Answering Your Religious Questions - Dennis AMA

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

Reason and God are both necessary. God without reason often leads to fanaticism, which can lead to evil. And reason without God leads to nonsense, as we see with the Men Give Birth movement among the godless. So they are both absolutely necessary. The God of the Bible and reason.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to DennisPrager.com.

All right everybody, it's AMA, and it's not the American Medical Association, it's Ask Me Anything.

In the city of Sisters. How's that? Sisters, Sisters, Oregon. I am aware that one of your hobbies is photography. It is for me as well. I was wondering why and at what age did you develop your interest in photography? What subjects do you photograph most? People, landscapes, wildlife, etc.? Do you post-process your images, and if so, what software do you use? What inspires you to photograph to create a work of art, learn the technical aspects, to document events, all of these, or for other reasons. Thank you for being, through your spoken word and writings, a major source of wisdom and common sense to me and your followers. Thank you, that's very kind. I fell in love with photography in, I think, the 8th grade. So what was I, 12, 13? So much so, do you know, this is really amazing. My father, to his great credit, on most Sundays would drive me from our house in Brooklyn, New York to Kennedy Airport. At the time it was known as Idlewild. It became Kennedy 2 years later. After he was assassinated. And, uh, so he would take me— why would he take me there and leave me there for the day? I, I took my little box camera and I would take pictures of airplanes. That was it. I just took pictures of airplanes, and I was so excited to do so. And I dreamt— I, I would look at all these foreign airlines and dream of going on them to other countries. My dreams have come true because I've been to 130 countries. But that was my first photography. Then in high school, I became the family photographer. If it weren't for me and my hobby, most of the photos of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, Cousins would not exist. I, and of course of the immediate family, I'm the one who took those, those pictures because of my hobby. And I have no talent in drawing. None. I can't paint, I can't draw, nothing. I have not, I have not advanced since kindergarten when if they'd say draw a human, I would do a circle, stick legs, and stick arms, and that's all I did. Or a house, a big box with a few rectangles for windows and a chimney. I have not advanced since then, but I can do visual art through photography. And I, I am in love with it more now probably than even as a kid. I'll tell you one fascinating thing that I did. My mother was the woman who ran a whole nursing home. She, she was— she had full-time work, my mom. And every year she would take me at Christmas to photograph the patients. And I loved it. I was thrilled. First of all, they bought the film. For that alone, it was exciting. But anyway, I would take pictures of all the patients. Then the next Christmas, I would show those pictures on a screen with what were called slides. Most of you never heard of slides, but you would put the slide into a projector and it projected the picture onto the screen. And I'll never forget, I mean, talking, I was in high school at the time, the patients would get such a kick out of seeing themselves and the other patients. But in the course of that year, a fair number of those patients died. And I'll never forget how they would go, "Oh, there's Mary. Oh yeah, she died in April." Oh yeah, there's Julie. She died in March. As if they had simply left the nursing home. You know, oh, she went to Michigan. The matter-of-fact nature of the description of the death of who they saw on the screen has always stayed with me. There is no lesson to be learned. I'm just noting that I I experienced that. So, uh, taking pictures— as to what I'm most interested in photographing, I was preoccupied with photographing nature in my 20s and 30s, and then became preoccupied with people. And my favorite photography is now by far people. I, I don't do much of nature photography at all, partially because others do even a better job than I did. But going traveling, which I do— here I am in South Africa— and taking— I just am happy to sit at an outdoor cafe and photograph hundreds of people, which is not easy, by the way, to get them in focus, not blinking. I mean, it is a challenge. And I have very good equipment, I acknowledge that. And some of them really turn out to be utterly fascinating. I did take a picture here, which I should put up, of two hippopotamuses with my super duper medium format camera and a telephoto lens, which means that these pictures are incredible. I have a picture of two hippopotamuses standing next to one another on a little ledge, cliff, and they look like the happiest, sweetest animal you can imagine. It looks like a guy and his wife just checking out the scene, loving, loving every minute of it. Meanwhile, more Africans are killed by hippopotamuses than any other animal. You do not want to be in the water with