What Is God?

what is god why do you believe in god what do you believe so let's clarify this believing that there is a god is silly because if there is there is and if there isn't there isn't so what do you mean do you believe everybody believes in god everybody the question is only which god are you talking about so the classical argument between religion and and science the scientist says there's no god the world began with subatomic particles if the world began with sub-atomic particles then that's god because god means the original substance from which everything else evolved so you think it's a subatomic particle okay that's your god when we say god we're talking about an original being who unlike the subatomic particles knows what he's doing that's it that's your choice your choice is do you believe in a god who started a world and doesn't even know it or do you believe that god who started the world did it intentionally with a plan there's no such thing as an atheist just because you call god a particle doesn't make you an atheist it makes you an idolater tell you another thing that makes you an idolater if you say god needs certain things we need certain things and they're often in conflict he needs me to fast on yom kippur i need to eat he needs me to get married [Music] i need to stay single he needs me to rest on shabbat my business works best on shabbat so we have two needs and we have to figure out how to get along like a bad marriage so for many many years we were told your needs are not as important as his so give up what you need be humble be obedient be submissive god is the boss you do what he wants what you want you have to sacrifice that sound like a religion amazingly it worked it worked not only for jews the whole world the whole world behaved built cities built communities made new inventions explored new countries why because they needed to [Music] everybody in the world was told what they need to do either by the tsar or by some other dictator or by a preacher by a religious leader everyone was always telling you what you need to do what you must have today it's the media constantly you are being told what you must have you must have this new car you must have this new pair of shoes you must have this medicine to clear up your sinuses it might kill you but so what clear up your sinuses everything in the in the in the media in the in society is telling people what they need to do of course you have to pay for it it reached a point where we can't take it anymore so young people are suddenly saying i don't need to you're telling me i need to i don't need to i don't care so your frum zede said you have to keep shabbos you have to go to school so they went to show today if you try saying to your grandchild to your grandchild you need to keep kosher i need to i don't need to no you must no you have to do this i don't have to it took us 5 000 years to figure this out i don't have to not only with religion everything the farmer would wake up early in the morning to milk the cow why have to you got to milk the cow he would take his 10 year old son with him to go out and plow the fields why you have to it's plowing season it's the season you have to plow so they plowed today i have to i don't have to they don't have to why don't i have to because i didn't ask to be born pretty simple deduction i didn't ask to be born i didn't ask to be born because i don't need to be so if i don't need to be born what do you mean i need to plow the field i don't need anything i didn't even need to be born so a man in india sued his parents that they should pay all his bills for the rest of his life because they gave birth to him without his permission sounds funny he literally took them to court but the courts threw it out because the parents said we didn't ask to be born either so blame grandma and the grandmother said i didn't ask to be born in it sounds funny when you first hear it but think about it for a minute nobody asks you all of a sudden you're born and you have to pay the bill does that make sense you have to go to school you have to get into a good college you have to get a good job you have to pay the mortgage and the taxes wait wait wait wait wait did i sign a contract did i agree to this responsibility no so if you give birth to me you pay the bills [Music] doesn't that sound right and the same thing with religion god creates me and now i have to keep shabbos so what was the answer in the olden days like 10 years ago what was the answer you have to keep shabbos i re i do how did i get myself into this mess how did i become obligated to keep shabbos i never agreed to this you're right you never agreed to this but if you don't keep shabbos you're going to burn in hell aha that means you have nothing more to say you're starting to threaten me it means you have nothing more to say so you're not telling me why i need to keep shabbos you're just telling me that i'm going to get it so obviously you don't know why i should keep shabbos either because if you knew you would tell me you obviously don't know so you're threatening me did you try threatening a child today doesn't work you can't threaten a child today so what what are we going to do can't beat up your kids what are we going to do that ebber prepared us for this deeply thoroughly amazingly the rebbe said you don't need to be born you don't ask to be born so why are you why are you here this is no longer a religious question this is a life question that young children are asking you tell a child to clean up his room he says i didn't ask to be born now i have to clean up rooms so it's not a religious question it's not a philosophical question it's a question of reality what am i doing here and how did i become obligated to pay bills and to clean up rooms and to get good report cards how did this happen and it's such a good question in the secular world this causes people to commit suicide because they have no answer i didn't ask to be born and i am burdened with needs this doesn't make sense i quit but if you're being logical it's true that you didn't ask to be born it's true that you don't need to be born i've never heard someone who wasn't born complain hey where wasn't i born no such complaint we don't need to be born so follow the logic if you're not here out of need then why are you here the most logical answer you're not here because of your need no if you're not here because you need it