Klonor
19-11-2005, 03:41
Judaism, as we all know, is an extremely ancient religion; approximately 4,000 years old and still going. To my knowledge, only Hinduism is an older currently existing religion, and only China is tied as an equally aged culture. However, though we're older than damn near everybody else out there, we have one of the least definite views of the afterlife.
From what I've been told, it goes like this:
Judaism is a slowly evolving religion, starting from scratch and adding new laws and beliefs as it grew, and it took several centuries before we even began to seriously wonder about the afterlife. Then, right when we started to give it some thought, in marched Rome and conquered us. Just like those darn Romans, aint it? Anyway, with the religious oppression and all (Admittedly less severe than some of the other times we've gotten a boot on our necks) our progression slowed a bit and eventually came to a halt, leaving us with only what we'd managed to scrape together before the Roman armies marched over us.
The result is that, while we have a rather comprehensive list of what's good and bad in life and what earns Gods wrath, we're a tad bit loose on what God will actually do once you've angered him (Apart from the floods and plagues and whatnot).
It might just be me, but I find it a bit funny that Judaism, which is the basis for many religions that have a direct view of the afterlife, is foggier than practically any other religion on Earth.
From what I've been told, it goes like this:
Judaism is a slowly evolving religion, starting from scratch and adding new laws and beliefs as it grew, and it took several centuries before we even began to seriously wonder about the afterlife. Then, right when we started to give it some thought, in marched Rome and conquered us. Just like those darn Romans, aint it? Anyway, with the religious oppression and all (Admittedly less severe than some of the other times we've gotten a boot on our necks) our progression slowed a bit and eventually came to a halt, leaving us with only what we'd managed to scrape together before the Roman armies marched over us.
The result is that, while we have a rather comprehensive list of what's good and bad in life and what earns Gods wrath, we're a tad bit loose on what God will actually do once you've angered him (Apart from the floods and plagues and whatnot).
It might just be me, but I find it a bit funny that Judaism, which is the basis for many religions that have a direct view of the afterlife, is foggier than practically any other religion on Earth.