Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge

[Noachide]

It is also possible that a person who is wise, and who seems to have righteous stature and fitness for prophecy in God’s eyes, will perform a sign or wonder even though he is not a prophet sent by God, and the miracle will have another motivation behind it (for example, in answer to his prayers). According to the same obligation from the Torah, we must heed what a person like this is telling us, and accept his statements as true. This can be explained with a parallel concept: Jewish courts are commanded to render a legal judgment based on the testimony of two witnesses. Even though they might be testifying falsely, since we know them to be acceptable as witnesses and they are undisputed in this matter, the Torah Law instruct us to presume that they are telling the truth.

About matters of this nature, it is stated: “The hidden matters are for the Lord, our God, but what is revealed is for us and our children,”(Deuteronomy 29:28) and it is stated: “Man sees what is revealed to the eyes, but God sees into the heart.”(I Samuel 16:7) (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 54)

[Israel Chai]

You have anything on the fake prophesy thing evangelicals make members do, they think it's Hashem but it's them; what you're really doing? Most Rabbis I know never heard of it, I figure a Noachide Rabbi might deal with it alot.

[Hrvatski Noahid]

You have anything on the fake prophesy thing evangelicals make members do, they think it's Hashem but it's them; what you're really doing? Most Rabbis I know never heard of it, I figure a Noachide Rabbi might deal with it alot.

We know the Torah Law regarding Gentile proselytizers and false prophets. But I do not understand your question. What exactly do evangelicals do? Do they convince individuals or a community to serve idols? Or to nullify one of the Seven Noahide Commandments? Or to add a commandment? Do they prophesy in the name of idols? Do they prophesy in the name of G-d, but lie in their prophecy?   

[Noachide]

You have anything on the fake prophesy thing evangelicals make members do, they think it's Hashem but it's them; what you're really doing? Most Rabbis I know never heard of it, I figure a Noachide Rabbi might deal with it alot.

Everything that I quote here is written by reliable rabbis and great Torah scholars. They are all Jewish who deal with Noachide Laws. I don't think it is nice to call them "Noachide Rabbis".

[Noachide]

Based on all this, the public revelation at Mount Sinai is the only indisputable criterion for believing in and accepting Moses’ prophecy and his transmission of God’s teachings – as God said to him, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will also believe in you forever.” Thus, the faith in God’s appointment of Moses is undeniable for as long as the Jewish people and their Torah exist, which is forever, and this faith is not based on any miracle that Moses performed. Such a unique testimony to a group of millions of people is impossible to refute, because each overlapping generation serves as the witness to the next generation. Before his death, Moses wrote these events in the first Torah scroll, which God dictated to him, and he made identical copies of that scroll for each of the twelve Jewish Tribes who had personally witnessed and verified the very events which are written there. (Deuteronomy 31:9) Thus it is written, “The Torah that Moses commanded us is the heritage of the Congregation of Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 33:4) (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 57)

[Noachide]

Therefore, if a supposed prophet arises and attempts to dispute or nullify anything in the prophecy of the Torah of Moses (even if he performs great miracles in support of his claim), he should not be believed or heeded. We would know with certainty that his message is false, and that he performed his alleged “miracles” through either magic or sorcery or deception. This conclusion is definite, because the prophecy of Moses was established as true for all time, based on the open revelation of God and His appointment of Moses which occurred publicly at Mount Sinai. In accordance with this, the Torah states about a false prophet: “[Even] if the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us follow gods of others that you did not know, and we shall worship them!’ - do not hearken to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of a dream, for the Lord your God is testing you ...” (Deuteronomy, 13:3-4) The false prophet is coming with signs and wonders to deny what the entire Jewish people know to be true, for their entire population saw it with their own eyes and heard with their own ears, and also verified that it was correctly recorded in the Torah and passed down through all the generations. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 57-58)

[Noachide]

Once the person passes this test,¹²⁵ and he fulfills the characteristics of a prophet, we are not to continue testing him every time he gives a new instruction, or when he gives instructions to another group of people in another place. Rather, everyone is obligated to follow the instructions which he gives from then on, as long as he continues to display the characteristics of a prophet, although it isn’t known whether the additional wonders he performs (if any) are in fact Divine miracles.

