The True Nature of the Jewish God
A Compass pointing to the future--World Teacher Message

8948_02

The Question:

My sister had the opportunity of meeting a Jewish person. How should we explain the teachings of Happy Science to those that follow Judaism?

 

Master Okawa’s Answer:

Many Gods Led “Monotheistic” Judaism

Judaism actually has breadth in its teachings. While Judaism certainly appears to have xenophobic component that excludes other ethnic groups, that reflects only a segment of Judaism.

Judaism has seen many prophets, and within it there are those that are part of the El Cantare group, those that appear in my book “The Golden Laws”. In fact, there are many who support Happy Science that have appeared as Jewish Prophets in their past lives.

On the other hand, there are Gods historically local to Judaism born only to that specific area where Israel exists. These types of Gods tend to have narrower minds. The former Gods, born all over the world, tend to have more open minds.

The origin of Judaism resides in Moses, who accomplished the escape from the tyranny of Egypt. Israel was founded after Moses liberated the Egyptian slaves, and brought them to the land of Canaan.

It’s said that Moses himself wrote the Book of Genesis, in the Old Testament. But Genesis is split into two parts; the former, often called the Elohim Passages (or the El Passages), and the latter called the Yahweh Passages.

Past generations reading the entire Book seemed to have realized this as well, “There’s something different” between the two sections. There are those who realized that in the Book of Genesis the God, who discussed Creation, and the God, who wrote the latter half, is different.

So the authors of the first half, often called the Elohim Passages, wrote with the spiritual guidance of El Cantare, while the authors of the latter half wrote with the inspiration of the local Gods of Judaism.

People call Judaism a monotheistic religion, but it has received guidance from many different Gods in heaven.

 

Happy Science Worships the God that Guides All of Humanity

So it doesn’t mean that Judaism and Happy Science are completely unrelated.

Historically, Judaism became the source of other world religions such as Christianity and Islam. There are also basic teachings, common to both ancient Greek and Egyptian religions that found themselves into Judaism.

If there may be Gods that answer only to Jews, Happy Science doesn’t look at things with such narrow vision.

There is, obviously, the God that guides all of humanity, and the object of that guidance includes the Jews as well.

Even if the conflict between the Jews and the Arabs may seem like a clash between Judaism and Islam, that is simply a result of differing interpretations and understandings among human beings, and our view is that the original teachings and thoughts do not conflict with each other. One might be able to look at this conflict as competition between companies that are in the same business.

If there be a God with xenophobic tendencies within Judaism who is the one true and all-powerful God, then it would follow that the entire world would have become Jewish. The fact that that’s not the case shows that such a God could not be all-powerful and all-knowing.

However, the oldest and most basic parts of Judaism contain teachings that are fundamentally the same as those found in “The Laws of the Sun”.

 

How Happy Science Views Judaism and Islam

How to spread the teachings of Happy Science to the Jewish peoples depends on your efforts and strengths, so it’s hard to say.

But at the moment, relations between Islam and Judaism are poor. And while Judaism and Christianity should have poor relations, at the moment, the United States, which is a Christian nation, is supporting Israel, a Jewish nation. So the relationships are very complex.

We would like to try, somehow, to untangle this web of conflict that exists across the world. And if there are those who can agree with that objective, then perhaps they would welcome learning about Happy Science and joining the movement.

Also, Happy Science has no problem accepting Jewish prophets. In this sense, Happy Science is different from Shintoism.

People sometimes describe Happy Science as being “ultra-right-wing” and “ultra-nationalistic”, but our texts include words from Jewish prophets. We accept Judaism – as we do all other religions with core values – so there is significant common ground.

While there are religions that are in conflict with each other, Happy Science takes a broader view, and looks at things though a more inclusive set of eyes.

For example, during the 13th century, Islam destroyed Buddhism in India. And while it’s possible to remember this event in anger, comparing it to the events of 9/11, bear the loss, for only forgiveness can overcome religious intolerance.

In that sense, we teach a tolerant ideology, and would like to bring this teaching to those in the world that need it.

 

The Spiritual World Changes with Religion

But if you meet people who insist, “Judaism, is the only true religion,” then you may want to take the relationships slowly and with a long view.

In the end, when talking about religion, “The spiritual world changes.” Depending on what you believe in this life dictates where you go after death. That difference isn’t just in terms of heaven and hell, but each religion has its own spiritual world.

Those who worship the same religion tend to end up in the same spiritual world, so what you believe in dictates where you end up after death. People have the right to choose which spiritual world they wish to go to, so those who are exceedingly ingrained in their beliefs may be difficult to convince or convert.

If there’s an area where one might spend some effort, it might be to explain that “Happy Science is preaching modern sets of teachings that are beginning to gain influence and power.”

Judaism does not accept Jesus as the Messiah. But Happy Science accepts both Christianity and Judaism, and believes that both contain ideologies that are important to human history. It should be possible to convey this message.

 
The True Nature of the Jewish God
Copyright © IRH Press Co.Ltd. All Right Reserved.