Debating God

Over at Jewcy.com, Douglas Rushkoff, the subject of some recent posts here, and our friend Rabbi Andy Bachman are duking out a God debate.

To dichotomize: Rushkoff is advocating some sort of disengagement from traditional God talk, whereas Bachman is defending God as “the point of our struggle.”

This conversation obviously feeds into my earlier post today about bringing ideas, talk of ends and means, back into Jewish discourse. So kudos to Jewcy for that.

In terms of ends/means, Rushkoff is clear: “The object of the game is to carry out social justice, and to experience a connection to a greater reality through these acts.”

Though I’d like to hear more about Bachman’s “end”: “God is the end. That’s the point of our struggle. The mitzvah system is the means to the end. Understanding this is the ultimate challenge of faith. It is what people wrestle with their whole lives — from the most pious to the most skeptical.”

What does it mean to say God is the end? Knowledge of God? Union with God? Love of God? And does he mean the end? Or an end?