Rabbi Mitleman writes:
"There are really only three answers people can give [to the question of do you believe in God?] : "Yes, I do," "No, I don't" or "I'm not sure.""
As commenters point out, actually there are a number of other answers, including:
"Which God?"
"Please define God, and then I can answer"
"I don't care to answer your question".
I would add:
"Sometimes"
"Occasionally, especially during turbulence"
Any others?
Posts
22 comments:
"What difference does it make what I believe?"
I mean, seriously. It's not like a poll in which the responses can change the reality (or the metzius, if you)
His article is good so I will assume he has thought about God more than what one would assume from the portion you quoted. Clearly someone may believe in a conception of God which someone else might characterize as not believing. Did Einstein and Spinoza believe in God?
"
I mean, seriously. It's not like a poll in which the responses can change the reality (or the metzius, if you)"
Read the actual article.
that was a good piece, thanks. I like how he makes the point that it really does not matter one iota what you or anyone believes. actions are more important than beliefs - of course this is contrary to talmud torah k'neged kulam....sitting and learning makes the world go round.
"of course this is contrary to talmud torah k'neged kulam....sitting and learning makes the world go round."
It's not really. The gemarah extols torah learning _because_ it leads to action. It's only r' chaim volozhiner's reinterpretation which has led the yeshiva movement to turn torah into, literally, an object of worship.
Andy, I was just joking. most of us here know that is bunk
OK, I read the article and I feel chastised that my comment repeated what was said in the first paragraph or thereabouts.
"none of your business"
It matters more what you believe than actions.
Proof: A sefer Torah written by an apikores is burned.
It matters to Nate and to the Orthodox. For the rest of us, the chasid shoteh and the black-hatted, "believer" who steals from Medicaid is a much more repulsive character whose Torah is truly suspect.
It took me a remarkably short time to subscribe to the extremegh archives in Google reader. I have a few comments:
1) it takes a lot shorter time to read them than to have actually lived them
2) I feel silly commenting here when the issues I mention have been addressed in an almost infinite number of old posts
3) I'm relieved to see that I can't subscribe to my own deleted blogspot blog in google reader. If I wanted to be able to retrieve it, I wouldn't have deleted it.
also, what is PoMo
PoMo: Postmodern
Did anyone see this weeks Ami magazine? The cover story is titled "Imposters Among us" and its about the hidden apikorsim in the from community. The article even introduces the term orthoprax!
The article quotes a known Kiruv rabbi who has dealt with orthopraxers as saying that they are... mentally ill!
"id anyone see this weeks Ami magazine? The cover story is titled "Imposters Among us" and its about the hidden apikorsim in the from community. The article even introduces the term orthoprax"
Link please!
Soon they'll start profiling to help spot the imposters; if they publish it then maybe I'd finally make some new friends. GH, how about putting up a post on what an OP'er would look like?
My answer depends on how anxious,overwhelmed, and superstitious I feel.It also depends on how one defines the G word.
What is the difference between "I'm not sure", and "Sometimes, or Occasionally"?
Also, the first 3 answers aren't answers to the question. You could also answer "orange", or "Siamese-cat"... but thats not really relevant to the question. If you really wanted to, you could say that the answers to the question are infinite, since you require no meaning behind the answer.
"What is the difference between "I'm not sure", and "Sometimes, or Occasionally"?"
Err, obvious differences. I'm not sure implies a perpetual state of uncertainty. Sometimes implies sometimes I believe, sometimes I don't. Occasionally implies even less.
"Also, the first 3 answers aren't answers to the question. You could also answer "orange", or "Siamese-cat"."
Also dumb. They are rational responses to the question, if not exactly answers. Saying "orange" is just nonsense.
" They are rational responses to the question,"
They aren't rational, they are obnoxious.
For instance, if you asked me what I think 2 + 2 was, and my response was 'In which base?', its not answering the question, its just being obnoxious.
since nobody actually lives their lives in states of uncertainty, fluctuating between do and don't, is the same as being perpetually uncertain.
"since nobody actually lives their lives in states of uncertainty, fluctuating between do and don't, is the same as being perpetually uncertain"
Don't agree at all.
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