Wrestling With Faith: Judaism's Response To Hard Hitting Questions

the first lesson lesson 1 I have trouble believing in God there are many things about God that bothered me for starters what is God besides can I look perfect you I will to him why do I need it in my life I mean you can see the obvious confusion that's going on I don't believe in him oh by the way what is he and why do I need him so there are three completely different issues totally confused so where do we begin let's let's start with things that we do understand first of all we understand that the most meaningful and most real things in life are not visible first of all intelligence is not visible emotions are not visible even in the physical reality what you see in the table this is not the reality we know that under a microscope this looks very very different and what we don't see with our eyes is more real it's the building blocks of everything it's more real than what we do see it's like a every kid in the school learns this in elementary school so the problem with not seeing is a non-issue since when they're seeing something make it real all of human development all of human progress all of human knowledge has been to go past what you see and find out what's really real my gravity is not visible and yet gravity is one of the most fundamental laws of nature secondly the one thing that we know is real is the need the need for meaning life has to have meaning otherwise we get very depressed as it has anyone ever seen meaning believe that there is meaning or is it something we intuitively know an distinctively we recognize that I have a meaning in life where does this need come from it's not philosophical it's not it's not scholarly every human being even if he never opened a book in his life needs to have some meaning where does that come from it must logically come from the existence of meaning if there never was a meaning to life why would we be looking for it why would we not need it that's like if you never had a home how can you be homesick so the fact that we're all looking for meaning is not a is not a collective disease or sickness it's because life is meaningful if life is meaningful then there's an author to that meaning if existence is meaningful then it must be meaningful to its creator as that's just simple simple logic by the way the greatest scientists believed in God more than most religious people because when you study the world you come to the conclusion that there's got to be a Y which is much more than intelligent design much more meaningful than intelligent design there's got to be a purpose a why not a how so let's start with when we use the word God what are we talking about so when people say I don't believe in God because religion has been very bad separate the issues first define what who is God what is God so we have two branches to two lines of thought in the title one is safer you know that the first mitzvot the most important Mitzvah is M&M you have to believe you have to believe in a creator to the to the extent that if someone threatens your life and demands that you deny that belief you're not allowed to deny it the Rambam on the other hand says that the first Mitzvah is that you have to know because how can you have a mitzvah to believe how can you have a commandment to believe in the commander if you don't already believe in a commander so to say God told me to believe in him why do you believe that so you have to know God first then you believe what he tells you so the Mitzvah can't be the belief you can have a natural belief you can have an intuitive belief but you can't have a commandment to believe who's commanding you so the Rambam says Emunah that's that's an instinct the first Mitzvah is you have to know you have to understand and you have to be able to explain in fact I think the Frieda Culebra says that you shouldn't you shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that you Diaz hashem diastolic a aviva the knowledge of God simply means to know that he is and we do we know that there's a creator because there's a creation but that's not really fulfilling the Mitzvah the Frieda Cadabra says it's not that idea is only a Hashanah it's a preparation to the real Mitzvah the real Mitzvah is Havanna not you dia there's a difference between knowledge and understanding you can read a lot of good books and get a lot of knowledge you don't understand the word you're saying but you know you know the facts but you don't really understand them then you're not fulfilling the Mitzvah the Mitzvah is have vulner understanding in addition to your deer in addition to the knowledge so again knowledge you can get from somebody else somebody told you so now you know it's written so now you know but understanding means that you can explain what you were just told and that's what bina is maven Dover metal dover understanding means you were given some information and you figured out from that information more understanding then you have fulfilled the mitzvot of your dsm of knowing God so when do you believe and when do you know or what do you believe and what do you know so a general rule of thumb is belief applies to subjects that cannot be known anything that can be known no matter how hard it will be to get to know it you have to try and to say well that's too much work to know it I'll just believe it that's that's not belief and it's not knowledge that's just foolish like the famous story of scientist religious scientists said to the dead boo we don't believe that there's life on other planets doing I just said believe you're a scientist go take a look it's expensive okay but you don't use belief in something that you can know make a rocket ship and go to Mars and see you're sitting here believing what's going on on Mars that's just listen another thing believing means knowing for sure that something is true you can't you can't treat belief like like a personal a personal responsibility you're told to believe so you believe you believe what whatever if it's a mess with to believe I'll believe it so you can tell me whatever you want fine I believe it the fact what you're believing in has to be more real than