someone needs it someone needs you to be born so here's our message to the world a world that is suffering from a complete lack of knowledge a complete lack of wisdom the message is simply this [Music] if you think you need and you're trying to satisfy your needs you're going to become depressed because it's artificial you don't really need anything so as soon as you start thinking need you're already depressed the alternative is you are needed if you look at all the psychology of all the mental emotional problems in the world these are the two key ingredients it is depressing to be needy and it is depressing to not be needed if you solve those two problems you will have no others guaranteed part of the failure of psycho-psychotherapy whether it's freud or adler or maslow or whoever it is the failure is they keep focusing on your need they're actually making you depressed you come to the therapist and you say i have so many needs i can't stand it basically the therapist says you have no idea how many needs you have you have needs you never even thought of your mother never wanted you you're jealous of your brother thank you very much i feel so much better now that i have more needs and then you come to religion for a little relief what are you told those are only the problems in this world wait till you get to the next world they have problems there waiting for you so come on enough already here is the simple conclusion we have the option to think of our needs or to think of who needs us if nobody needs you you are depressed if you have needs you are depressed so what's the solution obviously your needs are not yours his need of you is absolutely eternal the best of both worlds i have no burdens i have no reason to be depressed because i don't need anything but if nobody needs me i'll be depressed god needs you that's judaism the rest is commentary we made such a terrible error maybe it was due to influence from christianity or from islam or wherever when did god become indifferent retired living sitting up in heaven watching us struggle we are needy and he needs nothing isn't that the picture he's god he doesn't need anything we uh we have needs the first words of the torah once you understand them you don't need anything else in the beginning god created heaven and earth tell me who needs did you hear that he created heaven and earth he needs nothing i didn't create anything so i need nothing but he created the world he doesn't need how did we get so upside down the creator of the world has a huge need an infinite eternal need strong enough to make him create an entire universe we on the other hand never asked to be born what do i need let's take this one step further you need to eat you need to sleep you need a car you need a phone you need a doctor see we have lots of needs just a minute of thought you need to eat i need to eat actually i need to stop eating and i can't so my question is who did this to me who did this to me if i designed myself would i make myself dependent on food every three hours if i designed myself i would make myself less talented than a camel can't go without water if i designed myself i would need to breathe why i'm not as talented as a fish these things that we call our need is not ours we didn't choose it we didn't agree to it we don't want it we don't like it what do you mean our my need i need to eat no no whoever created me created me dependent on food thank you very much i need this like a hole in the head i need to get a job i need to get a job who created the system who made it necessary to have a job not me i'm against it i'm against school i'm against jobs who needs it but that's not the world that i was invited into i don't make the rules i don't choose the rules they're already there and who made those rules the creator so is it true that i need to eat or that he needs me to eat so let me end with this a young boy went off to yeshiva in france very strict the day he arrives he walks into the office of the shiva and he says in yiddish he says i need to call my mother where's the phone and the rash yeshiva said to him you need to call your mother what does i mean and what does need mean think again listen to this he said i need to call my mother not true not true what should he have said um [Music] also not true my mother needs me to call her i i need to call her why is everything me that's what the russia shiva was saying you need to call who do you think you are your mother deserves that you should call her you need a chutzpah i need to eat right now really you're the creator you created yourself so let's be careful when we say we believe in god it doesn't mean we believe there is a god everybody knows there's a god the only thing that is as consistent and as universal as anti-semitism is the belief in god so what do we mean when we say anima i believe it means i am aware of what's true he needs me more than i need him he is the creator so he is the one who needs and i'm not going to compete with him and make believe that i have needs so the one thing that a human being needs is to know who needs you that's it is that not judaism is that not the whole torah god comes down to mount sinai to tell us what we need what is that no he came down to mount sinai to tell us what he needs and how much he needs us to do that just imagine tomorrow morning people all over the world wake up and say why am i here what do i need i don't want to need i'm sick and tired of needing the world would be 50 cured we have a sunday night program for vips that you might be interested in it's informal it's questions and answers it's conversation it's really relaxed it's really pleasant enjoyable informative and kind of community-like it's a sunday night program there's a wednesday morning program for the vips and there's a wednesday night program all of it just conversation casual laid back unscripted so join us take a look click the link below and see which which of the three suits you best and join us for some enjoyable conversation

Channel: Rabbi Manis Friedman

Views: 543,939

Keywords: education, educational, training, torah, judaism, chabad, religion, which religion in china, judaism beliefs, judaism definition, manis friedman, rabbi manis friedman, life, inspiration, inspirational, rabbi, life advice, adive, advice, life changing

Id: RJeuAhwR8LM

Length: 26min 26sec (1586 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 25 2021