{"id":4410,"date":"2021-06-11T23:22:02","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T20:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=4410"},"modified":"2021-06-14T06:34:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T03:34:49","slug":"life-worth-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/life-worth-living\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Worth Living…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It is common to encounter people today who refuse to believe that God exists, not because there are compelling reasons to do so, but simply because they do not want God to exist, and therefore they willfully suppress the intuitions of logic, the apprehension of value, the awareness of glory in creation, and the sentiments of conscience, since all these experiences point to the realm of moral and spiritual reality. As it is stated in our Scriptures: “For that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has revealed it to them. For the invisible attributes of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and divinity; so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19-20). Indeed, atheists and agnostics arrogantly preach that there is no transcendental \u201cmoral law\u201d or Moral Lawgiver before whom all people will give account, again, not because reason indicates that this is so, but on the contrary, merely because they wish to be \u201cfree\u201d to do whatever they want and to pursue their own selfish desires. In this regard the atheist merely chooses to close his mind because he does not want to see. As Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (\u05d1\u05e9”\u05d8) once said, \u201cThe world is full of wonders and miracles but man takes his little hand and covers his eyes and sees nothing.\u201d Indeed the deification of the self makes the soul a stranger to God and blind to moral and spiritual reality. The modern man will split hairs and fastidiously object to questions of truth and meaning all for the sake of living life as he pleases, on his own terms, without recognizing any moral authority beyond himself….<\/p>\n

Socrates famously said that \u201cthe unexamined life is not worth living,\u201d which of course implies that a life worth living is discovered by asking questions, searching for meaning, pursuing truth, celebrating wonder, and living with integrity. “Seek the LORD while He may be found…” Contrary to the ideals of worldly culture, the meaning of life is not found in the pursuit of personal happiness (or pleasure) but rather in the pursuit of truth and meaning. Apathy about such matters is a symptom of lifelessness: it is to be spiritually dead while seemingly \u201calive.\u201d Indifferent people are likened to those who go through the outward motions of life without ever making inner traction with it… The righteous, even in death, are called \u201cliving\u201d; the wicked, even while alive, are called \u201cdead\u201d (Berachot 18a).<\/p>\n

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\u201cTruth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.\u201d – Blaise Pascal<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why is there something rather than nothing at all? Such a fundamental question strikes at the heart of our assumptions and habitual ways of thinking, jolting us from our sleepy \u201ccave-like\u201d consciousness to face the glaring light of the sun… The natural instinct is to turn away, to pull the covers over our head, and try to go back to sleep. However if pressed, the simple question \u201cwhy\u201d irresistibly leads to a concatenation of explanations and a regress of causes that quickly points to metaphysical properties and realities. For instance, if a child asks her parent, \u201cWhy do people die?\u201d the parent might answer, \u201cBecause people get sick or injured or they might grow very old.\u201d \u00a0\u201cBut why do people have to grow old?\u201d the child continues. \u201cBecause they are born, live for awhile, and eventually pass away… All things change, and that means they come into being, exist for a while, and then pass away. Look around you; everything you see \u2013 the people, the animals, the plants, rocks, mountains and seas, the earth and sky, the stars and galaxies, and indeed the whole universe \u2013 is constantly changing, coming into being, existing for awhile, and then passing away…\u201d \u201cBut why does everything have to pass away?\u201d the child persists… In this imaginary dialog we see how quickly \u201cwhy questions\u201d begin pointing to deep metaphysical mysteries such as the nature of being, the phenomenon of time, the ubiquity of change and its existential relationship to human consciousness. The dialectic of asking and answering questions helps us detect the assumptions that underlie our everyday thinking, often revealing wonders that pervade our lives. The failure to seriously ask the \u201cbig questions\u201d of life, for instance, \u201cWhat am I?\u201d \u201cWhere did I come from?\u201d \u201cWhy am I here?\u201d \u201cWhere am I going?\u201d and \u201cWhat does it all mean?\u201d is to abandon what makes life itself worth living… It is to give up the quest to find meaning, purpose, hope, and a sense of destiny.<\/p>\n

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Hebrew Lesson:<\/h2>\n

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