I was going to post this in the General Discussion Forum but I couldn't find it. While it might be considered countermissionary it is also very interesting to say the least.
We all know this famous logic puzzle. It appears on standardized exams ranging from the SAT to the LSAT. It goes as follows:
A princess visits an island inhabited by two tribes. Members of one tribe always tell the truth, and members of the other tribe always lie.
The princess comes to a fork in the road. She needs to know which road leads to the castle so as to avoid the fire-breathing dragon and rescue the prince from the wizard holding him captive in the castle. (Although the princess doesn't know it, the south road leads to the castle and the north road leads to the dragon.)
Standing at this fork in the road is a member of each tribe, but the princess can't tell which tribe each belongs to. What question should she ask to find the road to the castle?
The answer of course is:
"If I asked a member of the tribe you don't belong to which road I should take to get to the castle, what would he say?"
The reason this works is:
If we ask a truthteller, the response will be: "He would say to take the north road." The road to the castle is the south road so the liar will tell us to take the north road, and the truthteller will faithfully report this to us.
If we ask a liar, the response will be: "He would say to take the north road." The road to the castle is the south road and the truthteller will tell us to take the south road, but the liar will not report this faithfully to us - he will say the opposite.
Application to religion.
In a discussion I had a few days ago we decided to apply this in the context of religion. If you follow this through to the logical conclusion you will be amazed to find that it really does work with respect to the two religions we discuss in this forum. We reconstructed the puzzle as follows:
A stranger visits a world occupied by two religions. Members of one religion always tell the truth, and members of the other religion always lie.
The stranger comes to a fork in the path. She needs to know which path leads to G-d so as to avoid the fire-breathing dragon and rescue the planet from the wizard of death holding them captive in Los Angeles. (Although the stranger doesn't know it, one path leads to G-d and one path leads to the wizard.)
Standing at this fork in the path is a member of each religion, but the stranger can't tell which religion each belongs to. What question should she ask to find the path to G-d?
The answer is:
You ask either of them, "If I consult the scriptures of the religion you don't belong to which path I should take to get to G-d, what would those scriptures say?"
If you think this through to its logical conclusion you will find that it actually works. The next time you are in a discussion with a group of people about comparative religion drop a couple of riddles on them. Then drop the one about the princess. After they get the answer, then give them the version applicable to religion. They will be amazed that it works.
We all know this famous logic puzzle. It appears on standardized exams ranging from the SAT to the LSAT. It goes as follows:
A princess visits an island inhabited by two tribes. Members of one tribe always tell the truth, and members of the other tribe always lie.
The princess comes to a fork in the road. She needs to know which road leads to the castle so as to avoid the fire-breathing dragon and rescue the prince from the wizard holding him captive in the castle. (Although the princess doesn't know it, the south road leads to the castle and the north road leads to the dragon.)
Standing at this fork in the road is a member of each tribe, but the princess can't tell which tribe each belongs to. What question should she ask to find the road to the castle?
The answer of course is:
"If I asked a member of the tribe you don't belong to which road I should take to get to the castle, what would he say?"
The reason this works is:
If we ask a truthteller, the response will be: "He would say to take the north road." The road to the castle is the south road so the liar will tell us to take the north road, and the truthteller will faithfully report this to us.
If we ask a liar, the response will be: "He would say to take the north road." The road to the castle is the south road and the truthteller will tell us to take the south road, but the liar will not report this faithfully to us - he will say the opposite.
Application to religion.
In a discussion I had a few days ago we decided to apply this in the context of religion. If you follow this through to the logical conclusion you will be amazed to find that it really does work with respect to the two religions we discuss in this forum. We reconstructed the puzzle as follows:
A stranger visits a world occupied by two religions. Members of one religion always tell the truth, and members of the other religion always lie.
The stranger comes to a fork in the path. She needs to know which path leads to G-d so as to avoid the fire-breathing dragon and rescue the planet from the wizard of death holding them captive in Los Angeles. (Although the stranger doesn't know it, one path leads to G-d and one path leads to the wizard.)
Standing at this fork in the path is a member of each religion, but the stranger can't tell which religion each belongs to. What question should she ask to find the path to G-d?
The answer is:
You ask either of them, "If I consult the scriptures of the religion you don't belong to which path I should take to get to G-d, what would those scriptures say?"
If you think this through to its logical conclusion you will find that it actually works. The next time you are in a discussion with a group of people about comparative religion drop a couple of riddles on them. Then drop the one about the princess. After they get the answer, then give them the version applicable to religion. They will be amazed that it works.