a hippo. This is a word to the wise is sufficient, but the picture is adorable. Loma Linda, California. Dennis, with enormous respect, how would you answer a challenge to the statement that Israel garners more attention than any other country in the world Why then do you—capitalized you—give it more attention than you give any other country in the world? I could think of good answers, but I'd sure like to hear yours. Okay, well, Israel does garner more attention than any country. This has been true all of my life. Next to the United States, Israel has more foreign correspondents than any country in the world. Isn't that bizarre? Forgetting the war right, right now as I'm recording this, In, in general, isn't that odd? Israel, a country the size of New Jersey, has more correspondents from more places, more news, news organizations than any country except the most important one in the world, the United States of America. There are more foreign correspondents, to the best of my knowledge, in Israel than in England or France or Japan or Russia. Or China. I mean, that's amazing. The preoccupation with Israel in the world is a fascinating issue, and obviously it's now the biggest item in the news. Normally I don't devote that much time on my radio show to Israel, to be perfectly honest. I overwhelmingly— it's devoted to the United States and of course to great big issues like God's existence, good and evil, the meaning of life, and so on. Male-female issues and the like. But now, with the most obvious case of good and evil, Hamas versus Israel, and the evil that has taken over campuses, especially in the United States, more than any other Western country, Yes, it is, it is worth a lot of attention. Something really bad has happened to young people in this country that they take over Columbia University on behalf of the Nazis of our time. What if there was this gigantic Nazi takeover of Columbia in 1939 or 1941? Would you be concerned? You collectively, not Janine specifically. Yeah. Well, there is no difference. Well, there is only one, and I mean it literally. I've never called any group Nazi in my life. There's only one difference between the Nazis, a moral difference, if you will, between the Nazis and Hamas. They both want to extinguish Jews. They're both torturous, murderous sadists. But there is one difference. The Nazis hid their crimes and Hamas didn't. Hamas is proud to show what it did to Jews. The Nazis were not proud to show what they did to Jews. An interesting difference, isn't it? And those are the people that are being supported on campuses across the United States of America. That should worry you. If Israel is low on your concerns, but America is number one on your concerns, the pro-Hamas takeovers at our universities should worry you as an American. You don't have to be preoccupied with Israel to worry about our universities and the type of human beings they're producing.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here. By the way, looking over the questions, it's fascinating to me, but not surprising, that most have a religious flavor, which makes perfect sense because I've always said the ultimate issues, as I call them, are the most important issues. Obviously, the issues of the day are extremely important, but how do you know how to deal with the issues of the day if you don't get the ultimate questions right? Kathy, Sun City West, Arizona. Hi Dennis, I'm an avid fan of Dennis Prager Show and have tried to talk to you, albeit unsuccessfully. I like people who use albeit. That is a classy person. My question is this: do you believe in the power of prayer and that God does miracles in these times? I often wonder if prayer really works because I pray daily to no avail. It seems. I vaguely recall one of the radio shows where you said you did not believe in prayer. Perhaps I heard incorrectly and would like to know your thoughts on this subject. I realize that thousands of people would love to have their questions answered, and I appreciate the opportunity to submit mine for consideration. Thanks for all you do. I love your rational thinking as well as your rational Bibles. I have Genesis and Exodus and look forward to getting your latest publications. Sincerely, Kathy. Yes, I, with all, let's see, risk of sounding, let's see, in a begging mode, I beg you to read my Irrational Bibles. Obviously, it's not monetary consideration. It's not a monetary consideration that moves me. It's because I, I know it will change your life for the better. I know it. Read the 5,000 reviews. Called The Rational Bible. And yes, I use reason. Reason and God are both necessary. God without reason often leads to fanaticism, which can lead to evil. And reason without God leads to nonsense, as, as we see with the men give birth movement among the godless. So they are both absolutely necessary, the God of the Bible and reason. One without the other doesn't work for the, for the vast majority of human beings. So the power of prayer, if you mean petitionary prayer, remember This is really the gist of my answer. There are many forms of prayer. The one that most people think of is petitionary. I pray to God for something, that my child get well, that