is 10 followed by only 18 zeroes to right by random one of Shakespeare's sonnets would require all the monkeys in the world plus every other atom on earth to typos and typewriters made from all the metal in the universe over a period of time that concedes that exceeds all time since the Big Bang and still the probability to sign and appearing would be vanishingly small evidence of design is certainly on the side of belief and knowledge in the Almighty evidence is obviously on belief and knowledge in the Omani and by the way there's many many things now I wanted to stand with this little piece by saying there was a movie and I don't remember this maybe you guys do it came out when we were around 2001 Space Odyssey 2001 Space Odyssey I didn't know cuz I read it read in this book that the whole premise of that book which was by a million people witness like millions of people were seeing that movie wasn't a book the movie 2001 Space Odyssey perhaps it came out in the book it started off by people going through a desert and seeing a formation that was very simple formation even simpler than my my my rocks tacked up and they said Oh My heavens there's this this was designed and this came from someone and they felt there was life on another planet in the whole movie was it was based on the premise that a very simple figure had to be designed had to be designed so this book says at least that that's an example when there's no cognitive dissonance when you're not fighting his dire not to want to believe something - want to take it on that it's very clear that's something that is created this speaks a creator okay the next piece of evidence and we'll go through this in hopefully ten minutes okay it's something called natural revelation natural revelation I know about you but I I was struck by I had never known or certainly never focused on the fact that the claim of the Jewish people very clearly written in our Torah very clearly written in our Torah is that the whole of the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai and heard the almighty saw and heard the Almighty giving to the first two of its commandments the whole of the people now first it says in the portion bow about was a portion when the Jews leave Israel I'm sorry leave miss Ryan leave Egypt going into the desert it says in the tower that there's these people set out 600,000 on foot the men aside from the children so first off the the book premises in mitzrayim in Egypt there were six hundred thousand men plus at least imagine a hundred thousand woman women and six hundred thousand kids you call a number there's two million plus ormally and a half a million people that left mitzrayim jews that witnessed the witness the revelation of the almighty on mount sinai and there's several several descriptions of that in the torah it's actually in this book as well it says three or four or five times at the whole of the jewish people saw this event so I'll just read a couple of one in devar him in Deuteronomy in the fourth in the fourth chapter nine to thirteen sentence it says you have been shown in order to know that Hashem is the God there is none beside him from heaven he let you hear his voice in order to teach you on an earth he showed you his great fire and you heard his words from the midst of the fire goes on in the same chapter here o Israel to decrease it in the ordinance I speak in your ears today learn them and be careful to perform them Hashem our God sealed the covenant with us at Horeb now we're thought forefathers did a Shem seal but with us we were there we who are here all of us alive today face to face did the Almighty Hashem speak with you on the mountain from mid amidst the science the answer the first point is that the claim of the Jews historically has always been that there was a national revelation of millions of people that saw and heard the Almighty and that is the basis of our knowledge of the Almighty we know the Almighty exists because we know that our forefathers saw the almighty over 2 million people of them saw the Almighty back over 3300 years ago mm-hmm first point second point is as I said it's kind of a binary idea either there is a God who gave Torah or there isn't a god who gave to her when you look at this question of did he give or did he give in tera it also answers the question is there a god or isn't there God it is a God who gave terrorists certainly there's a God first point second point is we know there's only two alternatives and we only know there's two models that we see it's where religions are given over there's national revelation which is the Jewish model and this personal revelation personal revelation is that a prophet gets a revelation from being and purports to say I got a revelation last night from the Almighty this is what he says for the Almighty comes to a couple people and then those people either one or several convince others of this transmission to this others of this transmission now first and foremost as I said before historical fact was to talk about what we presumed to be historical fact in our lives and I mentioned it before when I talked about I think the Civil War the evidence one of the most powerful pieces of evidence that allows something to come into the historical record is that it was I witnessed by a a lot of people so for instance George Washington cut down the cherry tree now that might be true but I have no way to verify that the fact that George Washington was the first president of the United States is verifiable a lot of eyewitnesses and it got into the historical