As a volunteer “expert” on “Comparative Religious Studies” at a given website, I received the following just a few days ago:

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Subject: Why do you believe that man needs G-d?
Question –
I am doing a school research project on religion, currently I attend ... High School in ...
For my previous education I went to a private Jewish day school.
I wondering if you believe that man created G-d, and if so why did/does man need G-d? Thanks in advance.
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Here is how I responded at that time:

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Answer -
Greetings to you [name removed], and thank you for your questions.
You have written ...
“I am doing a school research project on religion ...”
An interesting project, to say the least. Personally, I have set all sectarian religion aside in favor of learning to live Torah.
“Currently I attend ... High School in ...
“For my previous education I went to a private Jewish day school.”
If you have the time to do so, please share with me some of your experiences and lessons in the previous school.
“I wondering if you believe that man created G-d ...”
We “creatures” – created ones – live in a created world. It is the “I Am” of Sinai who created us.
“... and if [man created G-d,] why did/does man need G-d?”
It is because The Almighty One created us with a need for fellowship with Him (beginning with provision of the very air we breathe) that we need Him, and it is because free-willed and arrogant man wants to try to improve upon His plan that man merely “imagines” – no man can truly create – other-gods.
“Thanks in advance.”
You are most welcome, and please know you are free to write again.
Shalom.
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And now, I have just received this from the same young [student]:

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Subject: Responding to your response
First let me thank you for responding so quickly, and thank you for your insightful answers. Second if you have any questions about my private Jewish day school education please feel free to ask me, I'll try to answer them to my best.
I was wondering if you could share with me your religion, and how strictly do you adhere to your religion? It also seems that you believe there is a divine plan (if this isn't true please tell me) but how can a person, even if it's not you, leave their life and future in the hands of a unseen, unheard, and sometimes uncaring deity?
I'm not questioning my religion because frankly I do not care, if someone asks me what religion I am I respond Jewish, I attend temple pretty regularly and even perform honours, such as reading from the torah and aliahs. But I do not know if I believe there is a higher being, to me at this point in time it does not matter to either. But I have found that this project is ultimately questioning my religion and the religion of others, but so many people know so little about their respective religion and it seems to me wouldn't their G-d/s care. Wouldn't the G-d/s do something to restore their people's faith? I could go on for a while but you probably have other questions and another life besides answering emails. So good luck, and I'll stay in touch. Thanks again.
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By the time you read this and might post, I will have responded once again ... yet I seek anything that might in any way help me convey faith to another with a childhood and upbringing far different from my own.

Thank you, and Shalom!

In the first place, a person must have a deeper relationship with their creator, than just a book and a few writtings.

#1. My Creator, is also my provider of all my needs.

#2. My creator, Is my physician, healer and sustainer, delivering me from all sickness, and keeping me in health at all times, this is more than any other religion can offer or give to its worshipers.

#3. My creator, Yahweh is also , My Comforter, who has given me his quodesh Ruach, which indeed , does not leave me, who guides me into all truth, and witnessess to me and fills me with a joy and an abundant life, that no other can match.

#4. This promise is to all those who make him their habitation !

Psalms 91: 1-14. and others.

Imagine the testamony that the children of israel could have had if someone would ask them what they thought of Yahweh who brought them out of Egypt?

Caleb and Yahshua would have said something like this;

He gave us water to drink when we were thirsty.

He gave us Mana to eat when we were hungry in a dry and thirsty land.

NOt one of our shoes wore out , nor did our clothes wear out all 40 years we were in the wilderness.

And he , talked with us in the mountain, but it scared us so , that we refused to hear him again, but it was real , and it would of been better for us , if we had of chose his voice to listen too instead of asking for a mediator to lead us in his stead.

Well just a few hints, I am sure you can think of some too.

Yours in Messiah,
Larry

Yes, Isaiah, and as is very evident in the case of this young one who has written to me, all people certainly do need a relationship – beginning with reconciliation – that goes far beyond “just a book and a few writings.” And yes, I do hope to share with this individual certain experiences that bear clear witness of our Abba-Father.

Stephen: I hear you, and as you can see in my next response, I hope to discover at least a little about how this particular teenager could end up “doubting” as s/he does. And along with that, I am also trying to begin to address the matter of why the government school is “suggesting” this particular line of study in the first place, for as you have shared, we already know there are many people who are even consciously trying to get to our children while they are yet “right under our noses”, so to speak.

For the record, Larry, and even though “friend” might nevertheless be appropriate, this individual with whom I am corresponding is actually a complete stranger to me, and I am humbled by the fact that someone such as myself would now be found trying to share with a young Jew any of these things ... hence, I did not hesitate to come directly here for some advice!

