Generalizations, God, and Raising Good Kids - Dennis AMA

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

In my 20s, I was on an airplane and I was seated next to a woman who had a vegetarian meal. And wanting to make conversation, I just said to her, are you a vegetarian? Yes, she said, yes. So my, my enjoyment in life is to find out why. Whatever the issue is, why. So I asked her, "May I ask why you're a vegetarian?" She said, "Sure, because we have no right to kill animals." And I remember thinking when I heard that part that I respect that. We could live on non-animal food. So she says we have no right to kill animals, but she didn't stop there. She said, who are we humans to say that we are more valuable than animals? And I, I remember my shock.

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

If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first, so Your Body Stops Working Against You. Mention Prager today and receive 2 free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900.

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.

Prageru.com. Hi everybody, welcome to AMA, Ask Me Anything. Great to be with you. Let me go to your questions. Okay, here we go, in no order except the order I was given it. All right, name NA, not applicable or not available, Rapid City, South Dakota. What book or books are you reading now? Can you share any insight on what you've learned so far from it or them? I always ask this question when I catch up with my sister, and it's my favorite part of our conversation, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Thank you for taking my question. It was exciting last time you read my question. I'm glad. Thank you. Well, I'm always reading a book or books, especially thanks to Audible. And Kindle. I have 5,000 hardcover books, but I will admit that I love listening. It's like dessert. So I just finished a biography of President James Garfield. My favorite way of learning history is through biography. It's the most interesting way to learn history because you learn about their times You don't just learn about that individual, but you learn it through studying one person, and it's, it's an interesting story usually. So anyway, uh, what did I learn? What did I learn? I learned War got confirmed a few things. First, the Republican Party was truly the anti-slavery party. That's why it was founded. How many Americans even know that? The Democratic Party was the party of, of slavery, the party of Jim Crow. The party of the Ku Klux Klan. People, people don't know it. Maybe, maybe only Democrats should pay reparations if you believe in reparations. I learned that Garfield was killed He was, he was an assassinated president, and the odds are the doctors killed him. I, oh, I knew this before. A, I knew it about Garfield's doctors, but I knew it about doctors in general. Oh, until the very, very, very modern period, doctors did much more harm than good historically. If the doctor came to see you, you were probably going to get worse. Example: they did not know about germs, so they did not believe that they had to wash their hands when they treated wounds. So filthy hands of, of the most prominent doctor of the day who would be put into holes in President Garfield's body where bullets had entered. Is another interesting thing in that regard was this doctor was so certain he was the best doctor in America. He was so cocky. And when I, when I see the amount of nonsense that has come from the medical profession, the American Medical Association announcing that you shouldn't put the sex of a child on his or her birth certificate because they may change their mind later. That's the American Medical Association. When I see the doctors who support removing girls' breasts if they say they're a boy and all the hormone blocking that they support, it's easy to become cocky if you're a doctor. So that was another one of the many lessons that, that I learned from the book. I'm reading another— so that I just finished. I'm now reading Empire by Niall Ferguson. Niall Ferguson is one of the greatest living historians. I've had him on the show a number of times, and I just started his book Empire about the British Empire. Because all we hear about is how bad imperialism was and colonialism was. And I want an objective historian to tell me, how bad was it? Was it— was it the net balance of the British Empire good or bad? It's a fascinating question. Jacksonville, Florida. Why can't an alternative to the two-party system, Republican and Democrat, thrive in the U.S. electoral system? I am a registered Republican in the state of Florida. When I lived in New York— when I lived in New York State, born and grew up there long ago, I was a registered conservative, quote unquote. When I got mad at the Republican Party for not being more fiscally/socially conservative and wanted an alternative to the Republican Party, I voted for Ross Perot and essentially gave Bill Clinton an undeserved vote, much to my dismay. I continue to work within the Republican Party to influence those I work with to vote as a biblical voter because Judeo-Christian doctrine and values guide my life I thank God for your voice, PragerU, and all you do to guide Americans in the right, righteous direction. Thank you. So yeah, you voted for Ross Perot and you elected Bill Clinton president. Third parties can be a real danger to the good. We have a two-party system. Europe does not have a two-party system. Most countries do not have a two-party system, by the way. They, they have a parliamentary system. In general, I'm not a fan of the parliamentary system unless you have a very high threshold of votes you need to have to enter the parliament. Because otherwise, let us say we had a parliamentary system. So do you know who would have seats in the parliament? You would have a Green Party, which is the worst of all the parties. They're crackpots on the environment and they're evil in politics. They are the most supportive of Hamas of all the parties in Europe. As a general rule, the Green Party. But you would have that in the United States. You might have, for that matter, an Islamist party, given the number of Islamists, that is Muslims who want to have a Sharia-based society. You will have, you would have very possibly a pro-life party, pro-choice party, God knows how many parties we would have in the United States if we had a parliamentary system. So that's why I, I think generally the two-party system has served because it, it doesn't give the extremists power like the parliamentary system does. But given what I believe has been the leftization of the liberal party, the Democratic Party, I don't know if the two-party system can serve as this great bulwark that I used to think it could. But I know the problem with the, with the alternative. All right, let's see here. We have the next one. Mikaela in Brooklyn, New York. Does Judaism permit procuring information from fortune tellers and psychics? A friend of mine who is Jewish goes to psychics and fortune tellers. She assures me that it's okay for Jews to do that. I doubt this is true, but I thought I'd ask you. Thank you for all your work. Well, the Torah profoundly prohibits sorcery, witchcraft, magic, incantations, entrail reading, the whole nine yards. It's because it denies that God is sovereign. It means that other things are. Um, generally speaking, people who go to psychics today, there's a large entertainment value. And I don't— it's not meant to disparage it. To it, it's like that the rabbis 2,000 years ago asked, "Can a Jew gamble?" And they said, "Yes, but not for a living." In other words, for fun, fine. For a living, no. And I would say, argue similarly here, for fun, fine. For real, probably not.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first, so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive 2 free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900.