your belief in it so for example you ask a guy do you believe in God he says you say you believe God runs the world so you the boot you believe God caused the storm I don't know how am I supposed to help but you believe it yeah I believe it why I'm supposed to believe it so once I believe it I fulfilled my obligation yatesy they favor say now does God run the world I don't know well she F is coming you believe that yeah say he's coming doesn't look like but you believe it yeah believe it why why I keep kosher I keep Shabbos I believe that's not belief that's just lazy look I don't want any trouble I'm supposed to believe a Cabell evening I believe in leave me alone it's not that's not the function of belief so the place for belief is in things that cannot be known anything that can be known if you don't know you don't know believing doesn't help it's not it's not even it's not even a good thing at this point in history is to be practical at this point in history if a person says I don't believe that there's such a thing as God it's it's the most is the most unintelligent argument or the utmost unintelligent statement in the world for all of history there's one thing that hasn't changed people believe in God for you to come today 5,000 years later and say there is no such thing yeah you're not sensible you make you make no sense if everybody is talking about something then the intelligent thing to do is find out more about it I understand there's a problem you go to somebody who's talking about God and you say tell me about God they say we don't know much about him so now you get to be a little suspicious everybody's talking about him nobody knows anything about it sounds a little funny no but if something is spoken about by human beings then there's something there what it is exactly find out but don't say there's no such thing it's a ridiculous out it's it's foolish so just logically anything human beings speak about has some reality find out what it is so if somebody says to you God created the world the intelligent response is how do you know what do you know tell me if you don't know well that's somebody else but to say no there's no such thing so what's everybody talking about if somebody says the Toyota was given at her sin I three thousand years ago you say I don't believe it what what do you mean you don't believe it it's so foolish who was there where is it written how do you know what happened there that's intelligent it didn't happen for this you have to be smart to say oh no that's smart you have spoiled children five-year-olds you tell them something and the five years oh no sir this he needs intelligence you can be five years old so if a person is 55 and says oh no you never grew up so the perfect example for it which is really I think helpful an explorer comes back from wherever he went let's say to the Congo it comes back and it tells you that there are people there they're pygmies a three feet tall you say oh I don't believe that you're intelligent you say I don't believe that why cuz you're smart I'm not at all you never heard before of pygmies of little people you never heard such a thing so when you do hear about it your reaction is oh no y ou know why because you never heard it so you say to the Explorer ah I never heard of such a thing so what would the Explorers say I'm an explorer my job is to go and see things you never saw before if I come back and I'll tell you I tell you what you already know I'll lose my job then I'm not an explorer I haven't discovered anything so what does it mean I never heard that before that's that's how you learn every day you should hear something you never heard before or people say I never saw such a thing because you never went to the Congo so you never saw such a thing an explorer comes from Australia says there are kangaroos and you say oh I've never heard of such a thing you don't want to trust anybody so you go to Australia and see if there are kangaroos but you can't sit here and say no no then no kangaroos it's not intelligent so keep keep your your your accounts separate there's faith and there's knowledge if somebody says God gave us the Torah at her scene I three thousand years ago that's a that's not a belief that's a historical event see if you see if you can trace it down ask more questions find out more about it it's not unknowable if there were people there and you know that it was in the Sinai desert you know that it was on a mountain then you know that it was a little of the of the spring so find out more this is unknowable this you have to believe but if God says I care very much about what you eat or don't eat you have to believe it wait you want to you want to do an investigation you want to investigate and figure out what he does care what he doesn't care this is not knowable so he tells you you have no choice but to believe it or not believe it but that's a subject for m1 but that the created world has a creator this has nothing to do with faith like saying do you believe in George Washington do I believe in him either I read the accounts I know the history book I know where he was what he did and so or I don't know but belief what his belief coming do you believe that he didn't chop down the cherry tree okay that's a matter of belief unless you have pictures you have evidence so let's go back to the question how do you believe in something you don't know like when people say if you could prove it to me I'll believe it don't be so foolish if I could prove it to you then you don't have to believe it then you'll know it and on the other hand there are things people believe for absolutely no reason and it's an accepted fact I believe you I don't believe you based on what I decided I'm going to believe you I'm not gonna believe it so use the word carefully you don't believe in history it's a subject you know weaker you don't know it why is it important in my life for this we have to know something about God himself when you ask people who who are religious I say did God create the world for a reason or without a reason nobody would say God created the world for no reason if God created the world with a purpose with a reason then the whole world