Trusting Reason Over Emotion

This made me lol. (via @SpacedJ)

Why Trust Reason?

When it comes to finding truth, reason is superior over emotion because it works. It’s really as simple as that. Emotion can only tell you that you’re experiencing emotion — it cannot tell you anything about the cause of the experience, nor any truth claim behind it.

I once argued with a pair of Mormons on my doorstep. I thought I had thoroughly decimated their arguments, but they kept pleading with me to “just read the Book of Mormon” and it would tell me it was true. How would it do that? They said I would feel a burning in my heart, and that was evidence the book was really from God.

Bullshit. It could be indigestion. It could be anger. It could be I like the story — or hate it. But a “burning in my heart” does not mean their claim is true. It just means I had a burning sensation. You can see this easily by changing their claim: “If you feel a burning in your heart while you read Harry Potter, then it means God wrote the book and wants you to become a clown.” Doesn’t sound all that convincing now, does it?

Unfortunately, I used the same argument as an evangelical Christian. “The Bible is God’s Word,” I would tell people, “Just read it for yourself, God will testify with his Holy Spirit that it is indeed inspired by God. You’ll feel it in your heart and God will bring you to himself. Please, dear sinner, read this book!” Some people would read it and shrug their shoulders. But others would read it and have a life-changing experience. But Mormons have similar experiences. So do Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and others.

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