¹²⁵ The nonoccurence of a negative event that was prophesied to happen does not disqualify the person who said it in God’s Name from being a true prophet. For a negative prophecy may subsequently be annulled through God’s mercy, or in response to repentance of the people who have been warned by God of the consequences of their bad ways. This is what happened for the repentant people of city of Nineveh, as told in the Book of Jonah. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 58)

[Noachide]

If so, what is meant by the Torah’s statement: “I will establish a prophet for them from among their brethren, like you [Moses], and I will place My words in his mouth; he shall speak to them everything I command him”? (Deuteronomy 18:18) A true prophet is not being sent by God to establish a new or different faith, but rather to instruct the people to fulfill their existing commandments in the Torah of Moses, and to warn against transgressing them. Thus, it was declared in the last book of the Prophets: ”Remember the Torah of Moses, My servant.” (Malachi 3:22)

It may be that a prophet will be sent by God to instruct certain people to do something which in that situation is neither commanded nor forbidden by Torah Law, for example: “Go to such and such a place” or “Do not go there; “Go out to war” or “Do not go out to war;” “Build up a wall” or “Remove this wall.” If he has been established as a prophet, it is obligatory to follow his instructions. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 60)

[Noachide]

If, however, anyone claims to prophesy that a Torah commandment has been nullified forever, he is a false prophet, for the Torah has told us: “[it is] for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah.” (Deuteronomy 29:28) The same applies if someone prophesies that a Torah law which was transmitted as an Oral Tradition from Moses at Mount Sinai is now permanently nullified. In both cases, he is a false prophet and is liable for a capital sin. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 61)

[Israel Chai]

If, however, anyone claims to prophesy that a Torah commandment has been nullified forever, he is a false prophet, for the Torah has told us: “[it is] for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Torah.” (Deuteronomy 29:28) The same applies if someone prophesies that a Torah law which was transmitted as an Oral Tradition from Moses at Mount Sinai is now permanently nullified. In both cases, he is a false prophet and is liable for a capital sin. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 61)

I hate that it calls them false prophet because it associates them with prophets. There were false prophets back in the day who did get real prophesy and would just say fake ones to look cool also. There needs to be a derogatory word to refer to them while making it clear they have no relation to prophets.

[Noachide]

I hate that it calls them false prophet because it associates them with prophets. There were false prophets back in the day who did get real prophesy and would just say fake ones to look cool also. There needs to be a derogatory word to refer to them while making it clear they have no relation to prophets.

Ok, you can have your own opinion. I can imagine that you bombard your Rabbi with questions all the time. 

[Noachide]

This service to God is not an effortless task. The difficulty to overcome in contemplating the existence of God is that any knowledge that a person attains only comes to him in the context of what he can experience physically, through the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. In other words, a person pictures in his mind, and hears in the thoughts of his understanding, his concept of the matters he learns. Therefore, his knowledge is framed in the context of his own physical existence, surroundings and experiences. As a person contemplates and brings his knowledge of a matter into a more pure and abstract conceptualization and wisdom, his grasp of it will extend, broaden and deepen. But it will never depart totally from being connected to a physical context, because a living person always remains a limited physical being, whereas God cannot be grasped in the context of any human senses. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 64-65)

[Hrvatski Noahid]

God cannot be grasped in the context of any human senses. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 64-65)

Yes and no. We cannot grasp G-d with human senses now. But the entire Jewish people heard the Divine voice with their own ears.

[Noachide]

I apologize to Israel Chai, I overreacted with "you bombard your Rabbi with questions".

[Noachide]

Yes and no. We cannot grasp G-d with human senses now. But the entire Jewish people heard the Divine voice with their own ears.

Indeed. good point.

[Noachide]

One of the ways to approach this, which is simple and easily accessible to human perception, is to contemplate God’s existence through the analogy of the body and soul of a person. This is the intent of the verse, “From my flesh I perceive God,” (Job 19:26) which means, “Through contemplating my body and its being kept alive by my soul, which together constitute an ‘image of God,’ I can gain understanding and perception of the living God Himself.”

A body on its own has no life, for without the soul which give it life at every moment, it would die. This is not just in reference to the life of the body in general. It also applies to the power bestowed by the individual faculties of the soul, which emanate from its essence and work through the individual bodily functions. The ability of the eye to see, the ability of ear to hear, and all the other faculties of the body (when those organs are in physically correct condition), cannot function unless the power from the corresponding faculties of the soul is resting in and effecting those parts of the body. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 65-66)

[Israel Chai]

I apologize to Israel Chai, I overreacted with "you bombard your Rabbi with questions".

I totally bombard 5 with questions. I'm desperate to learn.

