Logical

The most baffling thing about Judaism is that there are still adhering Jews around.

I mean any reasonable Jew would have concluded after the Holocaust that Judaism is BS and "God" is BS too. If there was ever evidence that smacks you on the face and tells you you're wrong, that was it.

I mean there is a freaking mosque built on the freaking RUINS of their God's very house for crying out loud. What more evidence could there possibly be against their worldview?

outhouse

Even in their own scripture we the different deities they couldn't redact out.

Abrahams original deity was El, not Yahweh.

Only with the monotheistic redactions do the different deities turn into Yahweh

Toto

The very very Orthodox concluded that they were being punished for not adhering strictly enough to the Torah.

People would rather believe that they are being punished than that the universe is essentially amoral and that things happen for no reason at all.

HaRaAYaH

As a Jew, this baffles me also. It seems this small group of people would have long ago exited the stage of existence, yet here we are and I have no earthly or Godly idea why.... I have some personal ideas, but none would pass the test that separates facts, theories and wild speculation.

Whats is fascination is that by and large the holocaust had very little effect on belief of those who went through it. Those that went in believers came out as believers. Those that went in as atheists came out the same way.



This is an interesting theory, but it is totally false. The theory is German Jews had so assimilated that God decided to punish them. The trouble is that 60-80% of German Jews survived while the uber religious Polish Jews were wiped out to the tune of 91%. I also disagree that people would rather believe in punishment. There are three real theories:

• People were punished for sin
• We people don't see the whole story and form our limited perspective don't see the good. After all just three years later the State of Israel was born.
• God was powerless to stop it so he suffered with us (Harold Kushner)

These theories all have one thing in common. They absolve God of responsibility.

J-D

Some of the Jews alive today (not all, but some) consider the Jewish people, specifically, to be God's people. Whether the view they hold today is the same as the view held by anybody three millennia ago I don't know, but the fact remains that there were Jews, if not three millennia ago, then definitely two millennia ago, who also considered the Jewish people, specifically, to be God's people. If you can show me a parallel example, I'd be interested.

I don't say that this proves anything. It certainly doesn't prove that there is a God, as there clearly isn't. I don't even say that there are no parallel examples to the Jews. Maybe there are. But there can't be many, so the facts seem notable, whatever the explanation for them may be.

TedM

Thank you Davka. And for all of your other comments. I have a better understanding than when I opened this thread. And, thanks to the others here who have commented.

TedM

That rings true(punishment or some other meaning attributed to their horror) and insightful to me Toto. People crave having purpose, which IMO is just another manifestation of feeling loved/important. What greater purpose is there than to be set apart as 'chosen' by the Maker of the entire Universe?

Jaybees

Thousands of acorns are shed by an oak tree. Chance alone favors a few--or sometimes only one.

So the fact that there are still Jews who consider themselves the people of their god, while other henotheists are long gone, could simply be the luck of the draw.

outhouse

what about other Polytheist?

TedM

It surely could be. It also could be greatly due to the existence of the Torah, filled with all of those statements from "the Lord God". Did the Aramaeans, Assyrians, etc also have such documents? If not, why then only the Jews? Are they genetically pre-disposed to having the God-gene more than other ethnic groups? Were the priests really clever? Did they have one or two really inspirational originators? Or do they have a stronger ability to survive? Did having 12 tribes help? Or, was it just luck?