I am not very happy with any make things in this world to be divine. In the Torah only God is Divine and not people and not things. One major aspect of Torah is that God is One. This is in fact maybe the most famous aspect of Torah. As the Rambam explains this it means not just that he is not more than one but also he is not a composite.. He has no ingredients on the label.. He is not composed some kind of divine substance. And since he is not made of any Divine substance, nothing can be the same substance as God.
So it is not just pantheism that I am not happy with. Though pantheism might be the most extreme example of trying to make things out to be divine. But even more limited attempts I am un-pleased with. For example claiming people's souls are Divine. This blurring of the boundary between God and Man annoys me. We are not God and are unlikely ever to be God at any future date.
I don't know about you but I see this being attempted in all kinds of sneaky ways, all the time.
It is very often attempted with some group of people. If you are part of some group, then you can see how there is is an attempt to claim that that group is Divine. The leaders might use different terminology than how I am putting it here. But once you are aware of this, you can see through the cloud of words to see their major point. Maybe it is good for some people's self esteem to think they are God.
Often the insane religious world say the "Jewish soul is a portion of God." [חלק אלוה ממעל] This is a kind of idolatry.
Others may pervert the Torah in different ways to make it more in accord with what they want it to say. But this issue seems to me to be worthy of attention.
It started with a loop hole. Kabalah. Whilst the kabalah of the Zohar, the Ari and the Remak is monotheistic, still the basic approach of condensation of the light, people have tried to claim implies pantheism. When you confront people with this mistake they start to play word games.
So it is not just pantheism that I am not happy with. Though pantheism might be the most extreme example of trying to make things out to be divine. But even more limited attempts I am un-pleased with. For example claiming people's souls are Divine. This blurring of the boundary between God and Man annoys me. We are not God and are unlikely ever to be God at any future date.
I don't know about you but I see this being attempted in all kinds of sneaky ways, all the time.
It is very often attempted with some group of people. If you are part of some group, then you can see how there is is an attempt to claim that that group is Divine. The leaders might use different terminology than how I am putting it here. But once you are aware of this, you can see through the cloud of words to see their major point. Maybe it is good for some people's self esteem to think they are God.
Often the insane religious world say the "Jewish soul is a portion of God." [חלק אלוה ממעל] This is a kind of idolatry.
Others may pervert the Torah in different ways to make it more in accord with what they want it to say. But this issue seems to me to be worthy of attention.
It started with a loop hole. Kabalah. Whilst the kabalah of the Zohar, the Ari and the Remak is monotheistic, still the basic approach of condensation of the light, people have tried to claim implies pantheism. When you confront people with this mistake they start to play word games.
