Warm Up: Judaism: 3 Fundamental Questions

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Take out your HW (both text and Huston Smith) How would a follower of Judaism answer the following questions?:

1. What is the human condition?

• human nature? position in the universe, metaphysical position, is human nature good or bad? what is the struggle? why are we here? What does it all mean? (when I feel pain what does it mean?, etc.)
• who are we? what are our human flaws?
• good vs. evil
• what is the nature of our character?
• what is our relationship to divine, transcendence

2. Where are we going?

• what are we striving for? What is our destiny based on our understanding of the human condition?
• is it a group journey? is it an individual journey? What is “I”?
• In order be “be one of those” you got to do this
• what the heck am I supposed to be doing in this world to make me worthy to be in some relationship to God?
• Goal of the journey

3. How do we get there?

• the “to do” list
• how do we fix problem we encountered in the first question?
• the method
• if this (#2) is going to happen to me when I die, what do I need to do to get there?

For each response, provide a short rationale - (For example: what evidence are you using? Where are you placing your emphasis/What is important to understanding Judaism?, etc.)