record and so to the premises the national revelation similarly got into the historical record over thirty three hundred years ago and became a reality that billions of people have accepted but first before we go on to really cool idea I think is great evidence I wanted to scope it further how do I know that they accepted it because the Muslims and the Christians when you add them to the Jews they're billions of people and we all know they build their theology on the back of Judaism they don't dismiss the story they don't say that the Almighty didn't reveal himself to the Jewish people on her scene on Mount Sinai they just saved a new prophet came a new direction it was determined and they go off the direction but no one uproots the original revelation idea natural revelation has been embraced in our society point one point one point two there's only another ability for this to occur because now in fact we have it but let's say this is the reality let's say before we go before we say that the question I asked for you is which is a stronger claim his national revelation a strongest claim to make or his personal revelation a stronger claim to make I know you're on the line of mutant not I would submit to you that millions of people seeing something is a stronger claim a couple people maybe it happened maybe did I'm not saying it didn't happen but you can't prove it if millions of people saw it it's pretty strong evidence as we're talking about okay so let me ask you this if you could make up the claim and here's the important point from a psychological point you could make up the claim of national revelations would you do it if you were creating a little religion the Christians the Muslims or any other tradition and you could make up a national revelation and pull it off would you do it the answer is of course you would because that's a much stronger claim if you all saw it and I say you saw it you saw it then that's a much stronger claim but you see and here's the psychological proof if you can't if you don't make the claim the reason why you don't make the claim is you can make the claim I can't tell you you were somewhere you weren't I can't say that it happened to all of us if it didn't happen so I can't make up the claim if it didn't happen there's no way there's no way to make up this claim if it didn't happen I'm gonna give you a little little example to say that there's three there's an Indian chief he passes away and he has three sons and those three sons are all arguing about who's going to inherit and be the leader of this tribe and they're two days three days the fourth day one of them comes in the morning I got it I know who the chief is it's me and I want to tell you why dad kidding to me in a dream last night and he said you are the leader of the tribe the other two brothers said very nice if dad could come to you in a dream he should have come to all of us in the dream and told us that you were the Indian chief here the point if there's an ability to have a revelation and you want to make a strong revelation then bottom line he had has to have it had to have happen and if it didn't happen you can't pull it off get the premise before we go to the last point point here is that unless natural revelation you can't lie about natural revelation because it didn't have it didn't happen I can't convince you it happens here the point yes okay corollary to that point well maybe I can do it but in the following way maybe if enough time elapses right I couldn't course I couldn't come to you Steve and I couldn't tell you Steve remember last night we all got you're crazy I don't believe you now let's say I say it Steve thirty years ago when you were alive and you were 12 years old remember we all got together and saw the almighty and you says no way and then two hundred years ago two hundred years ago I say you know that happened you say wait a minute I never got that passed down from anybody in my family that didn't happen but what happens if I go back a thousand years what happens if if the Torah was given on thirty two hundred years ago and a thousand 36 years a nice fella named Ezra pops up on the Jewish scene a leader of the Jewish people and wants to create a religion he's not Moses he's Ezra and that was gonna come to a bunch of people and say you know I got a book for you and I got a religion for it and I got the Almighty for you remember our great great great great grandparents saw the almighty two million strong exists here's his book let's go what are you gonna base for the state of this guy's I never heard of that and it's so consequential to not hear of that to not make the historical record do not have for tracking of this is no way contacts into it if I tell you 500 years ago six hundred years ago there was a huge flood it wiped out all of continental Europe submerged in water and it took six months for its own cover and then they rebuilt they rebuilt England every both France and Spain yeah you remember that you would say you're off your rocker because it never heard about it you never was ever written anywhere you never saw maps although our historical books go back hundreds if not thousands of years that's the end of this evidence the proof is evidence all this is evidenced that's quite powerful evidence to suggest that national revelation had to happen and we see that even intellectually in psychologic not just because we all have adopted it every major religion in the world has built on the back of that national revelation and it did get into the storica record but even more powerfully if