Why do you believe in Hashem ?

momnaturally

Wed, Apr 25 2018, 11:42 pm

seeker wrote:

Yeah personally I'm all on board with G-d, Torah, and Judaism, but the afterlife is something I still have a lot of questions about and research to do. There is no clear consensus even among classical Jewish sources. For now I just accept the likelihood that there is something even if we don't know what. I reached that conclusion through logic based on those things that I do already know or believe to be true.

From what I understand there is a clear consensus that there is a world to come. This is not a physical world rather a spiritual world. I don't know what exactly that means but from what I have learned basically our brains our inner thoughts are our neshama. However it is greatly affected by the fact it is contained in a physical body and is greatly influenced by the physical needs a body needs and the physical world we are in. Once the physical aspect is stripped and there are no more physical needs or a physical world it is merely our minds that still exist but with much greater spiritual capacity not tied down by physical limitations. This is the reality of being closer to Hashem.
That is why the more we can be spiritually focused in this world and use the physical for spiritual purposes (and not the other way around ) that makes our entrance to the next world much smoother since we are primed and prepped for that state of existence. I think gehinnom is a process to strip the physical attachment that we did not achieve in this world so it is a more painful but necessary way to enter the spiritual world from a physical one.

amother

Pumpkin

Thu, Apr 26 2018, 1:41 am

amother wrote:

So if you didn’t hear about it then it doesn’t exist? Got it.

From Chabad.org
Do you still hold on to the belief that the Torah is Divine? Literary experts and historians have compared the Bible to other writings of 3,000 years ago (when the Torah was supposedly given by G‑d) and say that its style doesn't fit into the literature of that time frame, and must have been written much later. How can you ignore a fact that has been scientifically proven?

Answer:
Did you hear the joke about the recent study on frogs? Scientists took a sample of over 100 frogs of various species and did the following test:

They placed each frog on a table, crept up behind it and shouted, "Jump!" The frog jumped.

Then they cut off one leg, and again shouted jump. It jumped, although not as far.

They then cut off a second leg and told it to jump, and then a third, each time observing that the frog responded, but jumped smaller distances.

Finally they cut off the fourth leg and again shouted "Jump!" They were amazed to find that in every case the result was the same. The frog did not move at all.

The conclusion: When you cut off a frog's legs, it goes deaf. It is scientifically proven.

We all come to the conclusions that we want to believe. When the experts find that the Torah is too advanced for its time, they conclude it must have been written later than claimed. When I study Torah, I conclude that it is still ahead of its time, because it was written by G‑d for all times and all places. Even the parts that seem archaic and outdated, when explained on a deeper level, have powerful messages that I often feel are speaking directly to me. They are relevant and inspiring to me, right here, right now.

Many have tried to either prove or disprove the Torah's divinity. Neither attempt will be successful. G‑d wants us to have free choice. If we listen to His word, it is not by force. To maintain balance, there will always be valid arguments to discredit Him and His Torah. We can choose to buy those arguments, or see beyond them. Then, when we open ourselves to the Torah's message, the choice to do so is coming from within.

G‑d has given you a mission. How you respond is totally up to you. You can be as deaf as a legless frog, or you can take a leap in response to your higher calling.

leah233

Thu, Apr 26 2018, 8:16 am

amother wrote:

Literary experts and historians are questioning why something written by Hashem isn't like the human literary style of that era? That just shows how anthropomorphic they are. In general many anti-Torah question stem from being very one dimensional anthropomorphic.

As far as Nechemia is concerned the one who asked the question must be looking for questions because she doesn't even have that (ancient) question correct. He wasn't alleged to have found some scrolls. He did read from the Torah and teach some unlearned people about Sukkos. Those who want to know how those people forgot the mesorah should just look in a Artscroll for a discussion of this.

Sefer Ezra which is almost a part of Nechemia explicitly says that they made Sukkos in accordance with all the halachos when discussing a time period which was only about ten years earlier.

momnaturally

Fri, Apr 27 2018, 3:12 pm

amother wrote:

This was exactly my point, although you said it much better. There is no proof in either direction, so it's all speculation.

I took issue with the implication that believers are somehow denying evidence

I will proudly declare myself a believer that denies "evidence."
I have enough reasons to know that my beliefs in Hashem are true that I could not care less if you had all the DNA proofs and a thousand scientific studies telling me otherwise. I would have the attitude that they are all wrong and if I am not knowledgeable enough to explain the faults in their conclusions that doesn't make them right. I have yet to hear from anyone any reasonable explanation to how this world started and how and why it operates.
I learned enough Torah to know that it is impossible that it is humanly devised.
I don't need science for proofs.
Except for scientists themselves I wonder if anyone else really could base their beliefs on scientific things that they are not really qualified to render any opinion on. So basically anyone not a scientist that believes science is really just trusting a scientist rather than a Gadol. Honestly with that moral compass I would trust a Gadol with my money much faster let alone my belief system.