Recently I read an interview with an Israeli thinker [then again - who isn't a "thinker"? It is just a question of what one is thinking...], writer and journalist who is not religiously observant [although he is an outspoken opponent of homosexuality because it is against the Torah]. He says that he knows 100 percent that there is a G-d. He has NO DOUBT. So far so good. If you are wearing a watch, the odds that there was a watchmaker are infinitely greater than the odds that the watch was created completely by accident. People who claim not to believe are the biggest believers. They believe in hundreds of trillions of random accidents that have happened every second since the beginning of time that create not only indescribable complexity but INTEGRATED COMPLEXITY meaning that all of the incredibly complex parts work together [as noted by the scientist Stephen Meyer, head of the Discovery Institute]. All by itself. Nobody behind it. The same person wouldn't believe that a box of corn flakes was created by accident all by itself and certainly not his smartphone. But the universe? All by itself. INSANE.
But this fellow also says that Charedim are backwards and living in darkness.
So my question is like this: You know that there is a G-d who created the world. Why would He do such a thing? Is there a purpose? It makes a whole lot of sense that just as an Intelligent being created a world filled with infinite intelligence, there is also an intelligent purpose to this universe. Right?
So what is the purpose? We CANNOT know on our own because how can people of such limited [relative to Him] intelligence, know what the purpose is.
So we can either walk around 24/7 COMPLETELY confused and bewildered - "Hey man, what am I doing here" or we can investigate. Maybe HE told us!!! Wouldn't THAT be awesome:-)!!! And wouldn't THAT make a whole lot of sense.
That is where the "Charedim" come in. One might agree or disagree with various specific hashkafos that characterize the Charedi community [which is varied and by no means monolithic] but in principal they are living based on the belief that G-d created the world with a purpose and according to our tradition that He revealed His purpose publicly before millions of people and they are trying to fulfill this purpose.
To me, that makes a whole lot of sense. A three thousand three hundred year tradition [actually 5000 years if you count from Avraham Avinu] of a public revelation in front of millions where the law was given followed by thousands of years where the law was [generally] kept. If He hadn't really revealed Himself and His purpose, a super duper stubborn people like the Jews would never have accepted the story and commandments.
So who is living in darkness?
This doesn't obligate a person to wear a black hat or to speak Yiddish or to live in Kiryat Sefer, but I am completely befuddled by people who live their lives and completely make things up as they go along. Their god is really themselves. They are the arbiters of right and wrong, good and evil.
I much prefer the One above me.... I am a pretty loser god.