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Ashley in Wichita, Kansas: My husband is a physician. He is an intelligent, courageous, and outspoken one, which is a rare find. Boy, is that ever true. He has gotten in trouble for speaking out before and has created a lot of vicious enemies in medicine along the way. I am conflicted on what, what to do and how to support him. I feel I am always pulling him back and asking him not to be as outspoken, as nothing good comes out of it. We have young children, and I don't think that gambling with our income source is a good idea. On the other hand, I can't complain about people not speaking up when I'm the one limiting my husband in that task. Do you have any advice for anyone going through this? I bet there are several others like me out there. What is our role as the spouses of courageous people? Wow, what a, what a powerful question. What is the role of a spouse of a courageous person? Well, my instinctive answer is you're his helpmate, and that's what he most needs from you. But your question is not at all illegitimate. And you are right to think about the, the family income. That's a moral question too. It's very hard to sacrifice, to, to hold something, to be courageous and not sacrifice. It's very hard to, to do that. Some price is paid for courage. If no price were paid for courage then it wouldn't take courage. That's the whole point. If courage doesn't exact the price, it's not terribly courageous. I mean, it's still courageous because you don't know that it won't exact the price. So it's a very, very tough issue. I'll give you a fascinating example. Of, of this from the Bible. So Abraham— God tests Abraham, tests his faith, tells him to sacrifice his son Isaac. It's obviously not just his son, it's also Sarah's son. Abraham and Sarah are a couple, and they— she finally has Isaac. At a very old age, and then all of a sudden her husband, in communion with God, says, I'm going to sacrifice him. Anyway, it turns out if you read this— and I, I did not realize this, this was an Orthodox rabbi, actually a man I was very close to named Pinchas Peli. Who noted this to me, that after Abraham tried the sacrifice, God stopped him. That's why I say tried. They never spoke to each other again, Abraham and Sarah. It is clear they split up. He lived in one city, she lived in another, and we know that because it says so and because when she died, it says he went to her city and to mourn her. In other words, it was a tough one being married to this man who really did commune with God. Wasn't the— it wasn't the nut hearing God's voices, uh, God's voice, so to speak. It's hard to be married to a prophet. It's hard to be married to a courageous man. I assume it, it would be the same for courageous woman, but in this case, and in many, it is the man. So I don't have a perfect answer for you because If some people don't fight and potentially pay a price, then they, uh, their civilization is dead. But you might say, I don't want to pay that price. It's like in Fiddler on the Roof, a famous musical. Tevye the Milkman. This is in— this is in Eastern Europe where Jews were frequently killed in what are called pogroms. And he looks at God, he says, why don't you choose somebody else for a change? We just keep getting killed for being the chosen people. And that, that's the way it works. For Christians, it's Christ who is the, the example of the one who suffered for the sins of the world. The courageous and good suffer for the sins of the world. Jews have suffered for the sins of the world collectively. And a lot of good people have. Think of all the Allied soldiers who died fighting Hitler and, and Tojo. That's not merely, you know, endangering the family's income. That's giving up your life. So while you still have kids to support, you might want to choose where you fight carefully. But thank God he fights. Good luck. Let me know how that works out. P.I. in Woodlands, Texas. Would you donate your organs if you passed away and they were suitable for transplant? So this is a great example of where I would be very curious to know what percentage of you thinks the answer is yes and what percentage thinks it's no. Good, thank God. Sean thinks it's yes. Not thank God for me. Thank God it means that you know me. Why on God's earth would I not donate my organs if it could save somebody's life when I died? I, I literally— it's one of the rare times I can't think of an argument. I have it on my license, on my right, on my license, the— not the license plate, but on the license itself. That's funny. They should put it on the license plate because if you're killed in an accident, then they know that maybe they could take it immediately. I don't know. But what is it on the— on your license? Was— is it a little, um, it's a little sticker of some color or something? That's in— all right, it's in the system. Good. Really, I would be very interested to know from any otherwise good person, what hesitation they would have. I mean, my choice is if I'm buried, which given my religious tradition is what I would be rather than cremated, but either way the organs dissolve. They, they disappear. Through time or through fire. To think that I would prefer that to giving it to a human being to enable them to live— it's a non— it's truly what we call a non-issue. So I'm glad you asked because that, that enabled me to sort of give an ad for everybody to do that.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive 2 free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900.

