Monday, April 4, 2011
The Source of Goodness
Religious people assume that it is good to fulfill the Will of God. Is that because God wants us to do that which is good, or because the fact that God wants us to do a certain thing makes that thing good? Is there an independent source of goodness to which the Will of God conforms, or does God's Will define goodness itself?
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The second: I suggest that the idea that there can be an (independent) measure of goodness outside of God is some form of idolatry.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, this particular form of idolatry is widely practiced by Americans, certainly including Jewish ones, [even] including observant ("Orthodox") ones.
There are a few problems with your assertion. First of all, why do Jewish philosophers struggle with the suffering of the righteous? If God wills that the righteous suffer, then it is, by definition, good for them to suffer!
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, why do we praise God for performing kind deeds for us? If performing cruel deeds to us would have been equally good, had they been the will of God, how can praise be an appropriate respons to deeds whose opposite would have been equally "praiseworthy?"
Third of all., why do Torah commentaries bother to identify reasons for Divine commandments? The fact that God commanded them itself explains their goodness; resorting to other explanations can only diminish their inherent goodness!
Similarly, what does the Torah mean when it says that its commandments are "for our good?" If the commandments represent the Will of God, they are inherently good; moreover, it is meaningless to say that they are "for our good" if any result they produce, being the Will of God, is good by its very nature anyway!