Yes, it is quite natural for us to question just about everything, and as I assume you would agree, I would much rather being talking with someone who is “asking” than with any of the many who today foolishly believe they already know.

You have speculated, “If everyone could look up and see YHWH, many would obey Him based upon the obvious.”

Personally, and although I could be wrong, I doubt that, for even the sharing of one who has since been relieved with another who still suffers in the here-and-now does not always work. And remember, there are many who will yet get up from “the knee” and turn away.

Here is my next response to the one who has written:

Greetings to you again, [name removed]!

For my response, you are quite welcome, and please know you are welcomed to "go on" with your comments and questions for just as long and as much and as far as you might ever like! Yes, I do have a life "besides answering e-mails", but the only significant difference is that of venue, as my wife and I and a few others spend every moment we can trying to share with others our faith and trust in the One who created all things.

Concerning your "private Jewish day school education" ...

While yet within the sectarian religion of my childhood, I attended a secular school, and at that time, I was not even aware of any other "culture", so to speak. Since then, however, I have heard there are Jewish teens who are fluent in Hebrew, and who can discuss matters of Scripture in that native language. So then, my first questions for you would be along that kind of line:

In your previous school, were you taught Hebrew, and was much emphasis placed on Scripture/Torah? And if so, what impact would you say that kind of education has so far had upon you, or upon your life, as you presently know it? And in case you might wonder: No, I do not know Hebrew, and my own personal attempts to live rightly are today based upon what I can learn of Torah in English.

You have written:

> "I was wondering if you could share with me your religion, and how strictly do you adhere to your religion?"

From the fifth book of Moshe': "And this is the command, the statutes and the judgments which [The Almighty One] has commanded to teach you ... to keep all His statutes and His commands, which I am commanding thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all days of thy life, and so that thy days are prolonged."

Since it is at least possible that you already know more about the specifics of those "statutes and the judgments" than I do, I would simply say that my "religion", so to speak, is that of loving with my all the very One who created us, and loving others as myself ... with an emphasis on being of service to spiritual widows and orphans. And as to how strictly I adhere to that, I would share that I make a very conscious and consistent effort to keep my actual practice "up to speed" with things I either already know, or am yet being taught.

You have written:

> "It also seems that you believe there is a divine plan (if this isn't true please tell me) ..."

Yes, and although our personal perceptions of that "plan" might vary, there certainly is one.

> "... but how can a person, even if it's not you, leave their life and future in the hands of a unseen, unheard, and sometimes uncaring deity?"

Momentarily leaving aside the matter of why He at times has at least *seemed* to be "unseen, unheard, and sometimes uncaring", my answer to your question is this:

Following a little over thirty years of making my very best effort at life and its management, I came to realize I had failed completely and was actually dying ... and when some folks with similar pasts shared their common experience with calling out for help and abandoning themselves to Him, I was at least able to begin to believe He might not actually be quite so "unseen, unheard, and sometimes uncaring" as He had at times previously seemed. So then, it was for me truly a matter of life-or-death - variously mentally, emotionally, physically and, ultimately, even spiritually - that helped make it possible for me to begin to lay my own “life and future” in the very hands of the One who created us.

You have written:

> "I'm not questioning my religion because frankly I do not care, if someone asks me what religion I am I respond Jewish ..."

Personally, and if I have heard you correctly, I commend you for not denying your heritage in the face of whatever pressures might come before you.

> "I attend temple pretty regularly and even perform honours, such as reading from the torah and aliahs."

... and I would assume you learn things there, just as in your previous school.

> "But I do not know if I believe there is a higher being ..."

Rhetorically: Who, then, created all?!

However, I do not mean to press that matter. Rather, and on this thought from you ...

> "... to me at this point in time it does not matter to [me] either."

... may I simply share this?

Rejoice, O young one, in your childhood,
and let your heart gladden you in days of your youth,
and walk in the ways of your heart,
and in the sight of your eyes,
but know that for (through) all these (times),
Elohim brings [us] into right-ruling (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

In other words, I encourage you to keep doing whatever you believe is right - truth can be discovered even by acting on mere beliefs - and as you go along, keep in mind that one's own experience in life will eventually either drive or draw him or her to The Almighty Sovereign One.

You have written:

> "I have found that this project is ultimately questioning my religion and the religion of others ..."

Ah ... and here we encounter the matter over which you and I have met, as that is precisely what drew me to sign up on this particular site!

As you are continuing to discover, there are many varieties of "religion" being passed around today.

Might we first distinguish two overall categories from one another?

a) Exclusive (or "intolerant") religion, such as is the case with at least so-called "fundamental" Judaism, Islam and Christianity;
b) Inclusive (or "tolerant") religion, such as Hinduism and other Eastern philosophies, "New Age" and essentially all others ... some of which, in the final analysis, are actually quite "intolerant of intolerance", therefore actually "exclusive" and in direct conflict with their own philosophy of alleged “pluralism".

