Free Evil In Judaism Essay Example

Judaism is the fundamental religion of the Jews. It originated from Middle East people, is rooted in ancient times, and has a great history (Judaism Lecture 1). Judaism is one of a few came down to us national religions of the ancient world, and it has a lot of distinctive features. One of the most interesting questions is Judaic understanding of good and bad connected with the idea of balance between deeds and results (Judaism Lecture 1). The aim of this essay is to give an overview of Judaic definition of evil and its relationship with good, and to find out their specifics.
As distinct from other religions, there is no ultimate struggle between good and evil in Judaism; God created both of them. Judaism understands evil not as wrong doings aimed to do harm to God but as non-fulfilling God’s will. God created the universe, Earth, and people in order to do good, but he did not want to give good for no reason; he wanted people to deserve it and appreciate. God decided that people should work for good and, if they succeed, they will receive a reward, an ultimate goodness. The work lies in resistance against temptations thrust people by the Evil Inclination. The Evil Incarnation is the Judaic angel Satan who was also created by God. If people successfully resist those temptations, they become closer to God, and their souls gain more power and become more holy and spiritual. In Judaism, life is an opportunity to achieve the ultimate goodness; when the time of the World to Come is due, the Jewish people will start to get their eternal reward for the Next World.
So, in Judaism, the overt conflict between good and evil does not take place. The clash exists, but only in people’ spirits, and it is they who get to choose. At first, resistance seems to be tough, but every next negotiation of dark desires makes it easier and easier, and finally doing good in one or another area becomes natural. However, success in one characteristic trait does not guarantee the same with another; for instance, people who do not steal still can say backstab each other. But the main temptation for every human lies in faith to God; its level can help in achieving resistant success in most life areas.
Judaism is the monotheistic national religion of Jews. It was the mastermind of such main world religions as Islam and Christianity. Judaism has a lot of peculiarities, and one of them concerns the relations between good and evil. Creation of evil together with good belongs to God, and Satan obeys God’s commands also. Together with Judaic ideas of God’s transcendence and understanding of ethical dimension (Judaism Lecture 1), it becomes clear that the aim of Jewish evil is to test people’s faith and will, and the final choice belongs only to them.