I generally stay far away from religion but I do like discussions about religion. And recently, I got involved in a discussion with some fanatic who “knew” he was right and I was wrong, as his Religious counselors have told him so. So I came up with a simple riddle which he could not answer.

It starts with three Holy Men and a large chest. And as I’m talking about religion in general, I make them of three different religions so we have a rabbi, a priest and an imam. But if you talking to a fanatic, make them all Holy Men for his specific religion.

The rabbi starts and opens the chest to look inside. Once he has seen what is inside, he closes the chest and tells you there’s a statue of a golden calf inside, with precious jewels for his eyes. He describes it in details and he sounds very convincing.

Next, the priest opens the chest and looks inside. After he has seen the content he closes it and tells you what is inside. It is a wooden cross with long, silver nails and a golden hammer. And he too describes it in a lot of details and sounds very convincing.

Last, the imam opens the chest and looks inside. He has seen the content and closes the chest and tells you what is inside. It is a marble statue of a horse with a crescent moon next to it made from pure silver. And it is described in details and also sounds very convincing.

Now, who do you believe? How do you know who is telling the truth?

It’s actually a simple riddle. But for some people, it is still too complex. When they’re from a christian background they are more likely to believe the priest. Jewish people would favor the rabbi. And muslims will believe the imam. But all we know is that at least two of these Holy Men are lying. And maybe all three of them are lying.

When you’re not biased by any religion, it becomes more challenging and you would try to find out how reliable these Holy Men are. You talk with them and look at their actions. Have they committed crimes in the past? Have they been caught lying in the past? And what are they describing exactly? And how about their family? Are they from families that have used lies and crimes in the past?

It takes some time to evaluate who is speaking the truth and as all three of them are very convincing you could just decide to believe all three. However, you know that two of them must have been lying, as not all three objects could have been in the chest.

Or could it? Could it be a magical chest which shows the content that the viewer wants to see? If so, all three of them would have spoken the truth but it requires the chest to be very special. And it makes the content of the chest questionable in value, as what worth does an illusion have?

Or you just don’t care about what’s in the chest. That’s actually the easiest solution. However, all three holy Men tell you that you have to believe one of them as your eternal soul would be in danger if you don’t. All three threaten you that you will go to Hell if you don’t believe in him or believe any of the other two. And that makes it even more challenging as you don’t want to spend your eternal life in Hell.

But if you don’t believe in a soul and eternal life then not even that matters. So the holy Men are telling you to believe them or else they will end your life. You have to believe one or choose death. And if you pick one, the other two will want to kill you, but the Holy Man whom you believe will try to protect you. With the threat of violence and danger for your eternal choice, you will be in big problems and will be forced to make a decision.

So, you wouldn’t make a choice on whom you believe, but you choose the one who is most beneficial for you and your family. You have no choice as you need protection and each Holy Man can provide protection. But when you chose one, the other two will become your enemies.

So you have a big dilemma. You are forced to choose one and will have to believe what he said about what’s in the chest. And this is the same problem as you see with religion. You have basically thousands of “holy men” claiming they, and only they, know the Truth and that you have to believe them, or else. And instead of having just two enemies you would end up with potentially thousands of enemies if you chose to believe one of them. They they will also be enemies if you don’t believe any of them. However, when you follow just one then he will likely protect you against the others.

Or not, as many holy men will actually use those who believe in him to convince them that the others are lying and thus deserve to die. They need to die because they don’t believe in what he is claiming. He knows the truth as he has looked into the chest. And you believe him because you think he’s trustworthy. Right?

Generations later, your children will continue to follow the children of this holy Man, as you’ve educated them to believe in what he told so they believe in what you told them. However, the Holy Man now has three children. And each child tells the story about the content of the chest differently again. One repeats what his grandfather has told. The second one adds a collection of gems and golden coins to the content. The third mentions flasks of wine as part of the content in the chest. And your children will have to make the same choice again as what you had to do. They have to solve the Riddle of the Holy Men.

And this explains why we now have so many different forms of religions. Why we have so many different opinions and don’t know what’s in the chest, as we don’t know whom we really can trust. This is a riddle that will repeat itself every generation, as new Holy Men will be born and each of them claim something different in the content of the chest. All these problems simply because we have to chose whom to believe.

Or do we? The solution of the riddle is actually quite simple. You yourself go to the chest and you yourself will open the chest and look inside. Then you will see what is inside. And when you want others to know what is inside, you will invite them to also take a look inside and keep the chest open. That way, every person can learn what is inside the chest without relying on what others claim they saw.

And that’s what’s science is! In science, you don’t present any beliefs but you show everyone the clear facts and allow them to evaluate the reality themselves by telling them what to do to see those facts. And you allow people to think for themselves and determine for themselves what they are seeing. You suggest theories and others might believe those theories or not. If they want, they can make up their own theories and that’s just fine. Everyone can see inside the chest and see the content.

So the answer of finding the truth is simple. You just have to look for yourself!