Theological Opinions , PART II

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Count Comfect

Jewish quotes about Heaven/Afterlife tend to be fairly cryptic. For example:

"Rabbi Yaakov says, 'This World is like an anteroom (of a Palace) with respect to the World-to-Come. Prepare yourself in the anteroom so that you will gain entry to the Palace.' (Pirkei Avot, 4:21)"

Not a word about what happens if you don't get in, notice.

Yes, it's rather interesting that the Jewish religion was formulated without a huge emphasis on the after-life, if any. There's vague references in it in the Psalms, but not too much elsewhere in the Old Testament that I'm aware of. I think Lewis put it correctly - the point of the OT writings were to show that God is One (the most powerful One there is, for that matter), and that He cares about moral behavior. Kind of the ideas summed up in the Shema that gets put into mezuzzahs (sp?).