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If You Truly Believed in G-d, What Would You Be Like?
I was watching a video where Dennis Prager interviewed Jordan Peterson.
Peterson said he has difficulty with the question, “Do you believe in G-d?” commenting, in effect, that if you say that you do truly believe, it would mean you were living a transformative life, both for yourself and those around you, and who among us can lay claim to that? I had another thought on this matter, however, which was that a person who truly believed in G-d would never be asked such a question.
We Jews are lucky because, whether we believe or not, we get a ticket into the next world. If we truly mess up, we have to go to Gehinnom (as bad as hell, if not worse), but for a maximum of only one year. While there, we experience a painful dry-cleaning of our souls, so to speak, but afterward enter a sublime world to come. But that world to come, although stress-free, is kind of boring. Our souls up there wait impatiently for the Messiah to come, whereupon they will be brought back to earth and assume a physical form as our bodies are resurrected in the Land of Israel. You see, the action is here, not up there, since the soul’s purpose is to highlight or extract the spiritual spark in everything physical, and to obey G-d’s many commandments, but it can only do so in partnership with a physical body on planet earth.
Still, the question of what it would be like to truly believe in G-d does arouse interest. My faith begins with the people who live in Israel. I see G-d in them. A young family who lives next door includes four children that I do not believe could have grown up the way they did and be who they are anywhere else. How to describe them? High achievers yet humble, sure of themselves yet respectful of others. The seven-year-old boy, especially, has a great future in front of him. Possessed of a regal bearing, the other neighborhood kids his age look up to him and follow his lead. What distinguishes Israelis of any age is their laser-like focus on the matter at hand and extreme honesty; I find these qualities to be divine. Interestingly, the kids in the family next door go to a religious school even though, while the mother is observant, the father is not.
Whenever I visit the central bus station in Jerusalem, I also see G-d — in the soldiers who are milling about, sitting down for coffee and a snack, waiting for a bus. Such joy and love of life, humility, respect, knowing so much yet still full of innocence. Plus, they would sacrifice their lives for me. And, in a sense, the civilized world depends on them.
I am curious if anyone reading this would be willing to answer the question in the title. Of course, if you are already a true believer, you would perhaps be willing to enlighten us as to what your life of true belief is like.
Published in General
I don’t believe that the Bible is inerrant. But many Churches do believe that the Bible is inerrant.
So, if I were looking for a Church to attend for the reasons I mentioned (good music, a sense of community), I would choose a Church that does not teach that Jews are children of the devil.
A friend of mine who I met at a Baptist Church in 1990 (back when I was still undecided about Christianity) was surprised that, years later after I stopped going to the Baptist Church, I was hanging out with a Jewish woman. The Jewish woman and I were not romantically involved. But we were friends. This friend of mine from the Baptist Church didn’t see how I and a Jewish woman could be such good friends.
Another guy I met in college was an evangelical Christian and he told me that the Holocaust happened in order to teach the Jews a lesson for not accepting Jesus.
What some Christians believe is different from what I believe.
Jerry Falwell said on Phil Donahue’s television show back in the 1980s that Jews will go to hell if they don’t accept Jesus.
I don’t go for that stuff.
What you explained is exactly what the Islamic terrorists think. They don’t worry about killing “good people” because they will go straight to heaven. They don’t worry about killing “bad people” because they will go straight to hell.
Believing in the afterlife convinces the Islamic terrorist to place less emphasis on the life we live on Earth.
This is one of the reasons why Christians over the centuries endorsed torturing heretics. Better for a heretic to suffer torture now so that they could convert and enjoy an eternal afterlife in heaven.
But Dennis Prager is thinking of a different God than the one Jordan Peterson is thinking of, correct?
According to Christianity, being a believer in God doesn’t get you to heaven if you don’t accept Jesus as God.
So, much of Christianity thinks that Dennis Prager will roast in hell for all eternity despite Prager’s believe in God.
And if you are a Catholic Christian, many Protestants think you are attending a “false church” and will still go to hell.
And if you are a Protestant Christian, many Catholic Christians think you are attending a “false church” and will go to hell.
So, in order to make it into heaven, it’s not enought to believe in God. One must have the “correct” theological comittments and no one will know what those “correct” thelogogical committments are until one dies.
So, a Christian’s belief that he is going to heaven could be a delusion, regardless of whether heaven actually exists.
If Judaism is true and Christianity is false, then Christians are idolaters and could be in for some severe punishment.
Because torture was a Christian invention, utterly unknown to pagan jurisprudence.
Christianity and Paganism are both bunk.
I am always intrigued by the idea of different faiths having different gods.
When you come down to it, G-d’s measurable presence in this world is found through the believers/adherents. Which means that individuals determine who G-d is.
So while it is obvious that a muslim and a Christian and a Jew have different gods, it is also true that two brothers have different gods, too – albeit with fewer differences. Every person in the world has a different god than does everyone else. But in the broadest strokes, people who believe in a god who cares about helping the poor are quite different from the people who think that the most important thing god wants from them is to strike down the infidel.
Note, for the sake of clarity, that Jews do not believe that non-Jews are going to hell. Classic Judaism reckons that non-Jews who want to become Jews are a little messed up in the head.
To the extent that I do believe if God (and I do have my doubts), I believe in a God that allows everyone into heaven.
After all, if a father and son have different religious beliefs and the father winds up in heaven while the son winds up in hell, the father isn’t going to be able to enjoy heavenly bliss.
All must be reconciled to God and all will be.
Where do you get this stuff? I advise you to read some good books on religion, not ones predisposed to tearing it down. Other than that, I’m done with this conversation. I’ve got better things to do.
I would bet that I have read more books that you have and am more familiar with the Bible that you are.
Also, I have talked to many Christians over the years and in recent times I have watched lots of You Tube videos of Christian Pastors preaching their theology.
I have listened as a Protestant calls the Catholic church a “false church.” I have listened as a Catholic calls the Catholic church “the only true church.”
I have listened as Jewish Rabbi’s have explained why Jesus is not the Messiah.
I have listened to Muslim Imams as they have declared that Jews and Christians are infidels.
I have listened as Mormons are accused by Christians as being members of a cult.
So, depending who is correct (and maybe everyone has got it wrong), believing God isn’t going to get you into heaven.
This is a 2 hour debate between Michael Licona and Bart Ehrman on the reliability of the Gospels.
Here is another debate featuring Rabbi Daniel Freitag and Dr. Michael Brown. They debate whether Jesus is the Jewish messiah.
Debates like these illustrate how diverse views are among people who believe in God.
Well, there you go, you get the gold star. We will all be turning to you now for our questions on religion since you are the undisputed authority. Cheers.
Thank you for the accolade.
Please feel free to send me money too.
One recent example of clear disagreement over the nature of God is this one featuring Pastor John MacArthur and Hank Hanegraaff.
John MacArthur says,
John MacArthur has a well known radio broadcast called “Grace To You.” Hank Hanegraaff is known to many as “The Bible Answer Man.” I used to listen to the Bible Answer Man broadcast during the early 1990s.