A Jew's Belief on Judaism
19:32 May 13 2006
Times Read: 559
Most people ask me, “What is your view of God, as a Jew?”
That question is very difficult to answer in a few short words. My view of God cannot be compared to other Jews’ views, as I know many Jews have a different view of God. I’ll start from the bottom I guess, and work my way up…
First things first – as a Jew, of course, I do not believe in Jesus Christ. I don’t think a human can be God, and no matter how many people message me saying he wasn’t a human, he was. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care whether he existed or not – he’s not going to affect my future. The Da Vinci code, although it was a novel, does contain some truths that I’m sure the Catholics are not going to be too happy about. Just the other day as I passed a Catholic Church a sign on the wall said, “Do not watch the Da Vinci code, the movie is filled with lies.” I’m not kidding, as corny as that sounds, they seriously meant that.
But back on topic – normal Jews believe in just the Old Testament. Most Jews also believe that a supreme God, (Adonai, Yahweh, Hashem, whatever you want to call Him) created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. We believe in monotheism – the belief in one God.
My mother was a convert, my father still a Christian, so naturally you can see how my views below won’t be entirely one religion, or any religion at all sometimes. But I’ll try to explain my view of life, God, and the world.
I believe that this world, our lives, everything is defined and/or predefined by mathematics, or science. Science and religion are already very intertwined, as much as they are conflicting. Think about it.
As Newton’s 3rd law, states, “For every action there is an equal or opposite reaction”, I believe that for everything we do, it will come right back around to us, in some shape or form, eventually. I believe that is God. I believe God is that mystical force that makes our decisions now affect us later. God shouldn’t be worshipped, but considered. You should think of “God” or “karma” whenever you are about to do something, knowing that whatever you do might come back to you later in a bad way…so do something positive instead.
Have you ever heard of the Rabbi Hillel? Here is a very short story – you might understand more than one thing after reading it.
A pagan came up to Rabbi Hillel, a contemporary of Jesus, and said he would convert to Judaism if the rabbi could explain the whole of Jewish teaching while he stood on one leg. Hillel stood on one leg and said, "That what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and study it."
You might be thinking, “that’s what Jesus said, he basically said the Golden Rule!”
But anybody who knows anything knows that the Egyptians said a version of the “Golden Rule” 1600 to 2000 years before Jesus Christ. I’m not promoting Rabbi Hillel, obviously – just letting you know JC’s “Golden Rule” wasn’t so unique.
But what I’m really trying to get across is that according to this Rabbi, the whole Torah is basically the law of cause and effect, karma, whatever you’d like to call it. “The rest is commentary”.
Which brings me to another point – the Bible isn’t meant to be read and understood word for word. There are meanings deeper than just the story that the children read on top.
So why do Jews keep Kosher? Why do they take off work on Friday nights and Saturdays?
The answer is self-discipline. We restrict ourselves to give ourselves self-discipline. If we are too much concerned with the pleasures of physical life, we become corrupted. So we don’t eat the “tasty” food, such as catfish, pork, crayfish, etc.
And all who may have tried it, not working one day is a hell of a lot harder than going to work. Don’t think, “Yeah, right! I’d definitely rather take off than go to work!”. Think about this – we aren’t allowed any form of work whatsoever that may bring money into our pockets or household, unless it is to save a life. (Such as a Jewish doctor working on Saturday to save a life.) Telling everybody around you that you just can’t make it to work because you are forced to rest on the 7th day is a lot harder than you would think. Whenever I am idle, (such as today) I feel like I HAVE to work – doing something is better than doing nothing. According to some beliefs, laziness is a sin, too.
And yes, to answer other questions, there are such things as Jews who don’t believe in God. There are atheist Jews, people who don’t believe in God but retain some of the Jewish customs, there are secular Jews who just don’t believe in God, and there are people that are of the Jewish race and are Christian or another religion. (Yes, there is a Jewish race, like African American, Caucasian, etc., that’s one of the ways Hitler killed Jews, by tracing their family trees.)
Next, what about miracles? How do miracles happen? Well, they could be just mathematical coincidences – but I would never say such a thing, but I don’t believe coincidences exist…everything happens for a reason. I read an article that helped me form what I’m about to tell you – it was Cancer’s excellent article “Thoughts Are Things”. If thoughts are things, then I would assume they’d have a wavelength of their own, just as sound and light do. That would explain how some people can read minds, or real psychics work. They have the ability to pick up the wavelength that normal people cannot pick up. “Why can’t we all, then?!” you might ask. Well why are some people born with Down syndrome? Why are some deformed? Everybody’s different. Some have natural advantages, some don’t.
Back on topic though – if thoughts are things, then they would fall under the same rule as actions would, since they would also be considered an action, if you think about it. So for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction…this doesn’t mean if you pray for Johnny he’s going to live – it means that your action has been “considered” and applied to their well-being. If they already have bad karma coming their way, or other people have already wish bad things upon them, then that would play a part as well. Many factors would be considered, I would assume. I don’t believe we would be able to comprehend them all – then again, I once heard that if a mathematical formula extended over half a page, it was incorrect – nature isn’t that complicated. Who knows.
What irritates me most is people who can’t imagine, who can’t consider why this can’t be true. Some people say wavelengths don’t exist with thoughts, and I might believe that if I didn’t already have a debate earlier in my life about “sound”.
Everybody has heard the popular question, “If a tree fell in the forest, and nothing was around to hear it, would it make a sound?” I don’t think so. I tried explaining to those around me in that Biology class – sound would not even exist if we did not have receptors (ears) to hear it. They said it would still exist, but we could not hear it. I disagreed then as well – the wavelength would exist, but the thing that we define as “sound” wouldn’t. The wavelength may still exist, but as long as we aren’t directly affected by it, humans will agree it doesn’t exist. In that same way people today will say, “thought-waves” don’t exist, that’s silly. That’s just because they don’t have the “receptor” to acknowledge it, so they say it doesn’t exist. Why they still believe in God, I do not know. I think mainly a belief in God is just a final attempt to make a sense of why we’re hear…but they just don’t dig deep enough, at least not nearly as deep as I have thought on it.
If you have any questions or what you believe to be corrections, please message me.
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