Why do people take at face value what others say without doing any personal research?

Question

This is really rampant in the R/S area. People will say what another religion believes with nothing backing them up, just going on what they have heard. This is common in other areas, too. How many times have you gotten emails from well meaning friends about computer viruses or other hoaxes? Why are we so gullible?

Answer 1

Laziness/reluctance to actually research and validate the real truth? Maybe it's just more convenient to believe what people tell us, especially when we are told things by someone who seems knowledgeable in the certain area he/she is speaking about. For example, listen to Al Gore in his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. (I know this isn't on the religion topic but hear me out.) Some people who know absolutely nothing about global warming might sit there and watch it, thinking, "I bet global warming is true. I mean, he made this huge slideshow and loaded it with scientific data, and it looks pretty convincing. And after all, it's Al Gore saying this stuff. He's a big environmental guy and he was almost president, so you'd think he knows what he's talking about."

Other times, maybe it's just too difficult or time consuming to find out the truth behind something when there are so many conflicting viewpoints and we can't really sort out what's what. We don't want to invest so much time in proving or disproving every single little thing we hear.

Answer 2

I've read the books, I know what I am talking about. Usually if I make a response similar to what you have said it is in response to an answer a religion person has given IE based on their beliefs.

Answer 3

Economic efficiency. Why build a car when you can have someone else do that for you? Why think when you could also have someone else do for you.

FYI, I believe everything you say without question, provided it confirms what I was told by my pastor.

Answer 4

Because people are lazy.