Why Jeremiah said: 

All Religions 

are False

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Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

The prophet Jeremiah (chap. 16) teaches that the world will eventually recognize the fallacy of idolatry and all religions, except Torah Judaism. No doubt, this realization is primarily due to the failure of false gods and religions to answer man’s prayers, and certainly the failure to perform miracles like the Jewish God and His prophets did throughout the Bible. No other god showed signs of life, control of nature, or performed miracles in front of mass witnesses. No other “prophet” did either, including Jesus and Mohammed. Yes, other religions make claims and have many followers…but without mass witnesses, their claims and followers offer no proof of divine origin.

Jeremiah speaks:

To You (God) nations shall come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors bequeathed to us utter delusions, things that are futile and worthless.”

King David epitomized the fallacy of idols:

Their images are silver and gold, the work of the hands of man. They have a mouth, but do not speak. They have eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear. They have a nose, but do not smell. Their hands [are fashioned], but they do not feel; they have feet, but they do not walk. They make no sound with their throats. Like them are their makers be, [and] all who trust in them. (Psalms 115)

 Idols are lifeless. But as they have followers, their followers too must have no senses as they ignore the inanimate natures of their idols! For they expect a response from wood, stone and dead flesh, as those who pray to Jesus and the Rebbe. In life they were weak mortals, and in death they are mere dust.

God though Jeremiah’s prophecy continues His rebuke:

Can a man make a god, but they are non-gods!

This is the ultimate refutation of idols, as a true god needs nothing. Yet, idols need man to create them! We see here that God’s arguments are absolute, conclusive and not subject to refute. God’s words comply with objective reality: how the world operates. While false religions are conjured out of fantasy with no basis in reason or evidence.

The guilt of Judah is inscribed with an iron pen, engraved with an adamant point on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.

Idolatry became so believed, so integral to man’s emotions. To what degree?

As their memories of their children, so was their memories of their alters and idolatrous trees.

Rashi comments: 

Like the remembrance of their children, so was their remembrance of their [idolatrous] altars, like a man who longs for his son.

Love of a child is unconditional and intense. This was the same intense love the Jews had towards idols. How did idolatry become so precious and how does it parallel love of a child?

Man remained infantile, dependent like an infant, living solely in his fantasies. Just as an insecure, fearful infant depends on his parent, those corrupt Jews’ insecurities crippled them into depending on their handmade idols, like a parent from whom the worshippers sought unconditional care.

God clarifies this was the case:

Thus said  God: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mortals, who makes mere flesh his strength, and turns his thoughts from God.”  

Trust in idols is a projection of trust in the parent, in flesh.

God then describes the mentality of the idolater:

He shall be like a bush in the desert, who does not sense the coming of good. He is set in the scorched places of the wilderness, in a barren land without inhabitant.  

Why does the idolater not “sense the coming of good?” This is due to his mindset. An infantile mind can’t think past the present. Emotions attach to the present, seeking instant gratification.

Blessed is the man who trusts in God, whose trust is God alone. He shall be like a tree planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream. Its does not sense the coming of heat, its leaves are ever fresh; it has no care in a year of drought, it does not cease to yield fruit.  

In contrast, a wise person knows God created all. He knows God works with reward and punishment. Negative circumstances do not alarm him. As King David said, “God is the lot of my portion; You are my cup, You support my lot” (Psalms 16:5). “A thousand may fall at your left side, ten thousand at your right, but it [harm] shall not reach you” (Psalms 91:7).

Most devious is the heart; it is perverse—who can fathom it? 

The rabbis comment that people wish to gain peer approval, going through the motions of righteous people, but internally they don’t agree with their lips. Such people fear man more than God and merely act righteous to gain approval. God responds to such fakers:

I  God probe the heart, search the mind—to repay each person according to their own ways with the proper fruit of their deeds.

God responds that He is eternal:

God’s throne of glory is exalted from of old.

What is this message? He who is eternal, preceded all else. By definition, this means He created all else. And this in turn means all else requires God to exist, all else is dependent, and not worthy of any praise, meaning idols are futile. Again, the conclusive irrefutable response to those believing in anything but God alone.