Sem título

Página 1

The Nature of God: God as One

The belief in one God influences the way that Jews view the world.

Jews believe that God is always present in people's lives. Also, everything they see and experience is considered to be a meeting with God.

God as One means...

God is a single, whole, indivisible being.

God is the only one who should be praised and worshipped.

Everything in the universe has been created and is sustained by this one God.

God is the source of all Jewish morality, values and beliefs.

The belief in one God is expressed in the Shema (an important Jewish prayer that is formed from passages in Deuteronomy and Numbers.

"Here, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and might" - Deuteronomy 6:4-5

The Nature of God: God as creator

The Jewish Bible is called the Tenakh; the first section of it (the five books of Moses) is called the Torah.

God took four days to make the universe fit to support life.

God took two days to create all living creatures.

God rested and made the seventh day holy. Jews celebrate Shabbat on this day as they are reminded of God's importance as role and creator.

Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews believe the events in Genesis literally happened about 6000 years ago and reject the science theories of evolution.

Other Jews interpret the Genesis story less literally; they still believe God is the creator of everything, but accept the universe is much older and life has evolved over many years.

Evil and free will

Jews belive that God must be:

Omnipotent - all powerful

Omniscient - all knowing

Omnipresent - everywhere at all times

(SEE FIRST PICTURE WITH THREE BOXES)

The existence of free will explains why the world's resources are distributed unevenly, Jews who exercise free will to help improve the balance of resources, by giving to those less fortunate, are helping to fulfill God's plan for creation.

"I am the LORD and there is none else, I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe - I the LORD do all these things" - Isaiah 45:6-7

The nature of God: God as lawgiver and judge; the divine presence

God as lawgiver and judge

Jews believe God has given them many laws to follow. These laws help them to use their free will in a way that would be approved by God.

There are 613 laws in the Torah which teach people how they should be have - these are called mitzvot.

The first ten mitzvot are the Ten Commandments. These are ten laws that God gave to Moses after he rescued the Jewish slaves from Egypt; they are particularly important and form the foundation for all the other mitzvot.

Two many times when God judges people:

During the festival of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). This is when God judges people for their actions over the past year and decides what the coming year will bring them.

Many Jews believe they will be judged after death, when God determines how they will spend the afterlife.

The divine presence (Shekhinah)

The Shekhinah is the presence of God on earth; Jewish writings tell how the divine presence of God was experienced by the early Jews:

The Tabernacle was considered to house the divine presence of God. It was a portable temple that the Jews carried with them on their journey through the wilderness to Canaan.

After Canaan was conquered, the Tabernacle was replaced with Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. This Temple was the centre of Jewish worship at the time, and several of the prophets experienced the presence of God there.

The Tenakh describes how Jews were led at times by a pillar of fire or a cloud on their journey to Canaan. These were considered to be appearances from God that demonstrated his power and glory.