“The characteristics of God define the way Jews understand their religion.”

Created by: Kitten261002
Created on: 28-12-18 14:55


	“The characteristics of God define the way Jews understand their religion.” How far do you agree?
	Advantages Before Judaism, people believed in lots of gods, and those gods behaved no better than human beings with supernatural powers. The Jewish idea of God is particularly important to the world because it was the Jews who developed the idea that there is only One God, and that God chooses to be fair and just. This helps Jews to follow God’s commandments which forms moral law for humanity. Jews believe that there is a single God who not only created the universe, but with whom every Jew can have an individual and personal relationship. This allows Jews to understand the covenant which they have with God, and Jewish men are circumcised as a symbol of this covenant. God is all knowing and has a purpose for the world. This gives people faith to believe in God and wait for the Messianic Age to come, and have patience in God’s plan.	Disadvantages Before Judaism, people believed in lots of gods, and those gods behaved no better than human beings with supernatural powers. Hence, the idea of monotheism can be said to have been ‘fabricated’ be Jews, and some may argue that monotheism does not really take a part in the true religion of Judaism. Jewish atheists are culturally Jewish, yet do not believe in God. The characteristics of God do not have any significance for these Jews, as God does not even exist in their eyes. Judaism is merely a cultures, where Jewish food is eaten, Jewish languages such as Hebrew and Yiddish are spoken, and Jewish history and literature is studied. Certain Jewish beliefs are contradictory, and the idea of God is unclear to many. God is believed to be an all-powerful being who is quite beyond human ability to understand or imagine, yet on the other hand, his characteristics can be understood so much so that Jews believe they have a personal relationship with God, and God cares for each individual as a parent cares for their child.
	Evaluation To conclude, the characteristics of God provide a foundation by which Jews can look up to and mimic behaviour and develop good morals. They can come to understand and appreciate God, particularly as he is unseen, and this allows for them to be able to believe without question e.g. God is all knowing. G-d is all knowing and has a purpose for the world. This gives people faith to believe in God and wait for the Messianic Age to come, and have patience in God’s plan. However, it can be argued that there is no real point in having being taught characteristics of a being which can not be seen. With characteristics, some may argue that the concept of God can still not be understood, and the idea is unclear, particularly as the descriptions are supposedly by God himself, in which many Jews do not believe, as they are culturally and ethnically Jewish, rather than religiously Jewish.

“The characteristics of God define the way Jews understand their religion.” How far do you agree?

Advantages

Before Judaism, people believed in lots of gods, and those gods behaved no better than human beings with supernatural powers. The Jewish idea of God is particularly important to the world because it was the Jews who developed the idea that there is only One God, and that God chooses to be fair and just. This helps Jews to follow God’s commandments which forms moral law for humanity.
Jews believe that there is a single God who not only created the universe, but with whom every Jew can have an individual and personal relationship. This allows Jews to understand the covenant which they have with God, and Jewish men are circumcised as a symbol of this covenant.
God is all knowing and has a purpose for the world. This gives people faith to believe in God and wait for the Messianic Age to come, and have patience in God’s plan.

Disadvantages

Before Judaism, people believed in lots of gods, and those gods behaved no better than human beings with supernatural powers. Hence, the idea of monotheism can be said to have been ‘fabricated’ be Jews, and some may argue that monotheism does not really take a part in the true religion of Judaism.
Jewish atheists are culturally Jewish, yet do not believe in God. The characteristics of God do not have any significance for these Jews, as God does not even exist in their eyes. Judaism is merely a cultures, where Jewish food is eaten, Jewish languages such as Hebrew and Yiddish are spoken, and Jewish history and literature is studied.
Certain Jewish beliefs are contradictory, and the idea of God is unclear to many. God is believed to be an all-powerful being who is quite beyond human ability to understand or imagine, yet on the other hand, his characteristics can be understood so much so that Jews believe they have a personal relationship with God, and God cares for each individual as a parent cares for their child.

Evaluation

To conclude, the characteristics of God provide a foundation by which Jews can look up to and mimic behaviour and develop good morals. They can come to understand and appreciate God, particularly as he is unseen, and this allows for them to be able to believe without question e.g. God is all knowing. G-d is all knowing and has a purpose for the world. This gives people faith to believe in God and wait for the Messianic Age to come, and have patience in God’s plan. However, it can be argued that there is no real point in having being taught characteristics of a being which can not be seen. With characteristics, some may argue that the concept of God can still not be understood, and the idea is unclear, particularly as the descriptions are supposedly by God himself, in which many Jews do not believe, as they are culturally and ethnically Jewish, rather than religiously Jewish.

Get Revising

“The characteristics of God define the way Jews understand their religion.”