I just hit inappropriate whenever I see that now. Its really baffling how some seem as though they are teens or even adults and still get their rocks off claiming first ever video.
If it bugs you so much then quit reading the posts and go the fuck away. There is nothing here for you to find offensive if you don't look at it. Losers...
Good for him for speaking how he feels instead of just following the program GOD is a personal thing for differant people for me it is Good Orderly Direction Noahs ark and the garden of eden are cute fairy tales
Dumb ass. Why is he able to go through with his Bar Mitzvah unless he forms his beliefs? Secular thinking. His parents should be embarrassed. What? Just have the parties and don't worry about everything else? What a schmuck!
Fox hat why are your beliefs so shaky? If you're a true believer then you know that spiritual growth is a process. If you truly believe the things you are told then you know that this is just part of the "plan". Don't be so afraid of one child's growing up process. Thank GOD he felt free enough to speak his mind... this is what is needed in all institutions... thinking.
This kid wants to join a religion that he does not believe. Why? If he does not believe in God, he should join the Atheists or whatever, but don't try and join a religion that you don't believe in. Just stand on the sidelines like a lot of you liberal losers.
My beliefs? What's this have to do with my beliefs?
Try and join the Dimocrats and act like a Republican. Does that make sense? Freedom of Expression?
Try and become an atheist and believe in God. Yeah, that makes sense.
this is so typical of liberal parents....give little mr wonderful an open mike and allow him to say what his vast mind has on it at the particular moment, and then giggle because he is so cute....then call him a man. Those parents must be mortified, but he wouldn't have said it if he thought he wouldn't be viewed as little mr mischief by the doting parents....
even at just 13, this lad has a maturity well beyond what you could understand. Continue your struggle with "faith" richshin. Yours is a weak mind, im afraid.
I think he did a great job. And has more intellect and understanding than you have in your little (insert inappropriate liberal phrase here). Take that Rihshin! And that!
waaaah! I want my mommy right now! Don't you people understand (above)? This isn't about religion or god or expression of understanding. This is a pre-pubescent little spoiled brat trying very, very hard to embarass his parents. The reason you can't see that is that you probably did the same thing as a child and now can't understand why your life is so screwed up.
Mind you, he is Jewish and therefore that special little snippety-snip ceremony earlier in his life may well, as an infant, have shaped his mind against the existence of a God.
ok glumbert your slow loading vids with advertising popping up covering the entire vid are starting to suck. go back to the old format and leave the ads on the bottom.
Hardly. He doesn't even know if God exists. How can he call himself a Jew?
Because his questions went unanswered by the Rabbi, then he is a member of the Jewish Faith? How ludicrous.
Folks like you are not committed and you question folks that are. If you don't want to be a devoted Christian or Jew, that's your business, but in order to belong to a faith you have to BELIEVE in it. Otherwise, just hang around and be agnostic, but don't try and pretend you belong.
You say, "he doesn't even know if God exists"... erm...do you KNOW God exists???
No.
No one does. That is why it is called BELIEF.
He is perfectly within his rights to question his own beliefs. He didn't tell the rabi and congregation to go fuck 'emselves did he?
No.
He merely raised some questions. He did it reasonably too. Unlike the more zealous religious types who start spitting bullets when their beliefs are challenged. Did you not pick up the slight sarcasm in the rabi's tone following the end of the speech, the nervous laughter from the crowd?
C'mon - you know that kid has just hit some home truths that's all.
oh brother... I just finally watched the entire video. Anyone commenting about his "atheism" is an IDIOT. He's not atheist... he's agnostic. He's asking questions about God... not claiming that God does not exist.
The rabbi was not seething, people were not mortified... it's just some 13 year old kid going through the normal process of life and wondering if "god" really exists and feeling free to express it to his religious community... he's asking for answers and reaching out to people by presenting this doubt and questions... this is exactly what his community is there for, to help him get those questions answered.
So you feel relieved that a 13 year old boy did not tell you there is no god?
Now I am 42 and I tell you there is no god. He is well on the way of understanding that religions are an outdated artifact that make no sense in a modern society. And he made a point that most religious people don't get: You don't need a religion to be a moral and social person, actually quite often religion is hampering in this regard.