it could have been made up if it wasn't true it would have been made up and the only reason why I wouldn't it wasn't made up is you can't make up something that never happened and the conclusion of this truth was the startling but get ready put you seatbelts on there's like this in devar him in that same chapter the fourth parrot said you might inquire about times long past from the day that God created man on earth what exploring London of the earth to the other has there ever been anything like this great saying whereas anything like just ever been heard as a people ever heard voice of God from from the midst of the fire as you have and survived the Torah says in black and white there's never going to be another time that such a revelation takes place extraordinary and last but not least then I'll stop I'll just rest stop and wrap up last but not least what do we think about this notion of new prophets new prophets coming onto the scene and giving a revelation in other words we had a revelation by the almighty to Moses our prophet and the Jewish people and then our tradition says that buying information was transmitted teacher to student teacher the student to this very day what happens if another prophet comes along and says you know what you're Almighty made a u-turn we're going left not right what about that how do we process that as Jews so let me tell you here's what we process it as Jews it says like this would you believe that someone who claims have received a personal communication from God appointing that person as God's new prophet you would say to yourself like this maybe kill my T didn't appoint a new prophet but then again maybe he did one can never know the claim is inherently unfair file but the torah's view on this is that you know anybody could make a light magic show the real reason why not to believe a prophet is because things can happen like you can do kind of things to make it seem as if he has a lot of power and it could seem very genuine but the Rambam writes the following this is how we need to bake when we might see such a thing in our history says the Jewish people did not believe in Moses our teacher on account of the miracles he perform the ones one whose faith is based on miracles doubt remains in one's mind that these miracles may have been done through the occult or witchcraft what then were the grounds for believing him the revelation at Sinai which we saw their own eyes and ears and ears and which did not have to depend on the testimony of others in conclusion is actually commemorative prophet comes and shows you to the nation's you don't believe him back you have to try them and put them to death in conclusion we've covered a lot of ground today so our suggestion again that's the first of the six consonants is the awareness that we have to do and the personal journey we have to be on is as the Rambam says we need to make belief into knowledge and each of us on our journey is wherever we are as committed Jews we add to that belief and knowledge quotients every day of our lives and what we think about the world and when we think about its miracles the more we understand and know good evidence that the almighty is there the more we live with knowledge not believe and let's see where we're going next time is more we turn belief into knowledge integrated belief knowledge where we can live with it and we can act on it and we'll talk God willing in two weeks about the various ways we live with it and act on it next time I hope you all enjoyed I'm gonna stay on anyone could leave if anyone asked once to ask questions I'm here for I just mentioned that if people would get more information on the credibility of Torah we did a Discovery seminar couple weeks ago with argument you were talking about revelation should a for more areas of evidence of anybody would like that he's gonna touch with either Mitch or myself and we will make it available it amplifies beautifully what he said plus other areas of inquiry thank you sir yes you're beautiful you know did you think did you think I was meeting my brother I thought you know your brother to be perfectly uh because my brother's so great he speaks such wonderful torso if you know me through him I'm okay absolutely your brother smiling eyes nice to meet you nice to meet you thank you so much for the session it's so nice to hear your voice again everybody Steve you good bail that was great very good buddy I guess the you know the question I have a belief you know we have belief let's go with the concept I believe okay I believe okay so off of that what's next just because if I come to the table that I believe why can't I just say I believe and live my life the way I lived my life or where my neighbor lives their life the way they live their life good you just fell into a huge trap why why no help you asked that question why is it there have to be strings why do they have to be things attached hey I get it I get it I get it I get it I get it next time we're gonna say a different answer which is that when you're standing on top of the tightrope and you're I'm telling you Steve walk across the Rope right there's the job is to get over there it's a very important mission you got to walk across the rope so if you don't believe that's not your question if you don't believe there's a net below you on my heavens you're not gonna move a muscle but if you believe there really isn't that below you there's a lot of things you would undertake in life not your answer because I want to give you a better one for you but that's an answer and we'll talk