A soldier goes into war with the feeling that he is sacrificing himself for his homeland and his nation's future. He is not just fulfilling a duty. And then I think about the foe; what does he think? Does he think he's fighting for his land? And I don't know the answer to this question.
I only know that the antagonist and our soldiers go into battle with the same resolution. One asks, "Where do these young people get this singlemindedness?" What makes them determined to confront the enemy? Is it his country they're defending?
They're struggling for the earth. The only thing that can create such enthusiasm is the feeling that they are battling to redeem mankind.
According to God-fearing Jews and pious Muslims, the only way to rescue creation is to bring the redeemer. Not being devout, this concept appears to me as utter nonsense.
There are people in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and many other parts of the world who really and truly believe that their death is drawing the days of the saviour closer and improving mankind's situation. Those who don't think there's such a utopian society that the deliverer will create are onlookers.
We cannot understand those people. The expectation of the Messiah exists in Jewish ideology, too. Although the thought may have originated in the Bible, according to the Jews, studying the Scriptures is the way to achieve this occurrence.
Muslims and Christians stand at opposite extremes from religious Jews. The first two think they will usher in the Messiah by combating unbelievers. The Jews will do it by deepening their knowledge of the sacred words and observing the commandments of God.
So there are two ways. Reading scripture has merit. It makes us wiser and gives us a better and more meaningful life, but I can't see any point in expiring to promote the event.
The soldier who goes to war shoots an enemy and dies in the process. Is that going to lead the way for the arrival of the Savious? Unbelievers, like me, consider the expectation of the deliverer of mankind nonsense and dying as a means to the end as evil.
Pacifists and warriors, religious Jews and Muslims are doing different things to shepherd in the saviour, and no Messiah appears.
We are here to be alive. We are not here to devote ourselves to God or to die in action. We secure a better world by working, creating, loving our fellow man, and loving our parents.
Non-believers do these good deeds to each other and the world. A better world doesn't come into being by serving the Lord, wearing tzitzit (fringes) and other cultish practices, or studying Torah. Going to battle and killing somebody also doesn't make the world better. Religious Jews and Muslims have the concept of the advent of a miraculous saviour in common.
The one dies in combat, and the other studies the Torah. We secular Jews, who don't accept all of this antiquated philosophy of the appearance of the Messiah, remain by the side and watch what is going on and are left out of it. Loving our fellow man will bring harmony, make better science, do things in the world, not remain in one place studying Torah or dying in military conflict.
We consider that we are promoting peaceful coexistence more than those who learn Torah and more than those who are dying in battle. But these two groups, those who perish in violence and the ones who delve into the secrets of Torah, their belief in the coming of the Messiah gives them unity. All that needs to happen now is for ultra-Orthodox Jews studying the Torah to cooperate with Orthodox Muslims to figure out a way of living side by side.
Maybe the ultra-Orthodox Jews can persuade the Muslims to be studious in the Koran rather than be aggressive. The only talking point is between the two categories of believers. When the Jewish religion takes over this country, we will begin to have a dialogue with Muslims. The believing Jews must conduct a conversation with the Muslims. Secular Jews, who have been the ones running Israel since its foundation, have no basis for an exchange of ideas with religious Muslims. The followers of the two groups will figure out a way of living together in this society.
We don't believe in Muhammad or Moses, we don't believe in the Torah, and we don't believe in God.
The world is their baby. They own the world and the solution to the world's problems; we are onlookers.
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