I get well. Usually it's health. Sometimes it's for circumstances to change in one's life for the better. But most people think of prayer, "I will pray for you," which is a beautiful, by the way, a beautiful sentiment. But it overwhelmingly does mean that I will pray that something good happens to you. That's a petitionary prayer, but it's not for yourself. And though, so there's a real nobility to it in most cases. In Judaism, which is my religion, the vast majority of prayer, I would say 99%, is not petitionary. So this is sort of new to me, or was new. I mean, now, now it's most of my life I'm aware of it. But the notion that prayer is overwhelmingly asking God for something was new to me when I learned of basically religion in the Christian world. But in my, in my 30s, when I was the moderator of a program with a priest, rabbi, and minister, different ones each week, and I learned a lot, and of course spoke to so many Christians for decades And for most people, it seems that is what prayer is. God, please do the following. That does exist in the Bible. There is no, there's no question about it. But those are rare individuals. They had a particular role to play. And I do believe that where God has a large role to play, a prayer may be answered. I believe that a prayer may be answered even in the in regular person's life. I'm not opposed to petitionary prayer, but I don't assume it will happen. Although I have to be honest with you, I have done petitionary prayer literally twice in my life. That's it. In my entire life, I've asked God twice for something, and in both cases, those things did materialize. One was pretty silly. I was about 10 years old, 11 years old, and I broke my parents' most expensive single item in the house, a very expensive vase from Italy. And I was sure I would get killed, figuratively, not literally. And I, I sort of went in the upstairs bathroom, locked the door, They were not home yet, and I prayed to God that my mother not kill me. I did not think she would yell at me, get angry with me. To my shock, she didn't. And I thought, "Whoa, that seemed to work." But I did not learn the lesson to ask God for things as a result of that one time. And the next time I did, it was probably 50 years later, maybe more. Let's see, maybe about 55 years later, when I asked for something family-related, and that turned out well as well. I don't know if God intervened in either case, and it is not my belief that it is good for people to walk around thinking God will answer their petitionary prayer, because if it doesn't happen, that is the cause for many people losing faith in God, because God didn't answer their prayer the way they wanted, or answer it at all, if you will. And so they lose faith in God. That's why I'm not a fan of advocacy of petitionary prayer. More often than not, it leads people to a disappointment and even alienation from— a disappointment with and alienation from God. Jewish prayer, as I said, is 99% non-petitionary. It is in books of prayer known as a siddur, the order of prayer. And it's overwhelmingly quotations from the Bible, and it's mostly praise and thanksgiving, but it is not petitionary. And when there are petitions, the rare prayers that are petitionary are, interestingly, all in the plural. So there is a prayer God, please heal, as in medically heal, us, but not me. In fact, the word I almost never— again, less than 1% of Jewish prayer has the word I in it. It is all collective for many people. So yes, it's not that I don't believe in prayer. I believe deeply in prayer. One final word which will really fascinate you all, and certainly you, Kathy in Arizona. The word to pray in Hebrew is a reflexive verb. Now most Americans don't understand that term because English is one of the only languages that does not have reflexive verbs. Almost every language does. I do to myself this action. So in French, you would— you don't say, I wash my hands. I wash myself the hands. It would be similar in Spanish. Hebrew has reflexive. Russian has reflexive among languages that I've studied. And it means, again, you do it to yourself. Isn't it odd that the word to pray is reflexive? As if you pray to yourself? Well, literally speaking, and even most Jews don't know this, the word "lehitpalel," for those interested, that word means to examine oneself. That's what prayer at best is: self-examination. I could go on with that for a long time, but I hope that helps, Kathy.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. This. Your beloved dog and a stranger are both drowning. You can only save one. Who do you save? Every time Dennis Prager asks that question, his audience splits three ways. One-third chooses the dog, one-third chooses the stranger, and one-third aren't sure. Why? Because we live in an age where increasingly feelings define right and wrong. But if morality is based on emotion, then murder, rape, and theft are just opinions? And if people feel justified, why is rioting or destruction wrong at all? In his new book, If There Is No God, Dennis Prager explains why civilizations cannot survive without objective morality and why Judeo-Christian values shape the moral foundations of the free world.

