An Outline of Jewish Beliefs about the Qualities of God
In this essay I am going to discuss the Jewish beliefs about Hashem
and what Jews think his qualities are. I will be using examples from a
famous religious scholar called Maimonides and quotes from the Torah
to give evidence for my answers.
Jews believe that God is omnipotent, which is to have unlimited power
or authority. In the 13 Principles of Maimonides, Jews believe that
Point 7 shows Gods unlimited power over humans and the universe. The
point explains how Moses experienced the presence of God through a
burning bush and how God revealed his purpose for the Israelites to be
taken to the Promised Land. This is a clear example of Gods
omnipotency. We can also see an example of Gods unlimited power in
Genesis 6, with the story of God creating a huge flood to kill every
human being, animal, or bird on earth. We also see Gods unlimited
power in the 10 commandments as God must be very powerful if he can
give such restraining orders and have people follow them. We also see
this in the Shema, as again God gives an order a whole race of people
follow. The above reasons therefore explain why Jewish people think
God is omnipotent.
In Judaism, God is also seen as being omniscient, which is to have
total knowledge. Jews believe this as at Yom Kippur we can see an
obvious example of God being omniscient as he knows every deed a man
does in his life which helps God to weigh up their good and bad. Jews
also feel Gods total knowledge in Psalm 139, "…when I was growing
there in secret you knew I was there", a quote from a man to God about
the time while he was growing inside his mot...
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...he Shema and in the Ten Commandments,
as God makes some very heavy demands on how Jewish people live their
lives. In point 5 of the 13 Principles of Maimonides as it states
another demand that God makes which is outlined by the phrase "Only
God must be worshipped" The second of these qualities is that God is
eternal, and this is most clearly stated in principal 4 of the 13
Principles of Maimonides.
Based on all the ideas discussed in my essay I believe that the main
qualities of God that Jews believe Hashem are, are omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent, personal, impersonal, transcendent, holy,
creator, monotheistic, immanent and also demanding and eternal. These
qualities have been decided by Jews due to passages from the Torah and
the Ten Commandments, which led to the writing of the 13 Principles of
Maimonides.
I thought angrily. How do You compare to this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do go on troubling these poor people’s wounded minds, their ailing bodies? … Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. … But look at these men whom You have betrayed, allowing them to be tortured, slaughtered, gassed, and burned, what do they do? The pray before You! They praise Your name! … I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man.” (Wiesel
In his second volume on Jewish apologetics, Michael Brown answers twenty eight Jewish theological objections. Brown summarizes this book in his preface:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galations 3:28
Clearly, he sees the evils that he has suffered as part of a larger plan; furthermore, he attributes good fortune and punishment to the work of God and in my opinion, he sees God using him for a much greater purpose.
He sees a man among thousands of people who are pushing closer to him.... ... middle of paper ... ... When people realize that they are capable of knowing the truth, they are able to overcome the illusions and help others break their own boundaries.
The core ethical teachings of Judaism are the Commandments of the Torah, the Prophetic Vision and the Book of Proverbs. These ethical teachings are all ultimately derived from the Jewish Bible or Tanakh. The importance of these teachings are to provide Jewish adherents with informed moral choices. One of the most important ethical issues that a Jewish adherent may face is pollution, decisions must be made in favor of methods that involve less rather than greater destruction to the earth because according to Bal Toshkit in the Prophetic Vision, the destruction of God’s creation is prohibited.
“[My father] taught me with silence. He taught me to look inside myself, to find my own strength, to walk around inside myself in company with my soul. When his people would ask why he was so silent with his son, he would say to them that he did not like to talk, words are cruel, words play tricks, they distort what is in the heart, they conceal the heart, the heart speaks through silence” (284).
He remains this way to serve as a check for each god's involvement in the
To become fully human men must distinguish themselves from God. When God sends the flood. He separates Himself from them by putting the world into their hands, as if to say, "There you go, you're grown up now, you take care of it." The gift of the Earth should be God's last active attempt at separation; from then on the humans should try to separate themselves from Him on their own. But like birds kicked out of the nest who try to climb back up the tree, they try to build the tower to heaven; and once again, God must intervene by creating even greater difference. This time He confuses their languages so they are not only different from God but also different from each other.
immense love God In Deuteronomy 7:7-9, 13 We that it is God who chose us not the other way around, and this is brought on without any help of their own accomplishments or righteousness in and of themselves. The Lord promises to fulfill his blessing towards us if we follow His Word and Law. we see that we are to In Deuteronomy 7:12 7:13
Author's Philosophy " After a short time silence, he stood up and told me that
experiences and its beliefs developed over time about sin, salvation, grace, faith and so forth.2
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God is a primary source document written in the 17th century, by a well-respected, Puritan woman. This book, written in cahoots with Cotton and Increase Mather, puritan ministers, tells the story of her capture by Indians during King Phillip’s War (1675-1676). For three months, Mary Rowlandson, daughter of a rich landowner, mother of three children, wife of a minister, and a pillar of her community lived among “savage” Indians. This document is important for several reasons. First, it gives us insight into the attitudes, extremes, personalities and “norms” of the Puritan people we learn about in terms of their beliefs, and John Calvin’s “house on a hill”. Beyond that, despite the inevitable exaggerations, this book gives us insight into Indian communities, and how they were run and operated during this time.
“I believe in coming out and being plain and honest with that which should be made public, and in keeping yourselves that which should be kept. If you have your weaknesses, keep them hid from your brethren as much as you can. You never hear me ask the people to tell their follies… do not tell our nonsensical conduct that nobody knows of but yourselves.”
Religious texts have been one of the main sources for laws and social customs since the conception of organized religion. Each religious text provides its followers with a code of conduct they are expected to apply to themselves, their actions, and their institutions. This code of conduct applies to the individual, as well as to the government and society to within which the people exist, and ultimately defines what a "just society" is in the context of that religion. Using stories and proverbs this code of conduct, and thus "just society", is not only set, but also shown in examples. In The Bible, the essence of a "just society" is laid out within passages that serve as "the laws", including Deuteronomy, and the Psalms, and in the stories, such as the stories of Job, David, Samuel, and the Family of Adam. The actions and nature of God in these stories are meant to be an example of the values and personality favored by God. In these passages, a structure for a just society is presented, and the values and examples, which are to be referred to and followed in the creation of this "just society", are discussed. However, even within these passages, there are discrepancies between the structure of the ideal "just society" and its values, and the following of these examples by the stories presented in The Bible. One of the most noticeable of these is the difference between the presentation of the ideal "just society" and values that are supposed to be implemented by the people, and the actual justice and values presented in the stories. This is particularly pertaining to the stories of the rulers appointed by God, and the vengeful nature of God himself presented in these stories.