Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Jewish Thought (6/12) Previous Document: Question 12.11: Who were the prophets? How many? Next Document: Question 12.13: What about angels, demons, miracles, and the supernatural? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Answer: One traditional Jewish view of free will is that in this phase of history, G-d's omnipresence is hidden from our awareness specifically to allow us free will. If we were fully aware of G-d's presence at all times, we would be incapable of sinning willfully. As it stands we are freed to assume or reject the Torah and its prescriptions for Jewish life and to be rewarded or punished accordingly. This will change at some future point when G-d's omnipresence is fully revealed. In Devarim (Deuteronomy) 30:19 "I [G-d] have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life." From this we learn that we have free will. Furthermore, reward and punishment only make sense if we have knowledge and free will. Angels cannot be rewarded because they do not have free will, and animals are not rewarded because they do not have knowledge. There have been a few notable exceptions to this last statement, but that is the general rule. User Contributions:Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Jewish Thought (6/12) Previous Document: Question 12.11: Who were the prophets? How many? Next Document: Question 12.13: What about angels, demons, miracles, and the supernatural? Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: SCJ FAQ Maintainer <maintainer@scjfaq.org>
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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