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All right, Mary in Troy, Wyoming. In general, what are your parameters for making generalizations? I observe in several people a tendency to generalize or exaggerate a trend, having witnessed or heard about only one or two cases. I catch myself doing it sometimes. Does this happen to you? This is one of my favorite subjects. So first, let me state what I have often— if you can't make generalizations you, you have no wisdom. That's the ability to make generalizations means the, the ability to make sense of life. It's a big deal. What is a generalization? It is when you see a pattern I believe that I have a gift, and so I don't take credit for it. I'm calling it a gift. I see patterns based on a few examples. I'll give you one of the biggest examples in my life. In my 20s, I was on an airplane. I was already giving lectures. I was flying. I I don't remember where, and I was seated next to a woman who had a vegetarian meal. And wanting to make conversation, I just said to her, are you a vegetarian? Not everyone having a vegetarian meal is vegetarian. And I asked her, yes, she said yes. So my enjoyment in life is to find out why, whatever the issue is, why. So I asked her, "May I ask why you are vegetarian?" She said, "Sure, because we have no right to kill animals." And I, and I remember thinking when I heard that part that I respect that. We could live on non-animal food. So she says we have no right to kill animals, but she didn't stop there. She said, who are we humans to say that we are more valuable than animals? And I, I remember my shock. I was shocked. I had never heard that before. And so I said to her, well, wait a minute, I totally get it that we may not have a right to kill animals when we have an alternative source food. Food source. But we're not more valuable than animals? Well, let me ask you a question, thinking this was a rhetorical question. Which would you save first if both were drowning, a person or an animal? Or I suppose— I think I specifically said a stranger Or your dog, or a dog, or your dog? I guess it was your dog. And there was no answer. She just was— she was just quiet. I said, I'm sorry, did you hear my question? She said, yes, I'm thinking. And the skies opened up, and I thought, she's just Thinking? You mean there's something to think about? Would you save a dog or a person first? And then what I did, based on one example, is I made a gigantic generalization that this woman represents vast numbers of people because we live in a secular age. And when you drop people being created in God's image, you end up with human-animal equality. That's, that's the— based on one experience, one example, I made this gigantic generalization. I've turned out to be right. So the question isn't, can you generalize from one or two examples? It is, is your generalization accurate and will you deny that it was accurate when you encounter contrary evidence? So there's, I don't know if there is an answer. You have to be very careful about making generalizations.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Hi Dennis, this is from Kathy in Sun City West, Arizona. Hi Dennis, I seem to remember that some years ago you said that you did not believe prayers are answered. I may have heard incorrectly, so please clarify if that is not the case. I find it difficult to believe that prayers are answered as well. If they are, it seems coincidental. Please give me your thoughts on the value of prayer. If I was incorrect and you do believe prayers are answered, please tell me why only some prayers are answered. Thank you for considering my question. So When in America, at any rate, maybe throughout the Christian world, when people say prayer, they immediately think about petitionary prayer. I'm asking God for something. In Judaism, there is virtually no petitionary prayer. 