Why does Huelen have information like this.
Hot Slice, did you grow up religious?
Believe it or not, Other way around. My parents and I weren’t religious. When I hit my tweens/teens, I stumbled Judaism and fell in love with how much sense it made to me, and then was told by my parents that we were indeed Jewish, descendants of the few in our family who was able to flee the Spanish Inquisition. I talked to them and basically figured out that if I am a Jew, and I am going to be hated for it regardless of what I believe, should I love and embrace my people and it’s history instead and go out on my terms?
I learned my parents on Judaism. Even without practicing it, I never ate anything non-kosher. Both my mom and father were raised with basic Jewish laws unknowingly, and my father and mother both learned they were Jewish because my Aunt told my father on her deathbed, and then my mom asked her mom. It was almost like... it was at the ready for someone to embrace it again, and it ended up being me. I don’t share the story with people often, and I think that most should keep personal beliefs to themselves, but I love my heritage, and am proud of embracing it.
Like, the teachings just make total sense to me. Like one of the rabbinical view on atheism.
“There is a famous story told in Chassidic literature that addresses this very question. The Master teaches the student that God created everything in the world to be appreciated, since everything is here to teach us a lesson.
One clever student asks “What lesson can we learn from atheists? Why did God create them?”
The Master responds “God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all – the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs and act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that god commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his acts are based on an inner sense of morality. And look at the kindness he can bestow upon others simply because he feels it to be right.”
“This means,” the Master continued “that when someone reaches out to you for help, you should never say ‘I pray that God will help you.’ Instead for the moment, you should become an atheist, imagine that there is no God who can help, and say 'I will help you.’””