Why Do We Need God?

Why Do We Need God?

AARON HASS, Ph.D.

We Need God in Order to Do the Right Thing

We can do what’s right because we want to consider the consequences of our behavior for others so they will do likewise We can do what's right because of our sense of fairness. We can do What's right because we want to us. Or, we can do what's right because God tells us to.

Mostly, we believe we feel vulnerable, and because we crave order. I recently lectured to a group of divinity students about the many Holocaust survivors who, understandably, lost their faith as a result of what they witnessed and endured. During an interview for my book The Aftermath, one survivor told me. I have a big fight in my soul. I would say….. I don't know how to express myself….. I would say I don't really believe there is something like God.

"Well, then what can I say to that congregant?" I was earnestly asked. "If you want, you can give him the standard two minute explanation about how the Holocaust was perpetrated by man, not God, that God gave man free will and the potential to do good or evil, and the rest of how we attempt to reconcile God and cruelty. But more important is to point out the we don't do God any big favor by believing in Him. We believe in God because of what that belief does us. We choose God because He gives us hope and guidance.

Religion in most early cultures was relatively uninterested in moral behavior between individuals, Your fealty to a god took precedence over how you treated you neighbor. However, thirty two hundred years ago, divine law was given to Moses after he led the ancient Jews out of Egypt, and a new concept of devotion was born. Clearly, God's greatest emphases were justice, righteousness, and compassion, with particular concern for the poor and needy.

The Jewish people emphasized judgment but judgment focuses on behavior in this world as an end to itself. You weren't expected to act kindly and considerately because that would be your ticket to heaven. You were to act morally because God cared most about how you treated your fellow man. You and God were partners in creating a better world. An Eastern European spiritual leader of the nineteenth century taught: If someone comes to you for assistance and you say to him, "God will help you", you become a disloyal servant of God. You have to understand that God has sent you to aid the needy and not refer his back to God. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev told his followers: You can determine whether some one really loves God by seeing whether he or she loves other people. Both sages emphasized that we are enjoined to alleviate the suffering of our neighbors and make this world a better place for all.