exists for that reason shouldn't you find out what it is you exist because of that reason you don't want to know why you exist this is too religious for you or one of the questions in the film who is he to tell me what to do it's like I exist I'm real I have a life I'm busy I got important things to do and he comes in mixes into my life who look who invited him so let's get it real a couple of years ago you did not exist nobody needed you nobody was looking forward to you like this this teenager asked his mother so you're happy you had me well this is actually we didn't know it was gonna be you you were not real a couple of years ago all of a sudden you're real and you're important thing you're busy and God who created the whole world has no business mixing into your busy schedule you've got it all so backwards so here's really the problem or what is it what is it the course called the struggling with faith wrestling with faith what's the wrestling the wrestling is my god or is there a real God this is what you're struggling with it's a little embarrassing though am i real or is there something more real than most decent human beings until our generation most decent human beings always knew there's got to be something more real than me not only because I was just born but because I'm gonna die so how real am I even the universe Oh a while ago it didn't exist and in a while it's not going to exist again according to scientists so how can it be real so there has to be something more real than the universe so I was reading something some theory that there was an alien intelligent beings that created or you're willing to consider that if this is not real what is that's it it's as simple as that so scientists are trying to figure out what really existed that made everything else now no matter what you come up with you can call it by whatever name you want a particle a substance a gas an energy whatever you're gonna call it if it always was then it's God it's more real than the universe because the universe wasn't always but then you have the mystery the important mystery if God always was because that's what God means something that always is doesn't have to be created and it's without limits it's not like us if it's not like us why did he create the world not help everybody is going to say if this being created the world there is a why there has to be otherwise why would he change why would he make something that isn't there suddenly come into being there's got to be a why to figure out what that is that is the most intelligent the most useful and the most meaningful of all questions in the universe no but here's the problem if you say that he created the world for a reason then that he sounds like us what could be so important to him that he is forced to create the world so what he wasn't forced if he has a reason then then he has to do it no unless it's not a good reason it's not a good reason I should have done it so either way there's a problem if it's an important reason then it forces him to do it because it's so important you got to do it so something is more powerful than him on the other hand if it's not a compelling good reason then why did he do it that is a very intelligent question you want to know the answer join the course bring us the lesson to does God really care many Jewish observances see Petty and Bernice's and they interfere with the way we choose to run our lives why can't God just leave me alone no story about this elderly couple and married for 50 years and they're driving in the car and he's sitting by the wheel and she's sitting by the door and she says what happened when we first got married we sat close now you're sitting on that side I'm sitting on this side why did you move away he says I move away I'm the driver I can't move away if I move away we'll crash so if anybody moved away must be you what do we need him for why is he interfering in our lives he is running our lives he's driving he's making it all happen question is are you with the plan are you moved away but the beginning of the question was does he really need us here's here's the problem if he really needs us that he's not God we're God he doesn't really need us mighty creators this is what all of us is this is all about Hasid this explains two things very very clearly number one he doesn't need you how could he need you you're nothing you're insignificant you're tiny he's everything he's always he doesn't change he doesn't need he doesn't depend the better you understand that the better you know him the better you understand his reality his reality is he's missing nothing he's lacking nothing he's perfect his eternal he's infinite and you're tiny and insignificant but you got to really understand that for example how far is one from a billion very far but you can buy for $1 and what you can buy for a billion dollars is very bad there's no there's no vending machine that needs a billion dollars $1 get you whatever is in there the distance between one and a billion is very big but it's only big a billion dollars is made up of a lot of $1.00 but if you're talking about infinite bleed rules how far is one dollar from bleed rule it's not far they have no connection whatsoever but more than that how far is a billion from infinite exactly the same no closer at all so we know God is infinite so one human being can't really be significant how about seven billion human being exactly the same no closer so how many stars are there how many galaxies are there how many how many atoms are there it doesn't make a difference it's nothing because you're comparing at the information that's one explanation the other explanation is that you are to God everything not because of you because of him there's something about him that he needs you not because of you because of him let's put it in different words the more you understand that he doesn't need you the more you understand that he is perfect without you the better you understand how much he needs you let's make any sense like in a marriage if I don't need you for your money and I don't need you for your work and I don't need you for your advice and I don't need you for your sense of humor