about that next time here's a better answer I like the first answer I know you do but here's the best answer for you okay hold on I feel like I'm in Bayview Avenue again rabbi there's so many restrictions in Judaism there's so many resistors in Judaism and you think all these restrictions the almighty cares about how is that possible great question great question and there really is a God why Steve because I heard that last night just for you so here's the answer wait you make it myself making yourself sound like a prophet so good no the own maybe put it in my lap just for you here's the answer here's the answer you're in an amusement park you're an amusement park to have fun to go to all the rides there rollercoasters then you get there and you know with a religious family you got a bunch of different kids different ages different sizes and you get there and you see it's a nightmare why because this kid is too small this kid is too tall this kid can't go on this ride this can't go on that ride you got to break your kids up in like five section you have two people and you want to go around there was so many restrictions and then when you get on that great roller cut you got to keep you then you can't put it out you can't go like this put that thing and it goes on your lap and then that guy comes across and slams it down there's so many rules and regulations rabbi I just mister amusement park owner I just came here to enjoy the rides there's like this you don't understand a lot of danger and things going in these restrictions but you know what we want you to have a really good time I watched you get alive and enjoy the rides so we have a lot of things you have to do so you can really experience the pleasure of the amusement park and that is the almighty the almighty put all kinds of rules or regular striction so that we can know how to navigate the world and then we could live life and enjoy the amusement park called life and you know what he knows and wants us to do everything cuz like your kid dad why do I have to wear socks and shoes when I go outside why do I have to do swai do you care about this why because you know what the answer is because I love you and I want you the better than my experience and knowledge of the world to enjoy life and therefore I'm giving you all kinds restrictions and there too is what the Almighty does for us if you want to max that on the amusement park of life embrace the restrictions how is beautiful was really good not my turn but that was the divine providence that was very good anyway I got to go back to work it was great seeing you Lorcan I gotta back to work it was great seeing you mom simcha great seeing you thanks for giving us the opportunity to get back on the screen yeah it was right hey you guys can college um I got in the meeting right can I stay on with them you go goodbye I think can you stay on or I can't keep it open right and these you office I'll get up for fun I'll get up go go go okay go hey buddy how you doing all right that was very good that was very good you know um I mean we've gone through that before no you know the evidence and you know the evidence you always it's more powerful when you've had a pair of eyes that multiply by eight millionths than just one person obviously because if if it didn't happen you somewhere along the line a lot of people would say that never happened we never heard that story before no one ever ever happened yeah I mean the biggest I don't know he said but there's a there's a line in the devorah's that says that no one will ever make this claim no nation 11 make this claim again and live and he said that so the the point and even more though than that he says you didn't know that every other individual claim is false because if if there's a God who can control the game get national revelation claim it would never do it in a you know in a way we just less credible in other words I haven't know that give you more credible I'm never that's correct so you can no Weinberg really NACA leverage said this because you guy came individually what's the Torah happened you can know they're you know they're liars because it's an I would never do it in a way which is gonna cause doubt confusion dispersions that's a very strong you think of it it's very external it's a something else you the why knowledge if you have belief so he said he answered one woman I'll tell you something else I think is also important is that is that in life if you don't have knowledge you're not necessarily motivated to action like someone can have belief that smoking is bad for you but when you when you see the long of a guy that just died from cancer and they shock you with it and you have knowledge of it it's much more galvanizing in terms of action and belief because belief is not strong enough when you when you know something and you have clarity over something you act on it whether it's in business and your marriage but if you just if you're less fuzzy if you're less than knowledge it's not going to necessarily be put into practice so I guess what you're saying is you know belief it's one thing having belief but you know the knowledge aspect is almost as important more important because it's that it's that's what that's what's gonna be galvanizing you know and like your when you know something clear and your business or on your tennis a tennis court if you go you go with it there's no vacations no you know you want your kind of one with it it's very motivating yeah very moving yeah this is all being recorded you know how it is this being you know before