Foreword
….for the Earth will be filled with knowledge of G-d as water covering the sea bed. Isiah 11:9
Which of the above images reflect how you feel?
I am writing this blog for everyone. Be it you are a believer, agnostic, atheist, secular, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Taoist or Buddhist et al. Yes I am especially writing it for you
I on purpose have written short chapters because we all are bombarded by information and stuff to read; in the paper, on your phone, on your PC, Facebook, etc. (There are one or two longer chapters’ contents that though merits more)
This is a work in progress and therefore a Bibliography is listed according to the number referred to in the text, and not arranged alphabetically. Updates and additions can be continuously made to the text as well as the bibliography.
Numbers that appear in the text are as follows: (*4) refer to the footnotes at the end of a chapter, in this instance the forth footnote. Numbers in square brackets e.g. [5.13,49-51] refer to a book listed in the bibliography, in this instance book numbered 5, pages 13, and 49-51.
Rav Kook, the first chief rabbi of Israel in the twentieth century, wrote: ’’Is religion man’s quest for God? Indeed, it seems as though religion is an attempt to solve the deepest spiritual problems of life…… in the past, man’s nature and desires were coarser than they are now, and in the future they will be more refined than they are at present…..in the present state, man’s desires still have many unrefined elements, and because of the merit of the good parts, the dregs also rise and become free- and in their freedom, they contaminate the world and destroy it. This creates a heated war…..The great souls must be peacekeepers between the fighter of this war by showing each side the proper boundary that is truly appropriate for it…..Up until the redemption, we can only teach the world a Divine wisdom of obligations and moral restrictions. But people do not like obligations, and when they accept them anyway, a grudge lingers in their hearts concerning whoever is responsible for them. For ethics truly come to restrict and imprison our animalistic passions.” [42.138, 193,195]
And to quote the brilliant speaker Denis Prager: If G-d is not the source of morality, morality is relative. The only way you can have an absolute right and wrong is when there is a transcendent source for it. If rights are inalienable, they can only come from G-d who is inalienable…How is it important to ‘fear’ G-d? Because then you do not fear man” [The Hebrew word for ‘fear G-d’ (yareh) actually means ‘to be in awe of’]
I would like to quote here John W. Whitehead, founder and president of the The Rutherford Institute: “…we neglected to maintain our freedoms or provide our young people with the tools necessary to survive, let alone succeed, in the impersonal jungle that is modern America. We brought them into homes fractured by divorce, distracted by mindless entertainment, and obsessed with the pursuit of materialism. We institutionalized them in daycares and afterschool programs, substituting time with teachers and childcare workers for parental evolvement. We turned them into test-takers instead of thinkers and automatons instead of activists….instilling in them the values of a celebrity-obsessed, technology-driven culture devoid of any true spirituality. And we taught them to believe that the pursuit of their own personal happiness trumped all other virtues, including any empathy whatsoever for their fellow human beings.” (*1)
In this treatise, in the following chapters I first of all discuss the situation of the world today and why we need a specific moral and ethical code to live by that is not formulated by man. Therefore, I propose that these principles and rules are from the Creator of the world and us. This information is written up in the Bible [Tenach] and especially in the Torah [first five books of the Bible]. Before I then discuss these, using as example those recorded in Deuteronomy (Deu), the fifth book of the Torah and Bible, and because my premise is that all peoples are supposed to live by these, I first have to touch on the Forgotten History of sad Misunderstandings and Hate between Judaism and Christianity to set the record strait and hopefully eliminate misunderstandings.
I truly hope that your eyes and mind will be opened and that the following chapters will inspire you, be a blessing; and give you Hope for your Life, and Peace and Contentment.
FOOTNOTES
*1 vide Whitehead’s book “Battlefield America: The War on the American People” (Select Books, 2015).