http://www.ourjewishcommunity.org/2008/12/19/a-teachable-god-by-rabbi-rami-shapiro/ our jewish community online congregation Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:03:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.ourjewishcommunity.org/2008/12/19/a-teachable-god-by-rabbi-rami-shapiro/comment-page-1/#comment-75 Schogol Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:16:29 +0000 http://www.ourjewishcommunity.org/?p=1169#comment-75 In response to Alex I quote Martin Buber: "Some would deny any legitimate use of the word God because it has been misused so much. Certainly it is the most burdened of all human words. Precisely for that reason it is the most imperishable and unavoidable. And how much weight has all erroneous talk about God's nature and works (although there never has been nor can be any such talk that is not erroneous) compared with the one truth that all men who have addressed God really meant him? For whoever pronounces the word God and really means Thou, addresses, no matter what his delusion, the true Thou of his life that cannot be restricted by any other and to whom he stands in a relationship that includes all others." In response to Alex I quote Martin Buber: “Some would deny any legitimate use of the word God because it has been misused so much. Certainly it is the most burdened of all human words. Precisely for that reason it is the most imperishable and unavoidable. And how much weight has all erroneous talk about God’s nature and works (although there never has been nor can be any such talk that is not erroneous) compared with the one truth that all men who have addressed God really meant him? For whoever pronounces the word God and really means Thou, addresses, no matter what his delusion, the true Thou of his life that cannot be restricted by any other and to whom he stands in a relationship that includes all others.”

]]> http://www.ourjewishcommunity.org/2008/12/19/a-teachable-god-by-rabbi-rami-shapiro/comment-page-1/#comment-57 Alex Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:00:56 +0000 http://www.ourjewishcommunity.org/?p=1169#comment-57 Rabbi Shapiro's response to Rabbi Bloom's personal theology is not what I would consider an adequate answer to the patently absurd approach taken by Rabbi Bloom. Both narratives derive from a false premise that there is some sort of supreme being that can be rationalized on one level or another. My experience with our family pets is instructive here. When we humans don't understand a non-human, whether it's a dog or something supernatural, we tend to make it seem human to better understand it, or so we think. We project our own love, hate, hostility, whatever on it and that makes us happy. And that's the most important thing...it makes us feel good. Rabbi Shapiro’s response to Rabbi Bloom’s personal theology is not what I would consider an adequate answer to the patently absurd approach taken by Rabbi Bloom. Both narratives derive from a false premise that there is some sort of supreme being that can be rationalized on one level or another. My experience with our family pets is instructive here. When we humans don’t understand a non-human, whether it’s a dog or something supernatural, we tend to make it seem human to better understand it, or so we think.
We project our own love, hate, hostility, whatever on it and that makes us happy. And that’s the most important thing…it makes us feel good.

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