[Noachide]

The Torah teaches that the creation is like a macrocosm of the body, and without the life-force from God that shines into it, it could not exist for a moment. At its essence, the spirit of life in the universe – which is revealed to us through the functioning of the different powers that are always present in nature – is the creative power of God that gives existence and life to the creation, including everything in the natural world. These powers, such as the constant power in the soil to bring forth vegetation, show that there is a general life-force for the whole world, which maintains the world in existence. The natural powers that we find revealed in the world are extensions of the essential life-force it receives from God, just as the extension of the soul’s various powers from its essence serves to give life to the body and animate its numerous individual faculties. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 66)

[Noachide]

In addition, one can contemplate upon himself and recognize that his body, which is a temporary thing, is secondary and nullified to his soul, since a person’s entire life-force, emotions and intellect comes from the soul alone. Therefore, by its nature the body submits itself to follow the directives of the soul (one’s will and desires) without opposition, as it is clear that body has no life of its own without the soul. This contemplation is obvious to a person’s perception of the matter, and therefore easy to perform, since a conscious person feels the fact that he is alive, and his life flows constantly from his soul. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 66)

[Noachide]

One should also contemplate that his body and soul are only details of the general macrocosm which includes the whole world, and that the body’s life is a microcosm of the greater life-force for the whole world, which has many levels – inanimate creations, plant life, animal life and human beings, with countless details in each one. This general life-force emanates from God’s existence through His creative speech and gives life to every living being and keeps everything in the creation in existence every moment. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 66-67)

[Noachide]

Another detail in this contemplation is understood from the analogy that small details in a painting become nullified to the bigger picture in which they are found. A person can recognize that he is but a small detail of the all-inclusive life-force of the whole creation, which in turn is nullified to the existence of the omniscient God. This nullification is infinitely more so than a word of speech from a person, which is nothing in comparison to the entire breadth and depth of his intellect, which is nothing in comparison to the powers of his soul itself. Yet in spite of this, God Himself chooses and cherishes each individual person, and stands over him and watches and analyses each detail of the person’s thoughts, words, actions and attitudes, and creates the world for his sake. Therefore, the goal for every person should be to live his life in a way that is correct and good in God’s eyes, with the conduct of his body befitting the Godly nature of the general life-force of creation, and God’s desire for it. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 67)

[Noachide]

Why is this? A person is healthy when all parts of his body and their functions are correctly connected and coordinated. Likewise, the spiritual health of the creation is dependent on the coordination of the individual natural powers within it (including the powers of one’s own soul), working together as parts of the general life-force that emanates from God’s will and desire. A person should conduct his life as being one of God’s functions, intended to improve and uplift the people and the society around him, and the creation as whole. Then, he will not imagine that he is a separate power from God, or removed from the Divine source of life. If that were so, God forbid, the world would be in a condition like an ailing person; this is the meaning of “From my flesh I perceive God.” (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 67-68)

[Noachide]

One should not think that giving life to the whole creation is the limit of God’s greatness. Rather, He does this only because He desires to reveal Himself to human perception as directing the world with Divine Providence. In truth, His greatness and gloriousness infinitely excel, beyond comparison, His bestowal of life-force and Providence – which itself is far beyond what is revealed and understandable to human beings. Furthermore, the world itself is considered completely naught before Him, as explained in Chapter 1 of the First Gate, in regard to God’s “Requisite Existence”) (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 68)

[Noachide]

From the leopard, which uses its boldness for its survival, a person should learn to be bold in the service of God (which is necessary for his spiritual survival), whenever he needs boldness “to do the will of your Father in Heaven.” Therefore, one should not be ashamed or bashful when faced with people who scoff at him for serving God and doing the righteous thing. Even though humility is a good trait in general, and brashness in general is a vile trait, nevertheless, for the purpose of doing the right thing in the face of challenges, it is incumbent upon a person to learn from the nature that God put in the leopard. With this he can motivate himself to be bold whenever his natural tendency is to feel embarrassment about other people’s denigrating thoughts or comments when they see he is rejecting sin and holding on to moral ways. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 70)

[Noachide]

From the eagle, which uses its lightness to fly high with ease and swiftness to find and obtain its needs, a person should learn to move easily from place to place, and from one situation to the next, to do virtuous deeds and to be removed from wrong places and situations. One should not be heavy and lazy, and think that once he has already settled or fallen into a certain situation or level, it is acceptable to stay there. Rather, he should learn from the eagle to move on and fly higher in his own ways and in his service to God. A central theme in this is that a person should guard and focus his eyes to only look at good things. Physically, his eyes should dart away and reject sights of immodest and sinful behaviors, both in the outside world and in the world he brings inside through the Internet, movies and television, etc. And in his mind’s eye, he should not look for evil in those around him, but rather look for their good qualities from the outset and give people the benefit of the doubt. (Seven Gates of Righteous Knowledge by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and Dr. Michael Schulman, Ask Noah International, 2017, p 70-71)