Judaism[edit] In contemporary Judaism, (Hebrew geulah), - TopicsExpress

Judaism[edit] In contemporary Judaism, (Hebrew geulah), redemption refers to God redeeming the people of Israel from their various exiles.[16] This includes the final redemption from the present exile.[17] Judaism holds that they do not need personal salvation as Christians believe. They do not subscribe to the doctrine of Original sin.[18] Instead, they place a high value on individual morality as defined in the law of God—embodied in what Jews know as the Torah or The Law, given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai, the summary of which is comprised in the Ten Commandments. A Jewish rabbi states that The Law can be further compressed in just one line, popularly known as the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.[19] In Judaism, salvation is closely related to the idea of redemption, a saving from the states or circumstances that destroy the value of human existence. God as the universal spirit and Creator of the World, is the source of all salvation for humanity, provided an individual honours God by observing his precepts. So redemption or salvation depends on the individual. Judaism stresses that salvation cannot be obtained through anyone else or by just invoking a deity or believing in any outside power or influence.[19] The Jewish concept of Messiah visualises the return of the prophet Elijah as the harbinger of one who will redeem the world from war and suffering, leading mankind to universal brotherhood under the fatherhood of one God. The Messiah is not considered as a future divine or supernatural being but as a dominating human influence in an age of universal peace, characterised by the spiritual regeneration of humanity. In Judaism, salvation is open to all people and not limited to those of the Jewish faith; the only important consideration being that the people must observe and practise the ethical pattern of behaviour as summarised in the Ten Commandments. When Jews refer to themselves as the chosen people of God, they do not imply they have been chosen for special favours and privileges but rather they have taken it upon themselves to show to all peoples by precept and example the ethical way of life.[19] When examining Jewish intellectual sources throughout history, there is clearly a spectrum of opinions regarding death versus the afterlife. Possibly an over-simplification, one source says salvation can be achieved in the following manner: Live a holy and righteous life dedicated to Yahweh, the God of Creation. Fast, worship, and celebrate during the appropriate holidays.[20] By origin and nature Judaism is an ethnic religion. Therefore, salvation has been primarily conceived in terms of the destiny of Israel as the elect people of Yahweh (often referred to as “the Lord”), the God of Israel.[17] In the biblical text of Psalms, there is a description of death, when people go into the earth or the realm of the dead and cannot praise God. The first reference to resurrection is collective in Ezekiels vision of the dry bones, when all the Israelites in exile will be resurrected. There is a reference to individual resurrection in the Book of Daniel (165 B.C.E.), the last book of the Hebrew Bible.[21] It was not until the 2nd century B.C. that there arose a belief in an afterlife, for which the dead would be resurrected and undergo divine judgment. Before that time, the individual had to be content that his posterity continued within the holy nation.[17] The salvation of the individual Jew was connected to the salvation of the entire people. This belief stemmed directly from the teachings of the Torah. In the Apostle Pauls letter to the Romans,[Romans 9-11] the notion of corporate salvation of Israel is reflected. In the Torah, God taught his people sanctification of the individual. However, he also expected them to function together (spiritually) and be accountable to one another. The concept of salvation was tied to that of restoration for Israel.[22] During the Second Temple Period, the Sadducees, High Priests, denied any particular existence of individuals after death because it wasnt written in the Torah, while the Pharisees, ancestors of the rabbis, affirmed both bodily resurrection and immortality of the soul, most likely based on the influence of Hellenistic ideas about body and soul and the Pharisaic belief in the Oral Torah. The Pharisees maintained that after death, the soul is connected to God until the messianic era when it is rejoined with the body in the land of Israel at the time of resurrection.[21]