NOT STRICTLY REALITY BASED EMUNAH

[Actually, if it makes you feel better, you may call it 'meta-reality based emunah'.]


Back in early January, when I said that I cruised through the various shtarke denker blogs for material to steal, Mis-naged smilingly called me a "polite thief".

Which is a complement.


So, continuing that tradition of polite stealing, I am lifting some good stuff from the Godolhador ( http://godolhador.blogspot.com/ ) and pasting it below.

But remember, the Godolhador wrote it, and deserves the credit.

And I am very grateful that he wrote it, and posted it somewhere where I could grab it and paste it. Thank you. You are one of my daily reads, by the way.


It's from 'Ten Levels of Torah MinHashamayim Pop Quiz ', which was Divinely Inspired today. http://godolhador.blogspot.com/#114131950817001880

He posed it as a quiz, I'm posting it as an easy (though incomplete) reference to "not strictly reality based" Judaism.



NINE KINDS OF 'NOT-STRICTLY-REALITY-BASED EMUNAH'
[I invite Mis-naged to pose an alternative name.]

Kaarite
Everything in the Torah is literally true, and was dictated by God to Moshe word for word.


RW Ultra Orthodox
Everything in the Torah is literally true, except when darshened otherwise by Pharisse Rabbis, and was dictated by God to Moshe word for word.


LW Ultra Orthodox
Everything in the Torah is literally true, except when darshened otherwise by Pharisse Rabbis, or when it conflicts with Science and reason, in which case it can be darshened a little bit not literally, but only if famous Rishonim or Acharonim or Gedolim of previous eras said so, and it was dictated by God to Moshe word for word.


RW Modern Orthodox
Everything in the Torah is literally true, except when darshened otherwise by Pharisse Rabbis, or when it conflicts with Science and reason, in which case it can be darshened a little bit not literally, but only if famous Rishonim or Acharonim or Gedolim of previous eras said so, or if MO Gedolim of this era say so, and it was dictated by God to Moshe word for word, though some of it could have also been previously written in scrolls by the Avos and then included by God.


LW Modern Orthodox
Everything in the Torah is literally true, except when darshened otherwise by Pharisse Rabbis, or when it conflicts with Science, History and reason, in which case it can be darshened not literally, but only if famous Rishonim or Acharonim or Gedolim of previous eras said so, or even if MO Gedolim of this era say so, or even if non Orthodox scholars say so, but only if it doesn’t destroy any fundamental values of Judaism, also it was dictated by God to Moshe word for word, though some of it could have also been previously written in scrolls by the Avos.


RW Conservative
Everything in the Torah is literally true, except when darshened otherwise by Pharisse Rabbis, or when it conflicts with Science, History, Archeology and reason, in which case it can be darshened not literally, but only if famous Rishonim or Acharonim or Gedolim of previous eras said so, or even if MO Gedolim of this era say so, or even if non Orthodox scholars say so, but only if it doesn’t destroy any fundamental values of Judaism, also it was dictated by God to Moshe word for word, though some of it could have also been previously written in scrolls by the Avos, and some of it could have gotten messed up since so that what we have today isn’t really the original.


LW Conservative
The Torah is man’s account of Divine Revelation. Where the stories are plausible, they happened. Where they are not plausible, they probably didn’t. Or else they are exaggerated. Sinai happened, since there’s no evidence to say it didn’t. But everything else is debatable.


Reform
The bible was written by man. It is sacred, but mythical literature. Sinai probably didn’t happen, nor did many of the other stories. But it is a great document none the less, and represents mans striving for the infinite.


Skeptic
The bible is mythological literature. No different than any other ANE text such as the enumah elish. Worth studying though as it contains some influential ideas.Level 10 - Militant AtheistThe bible is immoral and worse. One of the most dangerous books ever produced. A load of superstitious bunk.

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Anyway, I encourage y'all to cruise into the Godolhador's blog, for some interesting stuff about religion, emunah, modern day Judaism, theology, and the occasional heated argument with (among many others) Dovbear and Mis-naged. Sometimes sparks fly. Just sit back and enjoy the show.

Godolhador: http://godolhador.blogspot.com/
Dovbear:http://dovbear.blogspot.com/
Mis-naged: No blog at present. But, imirtzeshem.....