but I need you then I need you even more if it's not for this and not for this and not for this so what do you need that shows how much you need so if he who needs nothing and is lacking nothing and is infinitely greater than the entire creation etc chatter chatter he wants you that means he needs you a very much he needs you his way not your way no that means as human beings would say how much does he need me from one to ten how much and then God says it doesn't go by one to ten I need you and I am NOT one and I'm not then how much does he need us how how important is the world to him in order to have a world he has to hide himself I don't even know what that means how does he do that how does something infinite hide itself but he managed doesn't sound like he likes it why would an infinite being like to hide himself to limit himself symptom but he's willing to do it in order for the world to exist and in order for his purpose to be fulfilled there has to be freedom of she has to give us freedom of choice freedom of choice means he has to make it possible for us to go against him does that he likes it he hates it but if that's what it takes he does that in order to have his purpose fulfilled as his plan he has to create a Yates ahundred does he like a Yates a husband he doesn't like does he want to create it he doesn't want to create it gimel veromarcos Rodimus had Italian beholding every day he regrets creating a Yates honor and if he regrets it's serious his kind of regret so why does he do so this is the first thing we need to know about him not that he exists but who he is for the purpose that he has he is willing to put up with things that he hates which tells you how important his project is which I think leads us to another one of the questions what about all the evil what about all the pain what about all the suffering zut I love Azusa Hara when other mantova were sent out of GaN Eden they were sent into a world of ugliness not a world that they made oh it's an ugly world Calum hot top it is the lowest possible world what's a lowest possible world a world that has evil it has pain that has death that's a lowest possible work so to ask why why are you all these bad things happening you know which world you're in you know which world you're in you're in the lowest possible world so what are you asking why is the world so low so right from the start we are told the purpose is to fix the lowest world so what kind of question is this how come the world is so low it's the lowest world our job is to fix the lowest world the Y's are so hard it's hard to fix the lowest world so then the question is can it even be done that's a good question if you're willing to accept the responsibility and you're asking can it really be done now you're sounding like a minge either somebody to talk to the answer is it can be done because we're not doing it by ourselves it's his plan so yes it can be done and we're doing it and we're going to succeed lesson three Jewish beliefs seem primitive God seems test pals outdated beliefs such as the notions of a chosen nation and designated gender roles plus he interferes with our choice of lifestyle how they did it's family and outdated notion some people might say yes oh good luck to them because they're not gonna be around very long what makes something outdated I have no idea it's a meaningless a meaningless concept besides we know from fashion everything goes our circles it's outdated today it will be back in fashion a couple of years from now so why go through that whole cycle just hang on and it'll be back there are some things that don't grow by dates oh this is America so in America you don't have to breathe in America you don't have to eat in America you don't have to have children what's what's America oh it's a 20th century yeah so something somebody put it this way these laws in the Taylor are 3000 years old don't don't you think they need to be a little updated if you invent a new sim we'll make a new law so far we haven't invented any new since so it's the same walk create a little sin create a new Mitzvah so people still have the same issues we still have the same moral question is to have the same moral doubts and we have to find our way and the title gives us direction for moral issues and moral issues are never outdated even without getting into the subject even the abortion issue well it's a new issue no it's not a new issue the question is is it murder or isn't it you can say it's not alright if you can prove that it's not murder then you're right if it is murder thou shalt not kill that has not changed and it will never be outdated so the whole point of godly instruction is that if this is what brings the world to its completion to God's plan then how can it be outdated we're just getting warmed up so the further we go in history the more important it becomes to be moral to not lie to not steal tune that cheat and therefore it gets even harder but irrelevant and the same is true with all the mitzvahs putting on filling going to the mikveh getting married it's become much more relevant not less and we're seeing more and more the need for it and the truth of it and the value of it not less Alba so many people are not getting married very sad they are not the future they're the end Lesson four a good God who does bad stuff how can we understand that God intended and caring presence in our lives amid the experience of suffering and tragedy I don't know less than five our religion and science at odds how might a scientific person embraced beliefs that cannot be proven in a lab or reconcile compelling evidence for the theory of evolution and the age of the universe with a little reading of the Bible the theory of evolution they're working on it don't jump to conclusions for the last couple of years the process has been the world is four billion years old well actually eight none of twelve thirteen sixteen keeps getting massively older I wouldn't be surprised if they start finding things and they start cutting it back not 16 14 not 14 6 not 6 to up to 5,000 you know you're talking about a theory wait the biggest problem is when you start having faith in science that's a