Lesson Twenty-Three: The Genesis Metanarrative

humankind with a way to atone for and correct wrongful behavior. Without a process such as teshuva (repentance), even good people would be overwhelmed by guilt, both toward God, Whose laws they had broken, and toward those whom they had hurt. TELVOL 1:151

Study Questions:

1. The action of repenting is showing sincere regret or remorse for a wrongdoing. 2. Based on the passage, from the beginning, God knew that He would provide humans with a free will that they would misuse. 3 . The passage suggests that God knew that when humans misuse their free will, He would have to make amends or reparation for their actions. 4 . When one makes amends, he compensates for the misdeed. 5. According to the passage, God supported humans’ atonement by allowing repentance.

Extended Learning:

Directions:

 Read THE ETHICAL TORAH: THE SAGES SPEAK No. 2 in series “LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE” Genesis 1:26-28. (https://mussaria.org/Portals/0/adam/Content/__np4hAFsk6Uot7SlMebbQ/Link/ eBooklet.hash2.pdf)  Respond to the study questions.

Study Questions

Based on the assigned reading, are the following statements (A) TRUE or (B) FALSE? 1. The foundational ethical tradition of Judaism rests on the sacredness of each individual human being. 2. In Judaism, humans, formed in the image of God, have a divine spirit. 3. Jews believe that humanity is the crown of God's creation. 4. In the Jewish culture, the person who refrains from wrongdoing and tries to do what is right is righteous. 5. To Jews, man is “in the image of G-d” not in his outward form, but by how he behaves. 6. Jews believe that human beings should be creative like the God of Creation. 7. To Jews, humanity should complete God’s unfinished artistic masterpiece-the human person. 8. In Jewish culture, ethics is a way in which one creates life as a work of art. 9. Jews believe that there is a single standard of ethics to measure the correctness of human conduct. 10. Human values derive from religion, social customs, and conventions. 11. Both economic and geographic needs shape the values of humans. 12. To Jews, perfection is an abstract term subject to development and change.

13. The Jewish culture has a uniform standard of ethics. 14. Major religions have accepted the Jewish Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments, as the foundation of morality. 15. Because of the Decalogue, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic ethics are the same. 16. Jewish ethics are primarily based on the Hebrew Scriptures. 17. Genesis 1:27 predetermines the structure and evolvement of Jewish culture. 18. In Jewish tradition, Genesis 1:27 heightens the degree of concern and respect that humans must show in relation to his fellowman. 19. Genesis 1:27 imposes on man the duty to express his godliness by imitating the divine qualities attributed to God in the Scriptures. 20. In Jewish tradition, Genesis 1:27 marks a radical departure from pagan theology. 21. In literature, pagan gods behave like humans in that they engage in warfare, pursue their lusts, and commit murder. 22. In Jewish thought, the expression, “in God’s image” means that human beings are like

God in that they know good from evil. 23. The Torah teaches that humanity’s ability to make moral judgments enables a person to judge one’s own actions and those of others. 24. Based on Genesis 1:27, the Torah’s acknowledges that humans can love, just as God does. 25. Jews believe that to insult another person is to affront God. 26. In Jewish tradition, people must treat others with respect by recognizing everyone’s uniqueness and divine worth. 27. Jewish ethics teach humans not to recoil from a deformed or incapacitated person, but to embrace the divine image within the person. 28. The Torah demands that the executed body of a person for a capital crime be removed from the place of hanging by morning out of respect for the divine image. 29. To Jews, the ability to think and speak is a divine attribution. 30. In Jewish thought, humans resemble God, as well as the animals below them. 31. Jews believe in the biblical account that God created humanity in His divine image and in the image of Adam. 32. In Jewish tradition, killing one person is also killing all his or her potential descendants. 33. To Jews, someone who saves an individual “saves an entire world.” 34. Jews believe that the fact that every person is unique imparts to all humans immense value. 35. Thinking that the world exists for one’s sake can produce arrogance.

For Reflection:

Explain the statement “Killing one person is also killing all his potential descendants.” (Write five-eight sentences. Edit your writing to correct errors. Post the reflection on the discussion board. Label the post: The Value of Human Life.)

A Closing Thought:

“Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil. “

–Albert Schweitzer