Jews disagree on an afterlife Most of Judaism not concerned with afterlife

The Times-Picayune ^ | 11/24/01 | Bruce Nolan

[chemicalman]

Q. Do Jews believe in an afterlife?

A. "As many Jews as there are, there are that many opinions," said Rabbi David Goldstein of Touro Synagogue.

However monolithic Judaism might look from a distance, it contains a good deal of diversity of thought even on a question one might think as basic as whether anything lies beyond the grave -- which, incidentally, is not a question of great concern in most of Judaism, he said.

[wai-ming]

Bump to Religion list

[Jhoffa_]

Dr Laura (whom is wrong as often as she is right imo) said once that Jews were denied complete access to the Torah until recently (?) and that the teachings therein were instead interpreted by a Rabbi and then passed along to others.

She prefaced all this with "Have you been taught true Torah?" and went on to criticize the practice of just allowing the masses unfettered access to this text, because it will invariably be twisted and misinterpreted.. Both accidentally and intentionally.

I wonder if all this "diversity" is Laura being right, or if it began way before this and is corruption of the text by the Rabbi themselves..

[Jhoffa_]

It's amazing that all those apostles would allow themselves to be martyred for their imaginations! Yes, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter, Paul, all imagined it...Obviously, they were all insane and GREAT liars!!!

19 Guys on 4 commercial airliners did the same thing a few months ago..

[Patria One]

"It's amazing that all those apostles would allow themselves to be martyred for their imaginations! Yes, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter, Paul, all imagined it...Obviously, they were all insane and GREAT liars!!!

19 Guys on 4 commercial airliners did the same thing a few months ago.."

Point taken.

[Physicist]

Whoops! Apparently, JohnRob's automatic tag closing feature doesn't work for <irony> tags.

[Physicist]

Surely you don't believe that the Christian religion is the only religion with martyrs.

Or perhaps you believe that they are all true?

[sirchtruth]

19 Guys on 4 commercial airliners did the same thing a few months ago..

Yes, and I'm sure they know the names of the 72 virgins and their moms too...

Ok, the apostles witnessed the things that Christ did, (Paul just raised ppl from the dead) do you get it now? None of the wacko zealots have never met OBL or seen him do anything...they died for an imagination!

[sirchtruth]

READ reply #27...

[rabidralph]

The goal of Judaism is not to attain salvation and paradise, but to make sure you have lived a good life here

This explains a lot.

[Physicist]

Ok, the apostles witnessed the things that Christ did, (Paul just raised ppl from the dead) do you get it now?

Surely you don't believe that the Christian religion is the only religion that claims to have performed miracles.

Or perhaps you believe that they are all true?

[Jhoffa_]

I "got it" before.

One man's imagination is another man's "faith"..

[lavaroise]

The Bible is mostly useful against paganism in its advocacy of analytical look at actions, consequences, repent and ritual that reminds of a past that needs to be discussed analyticaly.

Those who use the Bible wrongly are those false prophets who dump the analytical stuff for policies that they pretend will bring salvation. But this is akin to leftist progressism and contrary to progress. Even Jesus told us not to worry about the future while Moses warned us against fortune tellers.

Indeed salvation and progress is only attainable through analytical look at the situation using available data and information. This is equivalent to repent.

[sirchtruth]

...and not only did the apostles witness Christ's acts, they wrote down his words in manuscripts immediately...

[Patria One]

Not all the Christian martyrs saw Jesus. Is Joan of Arc considered a Christian martyr?

[Faraday]

I don't believe Pascal was making a "truth" statement. He was making a risk/reward calculation.

[veronica]

You have the sense of humor of a lemon.

Actually the line was uttered by the character in the movie, but why I even bother answering uptight angry grouches like you I have no idea.

[Bommer]

Why would you act in such a small way as to attack someone's beliefs by calling them "sad and empty" without provocation?

I think he wasa referring to a set of people that spend there lives worshipping and prostrating themselves to God with no belief that there is any more after this. What would be the point of worshiping to have sins forgiven if there are no penalties in the next life? To me the fact that there is an eternal soul makes me appreciate life on this earth just that much more knowing my actions here and now will be my judgement in the next life.

[Alas]

"When the Jews questioned Christ concerning the afterlife, he pointed to the old testament (their scripture) and asked them why the prophets would speak of the God of Abraham and others if Abraham did not STILL exist (paraprhase)." Where can I find that?

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Matthew 22:32

Alas