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49 Comments Posted

Who Believes in G‑d?

By Aron Moss

Answer:

Everyone has a god. There is not a sane person on earth who doesn't believe in one. The question is only which one...

Your "god" is the thing that you believe to be infallible: you trust in its power despite any evidence to the contrary; you believe it will always be there, cannot be defeated, is all-powerful and omnipresent. It's the thing you can fall back on no matter what. The bedrock of your life - whatever that may be - that is your god.

Everyone has a god. The question is only which one. If you think science has all the answers, and that something is only true if it is scientifically proven, then science is your god. And belief in science can be as irrational as any religious conviction. Its adherents blindly accept the most outlandish theory, as long as it was presented by an expert in the field.

Science is only one common god. Another one is love. Believers in love make lofty statements about its divine qualities: "Love conquers all", "Love is forever", "All you need is love", "Love is the only thing worth dying for." Even though experience has shown that love is not all you need, and it certainly doesn't conquer all, their faith is not shaken.

Others worship money. "Everything has a price" is their creed. And no matter how many miserable millionaires they meet, their god remains infallible, and they continue to have faith in money as the source of all goodness and happiness.

A very popular modern god is self. "Believe in yourself. You are capable of anything. If you put your mind to it, there's nothing you can't do." Nothing you can't do? Sounds pretty divine. A pity it's not true. We have limitations. There are things that are simply beyond our capability. But to the believer, no evidence will move his faith in himself.

It is such a relief to just let G‑d be G‑d. If G‑d is G‑d, I can be human. I am not G‑d. Nothing about me is infallible -- not my feelings, not my intelligence and certainly not my bank balance. I don't have to be perfect. G‑d does a good job of that.

Science, love, money and self are all very important. But they are also fickle, ever-changing, and unpredictable. The G‑d of Israel hasn't changed. If anyone or anything should be god, it's G‑d.

49 Comments Posted

By Aron Moss More articles... |

Rabbi Aron Moss teaches Kabbalah, Talmud and practical Judaism in Sydney, Australia.

About the artist: Sarah Kranz has been illustrating magazines, webzines and books (including five children's books) since graduating from the Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, in 1996. Her clients have included The New York Times and Money Marketing Magazine of London

The content on this page is copyrighted by the author, publisher and/or Chabad.org, and is produced by Chabad.org. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with the copyright policy.

49 Comments Posted | Post A Comment

Reader Comments
Latest Comments:

Posted: Jan 1, 2009

science is good and bad

listen, science has helped advance humanity positively through medicine and technology, but it's done just as much evil.

was it not scientists who invented the xyclon b for the gas chambers and all the world's modern weapons?

people like to categorize things into black and white fragments. but in general, just like religion, science is for the most part excellent, but when it gets into the hands of the wrong people, it is harmful.

to me, science is in essence the study of G-d's brilliance.

Posted By yoni

Posted: Nov 30, 2008

Absolute?

Yaacov, I have never pointed to science as an absolute truth but it is the closest approximation to truth we have. I have two reasons for saying this: first, it gets results; and second, the process logically makes sense.

Have a look at the history of progress in society. Science is responsible for almost all of our advances. Did the Internet appear because someone prayed for it? No, its the result of applied science. Same with almost everything else.

I know that some traditional beliefs (eg natural medicines) have some benefits but most don't and, of the ones that do work, science has improved on many (more accurate doses, etc). Look at willow bark and aspirin as an example.

Sure, science can be used for bad things as well but the overwhelming trend is to good, as long as political and commercial interests can be controlled.

Posted By OJB, Dunedin, NZ

Posted: Nov 30, 2008

Narrow minded views?

I found it funny that you, OJB, had to go on a crusade against "faith", or whatever you want to call it. I'm not even religious, don't keep Kosher at all, it doesn't mean I don't have my beliefs. Even scientists (some of) believe that it's not actually clever to point at science and claim "that's the only absolute truth around", local cultures got a lot of their own value, there's even a "new" area regarding botanic and asking people from a certain place about supposed medical properties of herbs of their area, my bad I forgot how it's called.

But still, my point is, we, humans, tend to think all we know is superior/better than what others believe, and sadly that was proven wrong so many times. Native people of America (like the Inca and Mayas) continent had an advanced system of math, but what happened to them?

Everything was burned. See that's what I'm talking about. Instead of trying to see what's good about it, mankind makes it's own judgment of what's good and wrong, and in the end we lose knowledge that could be used for our own benefits, just because of a narrow minded view towards others knowledge.

Heh, I'm not even sure if we know what's good and bad for ourselves, just look at every conflict out there, how humans are at each others throats from time to time and never learn a single lesson about it.

Would be comic if it wasn't tragic how humans thrive at creating powerful warfare, as opposed to solve problems such as hunger, misery among many others affecting their own kin.

Posted By Yaacov