monstrosity how this little teenager says Oh science will find answers to everything I said are you sure absolutely doesn't that sound like a religion that sounds like our religion don't get religious about science so here's an important caution people say some people say you know Torah says the world was created in six days do you have to be so literal a day has to mean exactly a day 24 hours can't that day mean ever I'm so little you're right in many cases we're not so literal but then again don't be so literal with your science a scientist says this rock looks like it's thirty thousand years old thirty thousand don't be so literal maybe he's off by 2 pi by 10,000 maybe his whole dating process is wrong don't get so literal early means 30 not a day less so if you're gonna be intelligent be intelligent with science also don't take everything so literally the the the rock is 30,000 years aged because it was created ancient the scientists can tell you how aged it is he can't tell you how long it took to get there so don't take it so literal it's not the age of the universe it's how aged the universe is so there's no conflict between science and rivers less than six how can I relate to God I cannot see gonna find that human have an intimate relationship with an infinite God if it is indeed impossible where do I start the first thing is since he is the creator he sees value or meaning in our existence so in this relationship he's already initiated the relationship it's much easier to respond once a relationship is initiated than to initiate so again understanding him making him more real than ourselves is the basis of our relationship but when you're real and he's not real to you than your right how can you have a relationship so if all you know is that you're finite and he's infinite no that's the end of the story but that's not all we know we know that in spite of being infinite he finds great meaning in having us he is looking for a relationship practically speaking it boils down to this if our existence is meaningful and purposeful that automatically implies that there was a purpose for which we came into being the purpose was there first we are the result if the purpose is there first whose purpose is it so you can't say I have a purpose but I don't believe in a creator well then who's who gave you a purpose you make one up as you go along today my purpose is to become a doctor next year maybe I'll change my purpose and become a carpenter then then you have no purpose you just making it up if you say that there is a purpose it means someone who created you created you with a plan with a purpose so is it relevant to know that there's a god if you know what God means then obviously it's relevant it's your purpose it's why you exist there's nothing more relevant than that in your life so I probably it's probably true that if you don't have anything in your life that you're willing to die for then you also have nothing in your life worth living for if life is truly valuable sacred you have to understand why what makes it so valuable so just argued it doesn't fit into my life it's interfering with my choices the only reason you exist is because of that reason your choices should match it not the other way around because the scariest thought to an intelligent human being is the possibility that I died and I didn't fulfill my purpose you're not me scarier than that so we make up stuff he died fighting he's a mensch he didn't go down he died fighting that was his purpose so he fulfilled his purpose he was brave so that's enough listen to this it's so it's so tragic a child god forbid not hear it on the news a child was killed kidnapped whatever what do they say about that child he loved hockey that's all you can say about a kid we're always gonna remember him for his love of hockey that is so insulting so it's not relevant it's not important to know why you exist but if you died thinking that you didn't fulfill your mission you're completely depressed if you had one wish yes right this joke so an angel came and told the person that he had you can make one wish and you have 24 hours to figure out how what that one wish should be he goes home and he talks to his family and he realizes there are so many things that he can ask for it for example his wife is going blind should ask for her she should not he wants to be rich and they don't have a child so what should he ask for a child his wife's ability to see boy fur or for money very rich anyway that mala comes back the next day said no you have only one wish what is it that I wish that my wife could see our baby and a golden carriage so you can wrap it all up until what what is your one wish if they had to be one way the wonderful Phil my purpose and that's why if I don't have money could be that's not my purpose so - wish I had money it's nice but it's not if you had one wish it wouldn't be money what would it be to live along what there's only one wish I don't want to die without accomplishing what I'm supposed to accomplish every human being has that we just get distracted with foolish stuff so what is our purpose our purpose is to be partners with God and making this world come how have you made this world godly now what does it mean to make it godly of course peace not letting anybody go hungry not letting anybody sit be sick or suffer but it also means a world in which God's interest is important to people should be his kind of a world so if kosher is important to him then it should be a world where people keep coming if Shabbos is important to him then it should be a world in which people can shun it it should be his kind of world will that be good for us yes and take a guess yeah it would be good for us but our purpose is to make it good for him

Channel: Chassidus with Rabbi Manis Friedman

Views: 32,373

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Keywords: Rabbi Manis Friedman, Manis Friedman, 11213.org, 11213org, Chabad Chassidus, Chabad, Chassidus, Tanya, Kabbalah, Torah, Daily Study, Judaism, Jewish Thought, Jewish, JLI, Faith, Wrestling With Faith

Id: pl1mgAPST50

Length: 59min 40sec (3580 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 08 2018