And to "compare religions" in yet another way:

a) Some religions speak of a single and sovereign "Creator";
b) Some religions do not, and even claim man is ultimately sovereign.

Rather than being too presumptuous, I would ask:

How is this project causing you to question being Jewish?

My speculation, at least in part, is that you are being encouraged toward pluralistic – allegedly “tolerant” – ideas as driven by rhetoric against any form of intolerance, exclusivity or “supreme sovereignty”.

You have written:

> "... so many people know so little about their respective religion and it seems to me wouldn't their G-d/s care."

Actually, there are many so-called "G-d/s" - the lifeless, "man-created" ones - that could not possibly care at all. And behind them, man has an adversary that is actually quite pleased with the religions of men as long as they do not acknowledge the true "Elohim".

> "Wouldn't the G-d/s do something to restore their people's faith?"

In fact, the One who created us is now doing precisely that, and I am personally convinced that is a primary reason you and I are having this very conversation.

Shabbat Shalom!

quote:

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Originally posted by leejosepho:
And now, I have just received this from the same young woman (I believe):

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As you know I'm no expert, but I would venture to say that you're dealing with a young man based on this:

quote:

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Originally posted by leejosepho:
...and even perform honours, such as reading from the torah and aliahs.

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Maybe through his questioning he will realize that the failure lies in him, NOT in HaShem, blessed is He. With such a realization, the answer to the following question should be much clearer.

quote:

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Originally posted by leejosepho:
why did/does man need G-d?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Yo'el:
As you know I'm no expert, but I would venture to say that you're dealing with a young man ...

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Yes, Yo'el, my wife has told me his name would indicate the same, and now once again my ignorance of certain matters has been revealed and overcome. Thank you. I did not know, and I did even not stop to think that to "perform honours, such as reading from the torah and aliahs" in the synagogue would only be done by a male!

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Happy Hannukah!!! Sorry it took me long to respond, I was a little sick for a while.

Thanks again. I cannot explain how helpful your responses have been to my project and myself.

Firstly let me answer some of your questions ...

In my previous school, yes I was taught Hebrew as a language. My class schedule went something like this:
1st period - Minyan ...
2nd period – English ...
3rd period - Social Studies [in English] ...
4th period, 5th period - Math and Sciences (taught in English).
6th period - some days this would be a class like Judaica (spelling I'm not sure about), other days it might be teachings from Talmud or Torah and such, these classes are bilingual and mostly taught by a rabbi.
7th period - would be Hebrew, and it would be language and grammar and such.
8th period - was different some times an elective or Jewish literacy.

Also different grades studied different things, 5th grade we studied the Torah trope, the tune to sing the Torah too, and 7th grade we had time with rabbis to study for Beni Mitzvot.

So to answer the question, a large deal of time was spent on the Torah and Scriptures, also many teachers had different opinions and were more strict or lenient depending. One rabbi was a sort of hippy and she was very lenient, vs. another woman rabbi who when my friend asked "Why am I required to pray" she simply screamed quotes from the Torah and yelled at him (she was not a very liked teacher, or a good one at that).

"What impact would you say that kind of education has so far had upon you, or upon your life, as you presently know it?"

Well, I really had to think about this question. But I guess the extra Jewish studies have helped enlighten me, and I can understand many religious theories and such with far greater ease than some other people I now know. Most of my friends went on to other Jewish private high schools, but I have a single mother who owns a small business, and unfortunately education is not cheap. I would have loved to continue my Jewish education in another private school, but as of now I take classes at my current temple. Well that's all I really got about my schooling so what ever, any more questions you have please ask me.

So back to continuing my questions and your answers ...
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Questions to others here on the board: What are "Minyan" and "Judaica"? (Lee)

Thank you for your answers to my questions about your past schooling, and for the additional insights into your life overall. Also, I commend your thorough approach and attention to detail as you write. In the end, may you be found as one who has studied well and who is pleasing - approved - in the eyes of the One who created us.

With your present school project in mind ...

You have written:
"Jewish studies have helped enlighten me, and I can understand many religious theories and such with far greater ease than some other people I now know."
--and--
"Next for my project I'm supposed to have a final report type of thing, not only my speech, but also a project to show what I have learned ...
"I was wondering if you have any ideas for me, I was thinking about making questionnaires for each religion and major sects of those religions and then seeing how much people actually know about their religion ..."

I believe you are headed in a helpful direction. As you are already thinking of doing, you might first prepare a set of questions to be "answered" by various religions - What does each actually teach? - followed by a report that includes a questionnaire for individuals who might then want to discover/uncover which religion they either wittingly or unwittingly embrace. Understand?!

