{"id":40873,"date":"2018-09-25T17:39:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T14:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=40873"},"modified":"2022-04-20T14:37:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T11:37:11","slug":"arguments-and-challenges-for-the-sake-of-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/arguments-and-challenges-for-the-sake-of-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Arguments and Challenges for the Sake of Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[615,354],"acf":{"old_id":"40873","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"55","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"God chose as prophets people who were prepared to argue with heaven and earth","content":"

What is striking about Judaism, is that argument and the hearing of contrary views is of the essence of the religious life. Moses argues with God. That is one of the most striking things about him. He argues with Him on their first encounter at the burning bush. Four times he resists God\u2019s call to lead the Israelites to freedom, until God finally gets angry with him (Ex. 3:1\u20134:7). More significantly, at the end of the parsha he says to God:<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why did You send me? Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all.\u201d (Ex. 5:22-23).<\/p>\n

This is extraordinary language for a human being to use to God. But Moses was not the first to do so. The first was Abraham, who said, on hearing of God\u2019s plan to destroy the cities of the plain, \u201cShall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?\u201d (Gen. 18:25).<\/p>\n

Similarly, Jeremiah, posing the age-old question of why bad things happen to good people and good things to bad people, asked: \u201cWhy does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?\u201d<\/em> (Jer. 12:1). In the same vein, Habakkuk challenged God: \u201cWhy do You tolerate the treacherous? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?<\/em>\u201d (Hab. 1:13). Job who challenges God\u2019s justice is vindicated in the book that bears his name, while his friends who defended Divine justice are said not to have spoken correctly (Job 42:7-8). Heaven, in short, is not a safe space in the current meaning of the phrase. To the contrary: God loves those who argue with Him <\/em>\u2013 so it seems from Tanakh.<\/p>\n

The pursuit of truth and justice require the freedom to disagree.<\/p>\n

And where do we learn this from? From God Himself, who chose as His prophets people who were prepared to argue with Heaven for the sake of Heaven in the name of justice and truth.<\/p>\n

When you learn to listen to views different from your own, realising that they are not threatening but enlarging, then you have discovered the life-changing idea of argument for the sake of heaven.<\/p>\n

From: God Loves Those Who Argue (Covenant & Conversation, Shemot 5778)<\/em><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":104205,"id":104205,"title":"-625ff0529303e--625ff0529303fex5-argue fight.jpg","filename":"625ff0529303e-625ff0529303fex5-argue-fight.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625ff0529303e-625ff0529303fex5-argue-fight.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/arguments-and-challenges-for-the-sake-of-heaven\/625ff0529303e-625ff0529303fex5-argue-fight-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"625ff0529303e-625ff0529303fex5-argue-fight-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":40873,"date":"2022-04-20 11:36:50","modified":"2023-10-12 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