Do Jews believe in God, in the sense of a higher being who is omniscient and omnipotent?

Question

Please only answer if you are Jewish or have thoroughly studied Judaism and really know what you’re talking about.

When I say “belief in God”, I’m referring to the belief that most Christians have that there is a higher being who is basically in control of everything. Obviously I know that Christians believe that Christ is their God/the son of God, while Jews do not. But do Jews believe that their God is in control of things in the same way that Christians believe Christ is?

For example, my Christian aunt prays to God/Jesus all the time and truly believes he answers her prayers. If something good happens, she believes it’s because Jesus made it happen for her. If something bad happens, she believes that it was simply God’s will or that Jesus was testing her or punishing her. This applies to everything from whether her sick loved one gets better or not, to whether she gets the job she wants, is able to lose weight, wins a game, etc. She is a fundamentalist born-again Christian so I realize that this may be an extreme example, but most Christians I know do believe that God is at least partly in control of things. I, personally, do not believe this. I am agnostic/atheist. I do not believe there is any kind of God who is in control of what happens to us. The reason I’m asking this question is that my father is Jewish, is very proud of his faith, and truly loves his religion. Yet, he doesn’t believe in God.

We have been debating whether or not this is typical because I say that Jews do believe in God, just like Christians do, and that my Dad is an exception. I know many Jews who pray to God and believe that he helps them with things. But my Dad says Judaism does not teach this type of belief in God. While I do not believe in God, I do believe in being a good person, treating people as you wish to be treated, and trying to lead a good life. My dad says that, according to Judaism, that’s what believing in God means. Is this true?

Answer 1

Yes, Jews believe that G'd is omniscient and omnipotent and omnipresent.

Answer 2

Well, the person above me pretty much illistrated why Reform Judaism is not Judaism at all.

Anyways, yes Jews believe in the omniscient all powerful G-d as depicted by the prophet Jeremiah, "I am a Great King, and my presence fills the whole world." To quote the Baal Shem Tov, a Jewish sage from the 18th century, on this subject, "It is G-d who decides how many times the leaf turns in the wind before He guides it to its resting place."

As to Judaism not being about G-d so much, here is a quote from the Shulchan Aruch, Judaism's book of laws, regarding Judaism's attitude towards G-d, "A Jew is required to be aware of G-d's presence even while he lies in bed, and when awake he must constantly think on the loving kindness of his Creator." The paragraph goes on to say that a Jew is forbidden to sleep, eat, or have marital relations except when he does so to strengthen himself to serve G-d and to produce additional servants for G-d.

In short, Judaism recognizes G-d as omniscient and omnipresent, and Judaism is about nothing other than serving G-d.

Unfortunately, your father is correct on one point - most Jews today do not practice Judaism anymore and do not believe in G_d in the same way the classical sources present him. He is incorrect when he says Judaism doesn't teach that kind of G-d. It does, but Judaism might be the least popular religion among Jews right now. That will change.

Answer 3

Yes, Jews believe in God. It's the whole making a man into a God things that Judaism takes issue with..

Answer 4

Jewish ABC's
http://www.aish.com/literacy/judaism123/

Answer 5

I'm just sayin' this from a Reform Jewish perspective.

Alot of Jews do believe in G-D, but he's not the same as the Christian or Muslim G-D. That's like saying Paris Hilton, Brittney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan are identical, just because they are similar. And what I've learned from my Temple is that S/He can help you out, but it's best to try to fix it yourself, because S/He has more important things to do, like helping the starving kids in Africa.

But really, Judaism isn't about G-D that much. Sure, there's a lot of praying and stuff, but really it's about the culture , laws, beliefs and traditions. You don't neccesarily need to believe in G-D.

Answer 6

Jehovah who is omniscient, omnipresent is the God who brought the Jews out of Egypt.. But we refused to obey him and refused to believe Jesus Christ was his son. Now the word Christian applies to the first crop of spiritual descendant of Jesus. Making his disciples his brothers, whom were essentially him hence "christian" Christ like for they also broke every natural law as he did! Healing everybody in his name, Defiant group of people! Unfortunately everybody has apropriated the title Christian and it's hard to distinguish what's real or fake. Us Jews and Christ adherents worship the same Creator of heaven and earth. Yet some of us don't believe the Messiah has come.... God is omniscient because his Breath that is in us causes animation. Which is one of the reason he is omnipresnt everywhere. So let us understand this in Eze 37:1- it touches on God power. Understand when sin we sin boldly in his face!!

Answer 7

Jews believe in God.

Answer 8

What a stupid question...

Judaism came before Christianity and is what it's based on. It should be obvious that Jews believe in G-D. I guess I expect too much from people... Common sense and basic knowledge of their own religion.

Answer 9

The Jewish G-d and th Christin G-d are not exactly the same there are subtle differences that are hard to describe here, but yes the Jewish G-d is all powerful and all knowing. You can email me if you want me to elaborate further.

Oh and David T is not a Jew no matter what he calls himself.

Answer 10

Yes but they believe they the most lived human beings.However their belief regarding the attributes of God is of wider spectrem than the christains.