Rather than merely asking others to what religions they might give intellectual or philosophical assent (or might even practice), offer the uncertain or undecided an opportunity to consider those types of questions ... and in that overall process, you will have at least laid before them the truth of Torah.

However, I would caution you that the typical "government (public) school" is not very likely to be at all tolerant of any activity that might be considered proselytizing. So, your "comparative report" should be academic, not editorial.

Concerning some things previously written, you have asked:
"Would you please care to elaborate a little bit more ...
"What do you mean by 'Exclusive and Inclusive'?"

I had first written:
"... there are many varieties of 'religion' being passed around today ...
"a) Exclusive (or "intolerant") religion ...
"b) Inclusive (or "tolerant") religion ...

"And to 'compare religions' in yet another way:
"a) ... [acknowledging] a single and sovereign 'Creator';
"b) ... [claiming] man is ultimately sovereign [and even 'creator']."
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Q: What do I mean by "exclusive" and "inclusive"?

First, I should share that those words are elements within a given rhetoric I occasionally use to make various points. For example: What name "exclusively" identifies the One who created us? Or, what names or words (at least could) "inclusively" identify (or refer to or call upon) any number of entities?

The matter of "exclusive" or "inclusive" also relates to the alleged presence or absence of absolute truth: Is there, or is there not an absolute truth that is exclusive of all other claims or speculations? Or, is "truth" ultimately only relative, such as at times implied in the inclusive expression, "To each his own"?

At ground level, there is a so-called "war on terrorism" today going on in the world, with each of at least two groups of people - certain religionists and the pluralists - believing/claiming certain things related to the inclusion or exclusion of others. For example: “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make: Either you are with us [pluralists], or you are with the [exclusivist] terrorists” (President Declares “Freedom at War with Fear”, September 20, 2001).

When viewed with acknowledgment of a single and sovereign Creator, "exclusive" is directly related to man's ultimate salvation:

"... whosoever shall call on [Him] shall be delivered" (Joel 2:32);
"[He is] ... and there is no saviour but [Him]" (Isaiah 43:11; Hosea 13:4).

Now, fundamental (or "orthodox", or at least Scripture-related) Judaism, Islam and Christianity each have their respective teachings about "salvation", with each ultimately being "exclusive" of all others. And in stark contrast, "inclusive" religions generally propagate other (or multiple) ways/means of salvation, or that man does not really need "saved" in the first place. And along with all of that, there are forms/sects of otherwise-exclusive religions that are today teaching inclusiveness, or "pluralism". As one example of that, "Vatican II" is a revision of Roman Catholicism (Christianity) containing a statement that Muslims "are included in the plan of salvation".

Sovereignty, I believe, is by definition “exclusive”. Therefore ...

If man is ultimately sovereign, then one of two outcomes is ahead:
a) pluralism will (intolerantly) wipe out all “exclusive” religion (thereby proving it is actually exclusive);
b) one or another exclusive group – all religions are contenders – will ultimately rule over all peoples.

But if the One who created us ultimately proves to be more sovereign that any other entity or body of entities, and He is, blessed is He, then all else will ultimately be washed away in exclusive favor of Torah, including all who take heed:

"And this is the command, the statutes and the judgments which [The Almighty One] has commanded to teach you ... to keep all His statutes and His commands, which I am commanding thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all days of thy life, and so that thy days are prolonged" ... thereby loving with our all the very One who created us, and loving others as ourselves.

Wanna take any bets?!

So then, a comparative study of religion is first subject to the matters of exclusiveness and sovereignty, with philosophy, politics, economics and the like all merely tagging along.

Concerning the matter of "other G-d/s", you have written:

"... nowhere in the torah does it say that other G-d/s are not real, it only tells us not to believe them, and that our G-d is the one we must believe."

No argument here! I do occasionally make statements about "other G-d/s" being "dead" in the sense that they have no authority, power or ability to save man either from himself (wherein man occasionally even presumes an ability to "save himself"), or from the ultimate, sovereign and righteous judgment of the One who created us.

Peace to you, my fellow student, and please do write again!

Yoseph

I apologize for an english emergency which was going on whenever I used the word "argument" instead of "statement". And it happened because I have read an interlengua/archaic english dictionary instead of the very american english dictionary. soon, to all I apologize for that, I actually did mean "statements from you" and not "arguments from you" always when the word "argument" has been typed by me. Soon, the word I meant was "statement".

Thank you.

*******Zsafira

[QUOTE]Originally posted by leejosepho:
[B]Greetings to all, and I share the following to solicit any helpful insight or advice you might have to offer.