If you claim that certain things are good, certain things are evil, independent of how you feel about that you are in effect affirming God.

If There Is No God by Dennis Prager, available now at pragerstore.com. That's pragerstore.com. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

All right, let's see. Jamie Foster, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Question: It is amazing how many people think human beings are basically good Would you enumerate a few clear points to use when trying to argue against that position? Well, you should definitely watch my PragerU video, Are People Basically Good? Or so that's— I think that's the title. Also, I have written a whole essay on this. And that's in my book of essays, Think a Second Time. In a nutshell, I can't think of a more foolish belief than that human nature is basically good. It's the amount of, of terrible things people have done to other people. It is, is so enormous. You, you're either ignorant of it or don't want to acknowledge it or want to remain ignorant of it. I, I, I don't know what to say. There is no more obvious example of people believe what they want to believe rather than what there is evidence to believe than people who believe people are— the human beings are basically good. By the way, there are some people who I do believe are basically good. Their own nature has overcome human nature. There are such people. I understand that. Just as there are some people with massive innate musical talent, but most people have to be taught to be musical. That's the way it works. And even people who have a good nature need to be taught goodness. It's not enough to have a good nature. But what people have done— here's one of my classic examples. Why do parents have to say to their child 1,000, maybe 5,000 times, "Say thank you"? Why isn't once enough? Oh, of course I'll say thank you. I want to be grateful to someone who's done a kindness to me. So why do you have to tell a child 1,000 times to say thank you, to be grateful to someone who has extended to them a special kindness? Because it doesn't come innately, that's why. The way people act in wartime, And why do I mention that? Because that's when— that is when there are no safeguards. There's no police to stop you. So you're free to rape and torture. How come there's so much rape and torture if people are basically good? It's, it's, it's very distressing to me that an adult can desire to be so naive as to believe that. Anyway, see my video and read my, my essay on the, on it.

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Gail in Los Angeles, California: Why are so many American Jews Democrats. A Jewish friend once told me it was because 1, they were for the underdog and Israel isn't the underdog. 2, they are pro-abortion. 3, they don't really care about Israel. What do you think? Well, this could— I could spend the entire hour on this question. So I'll have to be brief, but I do want to address it because it's extremely important, certainly to me as a Jew, as an American Jew specifically. I left the Democratic Party in, in the early '80s. I stopped voting Democrat. Well, I did vote for Jimmy Carter the first term. That was the last Democrat I voted for. So I understand the almost primal affinity of American Jews to the Democratic Party, and that is most American Jews— the most means more than 50%, doesn't— so please understand that. Doesn't mean all by any means, but most American Jews associate right-wing with the inevitable downhill slide to Nazi or Nazism. That's right-wing. It's a Pavlovian response in most American Jews. Right-wing leads to Hitler. By the way, even the question, was Hitler right-wing or left-wing, is a very— by the way, it's not an illegitimate question. The left has brilliantly convinced everyone that Hitler and the Nazis were rightists, but in fact, a lot of the opposition to Hitler came from conservatives. Also, some came from communists. There's no question. Just want to note both, both are true. But Hitler hated capitalism, and Nazism stood for National Socialism. Socialism. That's what, it's what Nazi means, National Socialism. That's not exactly right-wing. Socialism is not a right-wing doctrine. Racism is not a right-wing doctrine, by the way. It's not a left-wing doctrine. It's sui generis. It's its own unique evil. Racism is neither right-wing nor left-wing. But the left has effectively identified racism with right-wing and Nazi with right-wing And that has stuck. Stalin called Trotsky, the father of the Red Army, the father along with Lenin of Soviet communism, he called him a fascist. And it works. That's how it works. The left sort of rules our vocabulary. So American Jews seared by the Holocaust, even if they lost no relatives in it, believing that right-wing leads to Nazism, will just always vote anti-right, which is the— in American terms, the Democratic Party. So that's one reason. Now, that's, that's the biggest for an American Jew. When I— I know this because I'm an American Jew, and I remember when I first voted Republican, I— this will sound bizarre to all of you, but I give you my word, it is true— I felt that I was sitting against the Jewish people and Judaism. That's how hard it was to vote Republican. But as I said then, and I was right, I did not leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me. And now, if it is not obvious that the Democratic Party has left American Jews, it will never be obvious.

All right, Emily, Santa Monica, California. Question: I'm Jewish and was taught there is a final resting place for souls, that if you lead a good life, your resting place is closer to God— reward— and if you lead a bad life, your soul will be far away from God— punishment. My assumption is that the closer to God in the afterlife, the more I will achieve a beautiful peace and a feeling of being loved. I know you believe in heaven and hell, so is the afterlife really just a flexible belief? So I don't quite follow why it's a flexible belief. Though I am certain there is an afterlife, I have no idea what it consists of. If that's what flexible means, yes, then I would say so. Because how can we know? How do we know what something that we can't relate to is about. We can't understand a non-physical existence. And by the way, I'm even at peace with maybe there is ultimately, uh, another physical existence, as in resurrection of the dead, which is one of the 13 principles of the Jewish faith. What I do believe is that if there is a good God, there is reward and punishment. You can call reward heaven And you can call punishment hell. But I hope both exist. Because if there is a good God, then the bad must be punished and the good must be rewarded. I don't know about eternal punishment. It's not a term that is used within Judaism. So that I can't, I can't address.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