99% of prayer is not a petition. And the petitionary prayers were added much later in Jewish history. For a good chunk of Jewish history, there were no petitionary prayers, or virtually none. Prayer in Judaism, and you could see it in any Jewish prayer book, because that's what Jews pray, is what from the prayer book. It's very little spontaneous prayer that's public anyway. So, if you open up the Jewish prayer book, the Siddur, you will not find petitionary prayers. You will— it's overwhelmingly praise of God and biblical citations from the Psalms, from Proverbs. From the Torah, it— whatever it might be. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm against petitionary prayer. I've made two in my life, which is amazing. Twice I've asked God for something, and by the way, both times they came about. So it's a little eerie. Maybe, maybe God is laughing at me. So you, the big skeptic about 'Petitionary prayer, you're batting a thousand with your two prayers.' That's true, I am batting a thousand, but I don't know that they were answered. I can't say that. I don't know. I'm not saying they weren't, but I don't know. How can I know that the answer— that what happened happened because God did it and I asked for it? My, my bigger problem with petitionary prayer is that people who don't get what they want will stop believing in God. That happens not infrequently, that people are so disappointed in God, he didn't come through, and they stopped believing in God. That's my worry about it. Or even without petitionary prayer, that's my worry, that, you know, God is supposed to protect me from harm. I, I don't have that belief that God is supposed to protect me from harm, by the way. I'll be, be perfectly candid with you. That's why I put on seat belts, or a seat belt. It's not my view of God that he's there to protect me. I hope he does, but I don't count on it. So that is how I, I deal with the issue. I do pray, by the way. I, I do pray in my synagogue when the time comes for prayers for the sick. I, I will I will add the name of a person. I've been prayed for a lot, and I am very grateful for it. The fact that I can't count on it, and nobody can count on it, doesn't mean that I don't value it. I do. Edmund— Edwin in La Palma, California. How come there are more Jews here in America who are either liberal or leftist and sympathize with the Democrats? As a respected Jew, what advice do you have for them? And what 3 incontrovertible truths do you tell the non-Jew or conservatives in order to prevent them from believing the leftist lies and propaganda against Israel? I suggest one hour of your weekly radio show be dedicated to, quote, the truth, the conservative truths, and the irony of leftist views. This could be an interesting hour of discussion, either about what Americans think is the truth about conservatism while aspiring leftist lies to counter their propaganda in the media, academia, and mostly every facet of American life. Well, I have dealt with the issue of Jews who are voting leftist on a number of occasions. Suffice it to say this: vast numbers of Christians vote left too, but there's a big difference. Christians who leave Christianity for the religion of leftism are no longer called Christian. Jews who leave Judaism are still called Jews. That's it. You're not born a Christian, but you are born a Jew. So George Soros is called a Jew even though there is not a single thing Jewish about him. He's as alienated from Judaism as the most secular non-Jew in the United States. That's what happens, by the way, when Jews do abandon the Torah. They end up embracing cockamamie views. It's true for the entire Western civilization. The great quote that I've heard and repeated on a number of occasions: when people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first, so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive 2 free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900.

