Minister Ty Alexander: Judaism with no belief in God is the same as any other set of ritual and tradition; you may have some reason for living in them, but whether or not the lifestyle brings you healthy outcomes and spiritual upliftment will vary more by an individual’s set of morals rather than how they fulfil that ritual lifestyle, and so in that regard, there is hardly any difference to living as a nonbelieving Jew than an unbeliever in any other religion. Except it is actually worse for the Jew, because God’s promises of blessing and curse in the Torah are real, so that the ones who try to live by the Torah must do so in completeness or the curses of the Torah will surely come, just as the people have seen throughout their history.

Why then do the people’s sages wonder why “God failed to live up to His side of the covenant”? Oh my people, what sort of wisdom do you exalt? What sort of soothsayers do you acknowledge? Why should the blind continue to heed the blind? God has kept all His promises, but you have shut yourselves to what is real.

Emphasizing ritual and tradition with no faith is a good way to eliminate God, just as the rest of the secular world has done. Nathan is advocating for something no different than the Catholics with their own set of rigid rituals and ways, also exalted by their own, like Nathan states of Judaism’s “sublime directives.” But both groups are more alike than not – without faith in God, nonbelievers only follow traditions in shallow ways that are easily replaced or removed. They are only robotic actions.

And furthermore, are any of those traditions and rituals of real value? Both Jews and Catholics practice rites and traditions that were made more so by man, not God, so what remains of true value to either today? It isn’t the traditions, but real faith in God Almighty that brings any man closer to Him, and that is what brings a person valuable life enrichment – interaction with God as they try to walk in a path of what is good by God. Isn’t that was what brought favor to the forefathers? God had not given them the Torah, yet they surely pleased the Father.

But in the last age, as well as this, the people of God have exalted Torah over God while believing they are wise in it, but all have slipped, and all will continue to fall, for none will acknowledge what is before their eyes. They constantly only heed to their own lying scribes and smiling soothsayers.

And what more is teaching rote tradition and ritual without logical substance behind them? Don’t let people think, just make them observant. One can say that is a form of brainwashing, which I have seen religious leaders use in sects everywhere. No, the logic Nathan and Jewish sages propose do not add up, not when their 1 + 1 is entirely off the mark.

Judaism cannot save herself, and God will not save her either, but will preserve Israel and rectify what she has gotten wrong in Torah. Only a remnant of Judaism will remain, but what the natural olive branches grow on will come naturally to them because the observant have learned to fear God. But for now, what requires tremendous courage for all Jews is to understand how their basic math went wrong and stop living by it.