We live in a time where the moment you question the narrative, you're told to stop thinking and start complying. That's why what Angel is doing matters. With eye-opening documentaries like Thank You, Dr. Fauci and RFK: Legacy, Angel is willing to explore the issues others avoid. In a culture shaped by gatekeepers, Angel offers something rare: a platform platform for truth-seeking storytelling that isn't constrained by fear or conformity. Go to angel.com/prager, join the Angel Guild, and watch these films today.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Paulette in Arroyo Grande, Grande, or Grand, California. Dennis, I know that you have a video on forgiveness But could you expound on the theme of forgiveness regarding people who have no remorse or regrets for what they have done? As a Catholic, we are told that forgiveness is a key. What are your thoughts? Thank you for what you do. Love you.

Thank you, I appreciate that.

So I have never quite understood why people feel duty-bound to forgive people who have not, uh, atoned or who have not asked for forgiveness. God doesn't forgive those who don't ask for forgiveness, why should we? I'm answering in a religious way because you identify as a Catholic or identified yourself as a Catholic in the question. Forgiveness needs to be earned. Many of you know one of my favorite English words is earn. I'm a big believer in people earning, but this has biblical basis and logical basis, obviously. I, I don't regret what I did to you, and you should therefore forgive me anyway. Now, people will say it's worth forgiving people the bad they've done to them because then they can lead a much freer life. They're not burdened by this anger that they would otherwise have. So look, if it helps you deal with something terrible, who am I to say you should deny yourself? But it's not just— there is If your child were murdered, and this is something we encounter where the parent will say, "I forgive you," to the murderer, without the murderer even saying he's sorry, I guess the individual will feel better. In, in the sense that I said, of relieving oneself of the burden of anger at somebody who did some terrible thing to them, or, or even more remotely to another. And then they will forgive all was done to the other. In my religion, Judaism, you can't forgive someone for an offense they committed against another person. The only person who can forgive is the person who was hurt, the direct victim of the injury. I— so I— to me it's pretty clear. You forgive, if you choose to forgive, after the person has repented. No repentance, no forgiveness. God, that's God's thing, God's modus operandi. It should be ours as well.

Okay, let's see. Stacy in Granada Hills, California. Thank you for all the wisdom you share. My question: you often state that God asks 5 questions of us after we die, 2 being, were you honest in your business dealings and did you partake in all permitted pleasures in life? What are the others? Well, let's see. So again, this is a famous, wonderful— Rabbi David Woznika, very prominent rabbi and dear friend, is the one who has publicized this. It's in the Talmud, the second holiest work in Judaism after the Bible. And the rabbi said that there were these questions that are asked So one is, why did you not partake in every pleasure that is permitted? Every permitted pleasure. God wants us to enjoy life. That is one of the basic beliefs of my life. That's why divorce is allowed in Judaism. And let's see, oh yes, did you conduct your business affairs honestly? I think it's beautiful that they— that that is one of the questions. The 5. I don't remember all 5 offhand. I know another one is, did you look forward to, uh, the, the— to salvation? But it's not salvation in the same sense that Christians use the term. It's really a— to, uh, to the Messianic age. Did you give up on the Messiah or Are you still hoping that the Messiah will come? It's very interesting that that's one of the questions. Another one is— one second, I just had it in my mind and this is— oh yeah, it's a great one. Did you set times to study Torah? That is great. The— my vehicle to God has, has been Bible, the specific— specifically the first 5 books. Try— why I'm writing my commentary on the first 5 books, The Rational Bible. But did you set specific times to study it? Maybe they knew too that that was the greatest vehicle to God.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

Dennis Prager. Today's subject is family values.

What are they?

There may not be a term that is more widely used without a definition than family values, but I never know, and I'll bet most of you don't know what it means.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Are you enjoying Timeless Wisdom? We'd love to hear from you. Call 877-243-7776 and leave a review, share your your thoughts, or just even an encouraging word for Dennis. Your voicemail might just make it on the show. That's 877-243-7776. That's 877-243-7776. Thanks for listening and for your support. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, to listen to our most recent classic radio programs and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

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