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

Monica in Orlando, Florida: What is Shabbat supposed to look like for single parents? My Christian family loves Shabbat, but for me it's become a chore. Is there any advice for us who can't seem to be able to rest? Well, I, I actually have given this a great deal of thought, but first let me begin with an anecdote about my late mom. My mother, Orthodox Jew like my father, was preparing for Passover, which is the holiday that necessitates the most preparation. Not just in cooking but in changing the dishes to Passover kosher dishes. I won't explain what that means. It's just a lot of work. She looked at me one year and she said, Dennis, only the men got out of Egypt. Clearly— not clearly, but well, clearly a witty line. But in fact, maybe the wittiest line my mother ever came up with, at least that I heard: only the men got out of Egypt. When I have told this to Jewish women, they have loved it because that's, that's something they all resonate to with regard to Passover. So it is tough for women to rest. On these holidays like Shabbat or the festival of Passover and some of the other ones. It is, it's a challenge. And I, I don't know if there's a— there really isn't a perfect solution to it. Now you say you're a single mother, as if that's relevant. If you were a married mother, I'm not sure it would be all that easier. It would be easier. I mean, your husband could be of some help, at least with the children, if not with the cooking and the setting of the table or whatever, presuming that's the stuff you do. But that's— it's— so I don't know if that's what you meant, but I presume it is. But I'll tell you all an interesting other problem related to this. Has nothing to do with whether you're a man or a woman. At least within Jewish life, and I think for any Christian who takes it seriously, the same thing would apply. The Sabbath, or Shabbat, is meant to be celebrated with others, beginning with your family. So how does a single person enjoy The Sabbath, and it's a challenge. It is truly a challenge. I'll leave it at that because I was single for a long time. Well, I mean, relatively not today. I was married first time at 32, but it is not easy. You— it is a truly communal holiday. All right, my friends, have a wonderful day, and for that matter, a blessed month.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

Raising children is the ultimate issue of this particular hour, and specifically, specifically the issue of character über alles, character above all. That in setting priorities for how we raise our children, character has to be number one. And for very, very, very many parents, goodwill and decent people, very often character is not number one in the way they raise their children.

Actually, you know what, I totally agree with you. I would rather my child smoke than be dishonest. Um, I've told him that his word is the only thing in the world that he owns. And when he gives his word, and that's to be honest and truthful, then, I mean, he, he's, he is controlling his life. When he lies, he's not. So of course I don't want him to smoke either.

But yes, yes, exactly.

Absolutely.

All right, well, congratulations to you. I have no doubt that that affects the way your child will, uh, will grow up and the type of person that the child will be as an adult.

I just want to say that, you know, I recently pulled my two of my four children out of public school so I could have a little more emphasis on their life and their upbringing.

Um, you mean, you mean to homeschool them?

Homeschool them, yes.

Yeah, okay, go on.

And in learning about homeschooling and about the importance of homeschooling, one of the biggest features of that is being able to instill, um, not just religion but character building that they can't do in public schools. I guess I would like to assert that I would rather— I mean, I am not a parent by any means, but I would rather have my child smoke rather than cheat. I guess I would have a hard time separating smoking with being a character flaw. I mean, with smoking, I feel like it's also a character flaw. That is something that—

Wait, wait, wait. So which would you rather your child do, smoke or cheat?

I would rather have them cheat because I feel like that's also a teaching moment and it's something that you can work on, yes. I mean, I'm not condoning either of them. However, smoking I feel like is also just something that's going to be a lifelong addiction. It's going to be something that they're stuck with and I would have a hard time separating that as not a character flaw. I mean, they're turning— most, I would say, A lot of people turn to that, you know, when they're stressed out, and there's other more productive ways that I feel like you can get rid of stress, like exercising or being outside, you know, those sort of things.

Yeah, of course, that's true about many things, but it's a health issue. Why do you call it a character issue?

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for more information. For thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We wanna 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.

If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort, it may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first, so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive 2 free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900.