| Time | Text |
|---|---|
|
Why God Doesn't Always Protect
00:03:02
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|
| People leave faith and religion. | |
| It's not the same thing, by the way. | |
| Some people leave religion and stay believers in God. | |
| But these reasons apply to both. | |
| So, number one, lack of reasons. | |
| Number two, the bad and unhappy models of religious people that they have had. | |
| And number three, their own beliefs. | |
| The number of people who drop belief in God because they thought God would protect them is quite large. | |
| I have never believed that God would protect me, and so it's very hard for God to disappoint me. | |
| Do you walk around believing God will protect you? | |
| I didn't know the answer to that. | |
| It was a very open question. | |
| So you and I have very similar beliefs. | |
| A serious man. | |
| Lovingly known as the Living Martyr, aka Alan Estrin. | |
| I never had that at all. | |
| It never occurred to me. | |
| Because it didn't make sense. | |
| Why would he protect me and not the other guy? | |
| I never thought I was more protection worthy than anybody else. | |
| So I never understand why people think that. | |
| I talked about this recently at an Ultimate Issues Hour. | |
| The man, a wonderful, wonderful human being who dropped his faith in God forever because his brother died prematurely. | |
| He was very close to him. | |
| So I said, I don't understand. | |
| What about when all these other brothers and sisters died of other people? | |
| He said, I didn't think about that. | |
| I thought, you know, I got out of special... | |
| I said, I guess I thought God had a special interest in me or something like that. | |
| I don't have that. | |
| My religion is extremely rational and that's one of the reasons is very durable. | |
| So those are three reasons that I think people leave. | |
| So let me take your calls. | |
| Too bad. | |
| Now we had a guy left Judaism. | |
| He's still on. | |
| We had a guy left Catholicism. | |
| He gave up. | |
| Maybe he changed his mind in the course of calling. | |
| Maybe he's back to Catholicism. | |
| All right, here we go. | |
| David in Calabasas, California. | |
| Pumpkins, California. | |
| Hi there. | |
| Hello, David of Pumpkins. | |
| Are you there? | |
| How do you like that? | |
|
Jewish Community Politics
00:03:39
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|
| Calabasas. | |
| I know. | |
| What do you think Calabasas means? | |
| Pumpkin. | |
| That's right. | |
| Okay. | |
| I'm happy to talk to you. | |
| Thank you very much for taking my calls on a panel. | |
| Long time. | |
| Thank you. | |
| One of the reasons why, probably the biggest reason, is the community surrounding the synagogue. | |
| And it has to do mostly with politics. | |
| My politics are like yours. | |
| I'm very conservative, and most of them are very liberal. | |
| And they've looked down at me with that smug, pseudo-elitist tone about them, if you know what I mean. | |
| The other problem I have is Judaism is very, very repetitive. | |
| And even in the services and such... | |
| There's many prayers that say the same thing over and over again. | |
| I felt like it was a brow-beating session. | |
| I'm very Jewish. | |
| I intensify with being Jewish. | |
| But I just cannot sit in synagogue and listen to that over and over again. | |
| Alright, so you left synagogue life, but you didn't abandon faith. | |
| I'm not putting words in your mouth. | |
| I'm not trying to do that at all. | |
| Just tell me, did I hear you correctly? | |
| Absolutely. | |
| I have not abandoned faith. | |
| I absolutely believe in a higher power as God. | |
| I identify as being Jewish. | |
| I enjoy my Jewish heritage. | |
| I enjoy being Jewish. | |
| But I'm not accepted by my own. | |
| Right. | |
| That's true. | |
| Look, that is true. | |
| I have no arguments against it. | |
| I am personally a practicing and religious Jew, but I have no arguments against him. | |
| Non-Orthodox, and I'm not Orthodox. | |
| The non-Orthodox, I mean, I'm not observant as Orthodox Jews are. | |
| I'm Orthodox with a small O, but I'm with a capital O. I'm not denominationally such. | |
| But I'm only saying that so you'll understand that my point is not to vindicate a movement. | |
| It's to tell the truth. | |
| Non-Orthodox Judaism, like mainstream Protestantism and much of Catholicism, is run by leftists. | |
| And that's their religion. | |
| Not Catholicism, not Christianity, and not Judaism. | |
| Today is the Jewish holiday of Purim, and the... | |
| Indianapolis Jewish Federation put out a flyer to celebrate Purim at a drag... | |
| Bring your kids to a drag queen reading hour for Purim. | |
| Purim is the book of Esther holiday. | |
| So, I mean, it's just an example of how leftism has come to dominate Christianity and Judaism. | |
| Okay. | |
| Except for the most traditional elements in both religions. | |
| I feel bad for this guy. | |
| That's why I started my own synagogue. | |
| And why I conduct... | |
| You would love... | |
|
Meaningful Return
00:00:19
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|
| What was his name? | |
| David. | |
| David would love my... | |
| High Holiday Services. | |
| Because I agree with him about the repetition and so much else. | |
| They're very meaningful. | |
| Really meaningful. | |
| All right, we will return in a moment. | |