"he's agnostic. He's asking questions about God... not claiming that God does not exist.he's asking for answers and reaching out to people by presenting this doubt and questions... this is exactly what his community is there for, to help him get those questions answered"
Yes my friend, he is asking questions, because he is not a committed Jew. That is good. He should question everything.
However, he should not be able to go through with his Bar Mitzvah if he has not resolved these questions and become a completely committed Jew. He does not deserve to be a member of the Jewish faith at this point. Let him struggle until he figures out things. Don't go through with the ceremony. Some people are just not mature enough. He clearly is not.
Yeah but his parents laid out a shit load of money to make that Bar Mitzvah go with a bang so it happened and he is now a committed Jew. No doubt it was assumed throughout his life that he would be.
These assumptions were made on his behalf by his parents and community from the day he was born. He has every right to question them and shows his maturity in doing so. He hardly ranted and raved' it was even keeled, showed thoughtful humour but didn't denigrate
"He does not deserve to be a member of the Jewish faith"
WTF? Of course he does. Doesn't God love everyone? That's the message that all God botherers shove down our throats.
His questions went unanswered by the Rabi who simply made some comment about 'discourse' and then went on to thank God for this day.
I would much prefer that people of religious persuasion were like this than fire and brimstone types for whom all others are infidels or unbelievers fit only for death
Agreed, spending a shit load of money doesn't mean much other than if you'd read the remainder of my post you might have seen a slightly bigger point.
The parents and the religion into which he was born made assumptions about his adherence and belief in his religion, hence he was at his own Bar Mitzvah.
He simply questioned those assumptions.
What is your point?
Or do you believe that someone who purports to be 'religious' should be so with blind, unquestioning faith?
"...and then blindly believe it. Unquestioningly. "
Believe what? That there is a God? That's a little item that you figure our BEFORE you join. You don't join the Jewish faith if you don't believe in God.
Why not? Many people claim to fall within certain religions because of family history and and the assumptions made about them by their families.
They may not necessarily 'believe' to any great degree. It is just that this is what is expected of them. I'm neither for or against this, it's simply a fact - many white westerners would say they are 'Christians' without ever having set foot in a church, nor having any great belief in a deity
I guess what I'm trying to say is that he hasn't completely left out rational thought whilst making his choice to join the faith. He HAS chosen to join after all (all likelihood of family assumptions and pressure aside).
Us arguing the whys and wherefore's in this instance won't change that and nor will we really know. All I am saying is that I feel he explained WHY he questioned things and outlined his personal feelings on the matter in a far more mature manner than his age would suggest.
He also gave his own very human interpretation of how he felt he should conduct himself within the confines of his religion.
It was hardly like he was turning his back on God, it seemed to me he was more attempting to define how he would live with his faith without becoming a sheep to it.
Now if you are arguing that he should not be ALLOWED into Judaism because of what he said in his speech then that smacks of exclusion on the basis of personal, individual thought.
That suggests to me that you would prefer him compliantly blind and unquestioningly faithful; in other words removing his right to individuality
Mother Teresa frequently questioned the existence of God - would you argue she should have been excommunicated from the Church?
In keeping with the apparant time-honored tradition of many, if not most, Glumbertarians I'd like to make a comment which has absolutely NOTHING to do with this Jewish kid and this video clip:
Today, 5 March 2008, marks the end of an era. Today ..... (deep breath) ..... my child support payments officially end after 20 long, long, difficult years. Yes, I am approx. $200,000 poorer, but am I a richer man? Ummm...... in a word, no. It seems to me that I am the only person -- the only one I know for sure -- who actually does (DID!) pay child suport. I married a woman with two young children. Her ex-husband was in the Air Force, as was I. I paid $800 per month to my ex-wife. He paid nothing to his. My wife even went so far as to send him a notarized letter stating she did not WANT his money!! Arrghhhh! Yet when we separated she sure did want mine. I ended up paying support for all of them and, when it became court-ordered, the 10 G's I had already given her were not counted! They put me down as $7,500 in "arrears"! This system sucks.
