C3: Future

Issue Navigation:

Image of God

Creation also teaches us that Mankind is made 'in the image of God' (Genesis 1:27). This means we have incredible capabilities and God-like possibilities. Not only are we created in God's image, we know we are created in God's image. This awareness can give us the confidence to lead our own distinct lives. We can mould our own destiny just as God moulded the planets and galaxies. The scale maybe smaller but the ability to create is similar.

The fact that the human species began with only one person, said the Sages, teaches us that every life is precious and that every person should say:

The whole world was created for me. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5)

This is not selfishness. It is a recognition that no one else can live your life for you and that you have a special and unique place in Creation. Just as no one looks like you, so too no one thinks like you. Everyone has something to contribute to life and only you can find out what your contribution will be.

Real People - Real Lives

We have much to learn from the personalities of the Bible. Although the distinction between good and evil, between sinners and saints is clear-cut, the Bible makes no attempt to adjust events to suit the general positive image of a character. The great men and women who serve as examples for all generations are not described only in terms of glowing admiration. Their failings, failures, and difficulties are described with the same objectivity as are those of the sinful. The "good guys" of the Bible are not perfect saints, all "sweetness and light"; nor are the "bad guys" monsters, but human beings shown in all their many - and sometimes contradictory - aspects.

We are able to really learn from these people because their lives are described to us in clear and honest terms, warts and all. Their stories teach us that perfection is not the aim, but that the striving to improve is. Their failures comfort us in difficult times, and their achievements inspire us when we rise to face our own challenges.

Free choice

According to the Jewish philosopher Maimonides, free choice is given to every person. We are capable of completely ruining or positively constructing our own lives. We are ultimately responsible for the decisions we make. The late Lubavitcher Rebbe once pointed out to the Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, that we never find ourselves in a particular situation, we put ourselves in that situation. We make choices and we must live by them. Though it seems dependent on many external factors, our future is very much in our own hands. To quote Hillel,

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when? (Ethics of the Fathers 1:14)

A note for amateur philosophers:

The fact that God knows our destiny is a famous contradiction to the principle of free choice. There is no satisfactory way of explaining this - it is a genuine paradox. The problem is that too many people spend their time trying to find a clever way out of this thorny problem instead of dealing with its consequences. However it works, from our perspective, we do have free choice. We should spend more time exercising that choice than wondering whether we really have it or not!

Next Page