Entertaining hashkafic doubts

Another comment that I posted on XGH's blog:

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I also entertain skeptical thoughts but here's the two facts which ground me:

1) I believe in Hashem. How to define Hashem? The standard way - an omnicient and omnipotent entity who created the universe (ir, in some way, IS the universe.) I leave out whether this entity exactly matches whet is depicted in Tanach for the moment. Call him a nondenominational God.

2) I believe in Judaism. That is to say, I believe in the process. Rabbinic Judaism is mostly man made anyway. What we practice today would be virtually unrecognizable to Jews at the time of, say, Shlomo HaMelech. So for anyone, 90% of believing in Judaism is believing in the process of Judaism, the give & take of interpretation of the Torah.

As for the other 10% - well, I have doubts, but I figure my belief in Hashem and in the process of Judaism is enough grounding so that I can explore my doubts about whether parts of the Torah were written by humans, or whether individuals in Tanach actually exististed, or if there was ever really a great flood that ecompassed the world, in relative theological comfort.

Comments

  1. Speaking of XGH I responded to you on his site. It seems we had a miscommunication. Here's what I posted:""On a level playing field, where there aren't any fundamental societal differences between people, there are no statistics that show a greater incidence of crime among atheists. That's why I picked the example of secular humanists in the United States. They tend to be mostly indistiguishable from the general population around them, except what they have chosen to believe. When comparing them with the theistic population around them, your premise falls apart. They do not committ "immoral" acts at any greater percentage than among those who believe in God.
    Yehudi Hilchati"

    That wasn't my premise and I thought your premise is that atheists commit less crime. My premise is that some religions lower criminal behavior not that religion in general does.
    Rabban Gamliel"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good man. You believe pretty much as I do. Which means that you are a skeptic. Welcome to the real world of Judaism. Avi

    ReplyDelete

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