Now I am on friendly terms with a young woman with a 2 yr old daughter. She is like my own as I've been there since her birth. The baby's father came into some money, a settlement from a medical malpractice suit. He took the money and bought a new truck ($27,000 cash!), new furniture, a very large plasma TV, an HD DVD player, etc. He paid off his credit cards, "loaned" $7,000 to his friends (more like gave it to them as not one has repaid a cent), and recently took a 10 day vacation to Cancun. How much child supprt has he paid? Nothing. Not a penny. I've been paying her rent and buying things for her daughter.
I'm venting. Thank you. I feel much better, probably thanks to the pain meds I'm taking. Bad shoulder, really, not for fun.
And lastly -- although my support "officially" ends today, it won't end for at least another 4 years. I told my youngest, 18 today, that if he got a scholarship to college I would give him a grand per month to live on. Darned if he didn't go and do it! Full ride to USF in Tampa. Oh, well, that's a good thing.
Thanks for letting me blow off steam. To those of you who do not pay child support: I hate you!
On the vid.......Doesn't the boy say that he got permission from the person who tutors him before the ceremony? Twice I believe.
I hope my children are this bright at 12 and 13..........
Yes they are. This is why parents should be more "on top" of what their children are doing. Children, especially teenagers, still have the same impulses and consequence-numbing hormones they've always had. Technology and sub-genius brain activity can be good and bad, bad if the parents aren't paying attention.
i believe you mudpuppy are the only poster who really understands what happened in the video.....it is not about religion, it is about a little brat showing everyone at his "manhood ceremony" that he still is a little brat.
So sons of Israel, y'all think this is so funny?
The parents need a swift kick in the ass to allowing this...and the rabbi needs to desist as rabbi. He is NOT worthy of that title.
I am in conversion class and crap like this is not encouraging.
WAKE UP ISRAEL... THERE IS "A GOD" and HE WILL JUDGE THIS SHIT.
You are Jews by tradition, but your hearts are far away from Hashem, our Redeemer!
Please STOP living under Talmud...start reading the BIBLE and discover who our GOD is...HE cannot be defined by puny men and bankrupted brains.
For all y'all who believe the Bible, old testament, new testament, the Koran or any other mono-theistic religion... check out the 1st part of this movie. It's very interesting. The 2nd and 3rd parts are something else entirely... basically the conspiracy theorists manifesto... but I found their expose on religion quite interesting.
I've often asked myself... who REALLY wrote that book?
And the audio quote from George Carlin they give at the beginning is RIGHT ON.
This kind of speech is *allowed* among Jews. That it isn't among Christians, and so many people posting think the kids parents should punish them for asking questions, or just questioning, never mind saying it in public, shows a profound lack of understanding of what the original Xian religion, on which both Christianity and Islam where basically founded, allows. It *also* says a great deal about why **some** Christians, who always babble about respect, freedom of expression and acceptance, respect nothing, hold no freedom valid that doesn't reflect their own, and are not even open to questioning the assertions of their church leaders about who, what, or why certain things are not acceptable. If moderate Christians think this kids actions are unacceptable, radicals and fundamentalists must suffer heart failure at the idea that this sort of thing might happen some place...
Judaism is the most racist religion in the world! Do your research and find out want Judaism is all about. For instance watch this video before it is censored.
Thirty years ago I married a man who maintained that he had doubts of that there was a God. My husband was a very good man. He was very kind, considerate and very intelligent. As a Catholic I worried that not believing would have him go to hell and I kept telling him so.
Two months ago, February 13, 2008 he died suddenly. On February 19th we viewed his body. To our surprise he died smiling. He laid there with a large grin. It had become obvious he had encountered something very beautiful at the time of death. The writing on his face said "God" all over it. Although I am going through terrible at this time, I am relieved that God saved my husband's soul. Because he was a good, moral man.
I think it's great that the Jewish community is able to understand that the normal questioning that goes through the development of one's faith. I find it sad that some people see questioning faith as bad or evil; perhaps it just reminds them that they don't have all the answers either. How is it possible to understand if you don't ask questions?
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