01-18-2010, 04:22 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-06-2019, 11:47 AM by Director Michael.)
The discussion at hand is not about G-d in His Essence, about which we (as created beings) cannot have any intellectual understanding at all. Rather, the discussion is about G-d as He Himself chooses to limit Himself to be concerned about, and to interact with, and to impart wisdom to, the human beings He has created upon this physical world that He chooses to desire.
It would not be known to us that we could refer to Him at all with any particular descriptive statements, except that He Himself revealed to us through His prophets of the Hebrew Bible that certain descriptive statements about Him are correctly allowed to be made, with the understanding that the prophet is speaking about exceedingly spiritually lofty concepts, within a garment of human terms, so that a conception of the subject can be attained through abstraction from the human analogy.
This is one of the points that Rambam (Maimonides) explains in his work, "The Guide of the Perplexed." See there, Part I, Chapter 36, in the English translation by Shlomo Pines (ISBN 9780226502304):
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR...0226502304
Quoting from the text:
"Know that if you consider the whole of the Torah and all the books of the prophets, you will find that the expressions, 'wrath,' 'anger,' and 'jealousy,' are exclusively used with reference to idolatry. You will also find that the expressions, 'enemy of G-d' or 'adversary' or 'hater' [of G-d], are exclusively used to designate an idolater... Now the books of the prophets only make this strong assertion [of G-d's hatred] because it concerns a false opinion attaching to Him, may He be exalted; I refer to idolatrous worship... for the reason that [idolaters'] infidelity bears upon a prerogative reserved to G-d alone, may He be exalted - ... the prerogative of being worshiped and magnified. This is ordained [by G-d] in order that G-d's existence may be firmly established in the belief of the multitude. Now the idolaters thought that this prerogative belonged to that which was other than G-d, and this led to the disappearance of the belief in His existence, may He be exalted, from among the multitude... What then should be the state of him whose infidelity [instead] bears upon His Essence, may He be exalted, and consists in believing Him to be different from what He really is? I mean to say that he does not believe that He exists; or believes that there are two gods, or that He is a body, [etc.]... Such a man is indubitably more blameworthy than a worshiper of idols who regards the latter as intermediaries or as having the power to do good or ill...."
It would not be known to us that we could refer to Him at all with any particular descriptive statements, except that He Himself revealed to us through His prophets of the Hebrew Bible that certain descriptive statements about Him are correctly allowed to be made, with the understanding that the prophet is speaking about exceedingly spiritually lofty concepts, within a garment of human terms, so that a conception of the subject can be attained through abstraction from the human analogy.
This is one of the points that Rambam (Maimonides) explains in his work, "The Guide of the Perplexed." See there, Part I, Chapter 36, in the English translation by Shlomo Pines (ISBN 9780226502304):
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR...0226502304
Quoting from the text:
"Know that if you consider the whole of the Torah and all the books of the prophets, you will find that the expressions, 'wrath,' 'anger,' and 'jealousy,' are exclusively used with reference to idolatry. You will also find that the expressions, 'enemy of G-d' or 'adversary' or 'hater' [of G-d], are exclusively used to designate an idolater... Now the books of the prophets only make this strong assertion [of G-d's hatred] because it concerns a false opinion attaching to Him, may He be exalted; I refer to idolatrous worship... for the reason that [idolaters'] infidelity bears upon a prerogative reserved to G-d alone, may He be exalted - ... the prerogative of being worshiped and magnified. This is ordained [by G-d] in order that G-d's existence may be firmly established in the belief of the multitude. Now the idolaters thought that this prerogative belonged to that which was other than G-d, and this led to the disappearance of the belief in His existence, may He be exalted, from among the multitude... What then should be the state of him whose infidelity [instead] bears upon His Essence, may He be exalted, and consists in believing Him to be different from what He really is? I mean to say that he does not believe that He exists; or believes that there are two gods, or that He is a body, [etc.]... Such a man is indubitably more blameworthy than a worshiper of idols who regards the latter as intermediaries or as having the power to do good or ill...."