Abrahamic religions: According to the Hebrew Bible, should you or should you not have blind faith in a prophet who claims they are from God? Deuteronomy (18:22)
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nevets - badgicide
ANSWERS: 3
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You should first see if their prophecy comes true before deciding if they are a true prophet or false prophet.
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Maimonides gives a good guideline to identifying a true prophet. Firstly, the person must be wise and have an impeccable character. He or she must be steeped in spiritual knowledge. THEN, if such a person claims to be a prophet, you are obliged to wait and see. If they predict the future and it comes true a few times in a row, you must believe they are, in fact a true prophet. There are two disclaimers: 1) Any prophet who suggests that people should follow idolatory or contradicts an earlier message or instruction from G-d is immediately disqualified, no matter what miracles they may have performed (Deuteronomy 13). 2) If a prophet predicts a NEGATIVE event and his prediction is not fulfilled, this does not undo his prophetic status. G-d is merciful and always allows people to reverse their negative destiny. [Look at http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/MadaYHT.html, chapter 7, for the full analysis by Maimonides.]
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Blind faith in anything is hazardous, including religion. How can you know you are practicing the "correct" religion if you don't know anything about any other ones? Growing up in one religion and sticking with it is a form of blind faith and in that case you have blind faith in the prophets of that religion.
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