Religion

/

Health

The God Squad: I am in love with an atheist

Religion / God Squad /

Q: I was raised Catholic, but now I am having a crisis of faith. I don't really know what I believe anymore. I recently started dating a wonderful man, who I believe is the answer to many years of prayer. But I'm struggling with the fact that God sent me an atheist.

He has made me think of things that have shaken my faith. How ...Read more

The God Squad: Protestants versus Catholics on the Eucharist

Religion / God Squad /

Q: Dear Rabbi Gellman, although I don't always agree with your theology, I do find you extremely sincere, as well as charmingly entertaining and patient with the questions people expect you to answer.

I had the pleasure of meeting you and Monsignor Hartman at the Governor's Prayer Breakfast a few years back while escorting a young ...Read more

The God Squad: Why don’t Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah?

Religion / God Squad /

Q: Dear Rabbi Gellman, I read your weekly column in Newsday “faithfully”. I learn so much from you. I am a practicing Roman Catholic and I have many wonderful Jewish friends. My DNA shows that I am 2 percent Ashkenazi (European) Jewish. I am proud of that, especially since I have traveled to Dachau, Prague, Amsterdam, and Budapest. I ...Read more

The God Squad: What does God promise us?

Religion / God Squad /

Q: My friend's husband died in a single-engine plane that crashed into the ocean three years ago. His body was found and she "viewed" it three weeks later. She blames the plane manufacturer for his death. She also does not seem to be making any progress in the grief process.

She seemed to have had the "perfect" marriage (I've only ...Read more

The God Squad: Father Tom on the eight-year anniversary of his death

Religion / God Squad /

Q: I love your column and read it every Sunday. I also clip a lot of them and have some in a folder and some on the desk. Today, I sat at the desk in my office at home. I was going through stuff on my desk when I came across an article from March 2006 with you and Father Tom in it. You were discussing why bad things happen to good...Read more

The God Squad: Genesis 1 and 2

Religion / God Squad /

Q: The "God Squad" column has meant so much to me through the years. The way you clearly address the thorniest questions is so helpful! I would appreciate your insight on a few questions that I have about the creation story. In Genesis 1 and 2 of the Bible there are two different versions of the story. Chapter 1 seems to say that God created...Read more

The God Squad: How do you keep the Sabbath?

Religion / God Squad /

When I asked you, dear readers, in a recent column to share with me the ways you honor the Sabbath Day I was anticipating a flood of responses from orthodox Jewish readers. I was therefore surprised and delighted to receive this extraordinary story of Christian family piety on the Sabbath. What this reveals is that there are many of you who take...Read more

The God Squad: Many paths up the same mountain

Religion / God Squad /

Q: I am a little confused about different religions. I am a Christian, I believe there is one God, and his name is Jesus Christ. (I don't believe in the trinity). Jesus is that one God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob wrapped in flesh. You are a Jew, you believe in one God and his title is Yahweh, or Jehovah, or the I Am. Muslims believe his name...Read more

The God Squad: Resting for God?

Religion / God Squad /

In a column about religion I should be spending more time teaching about what religions believe. I will try to fix that this year.

Q: What, precisely, did God do on the Seventh Day? I like to rest, too, but staring at an empty computer screen all day gets old, at least for me. I am curious. Thank you. – (From J in Cary, North Carolina)...Read more

The God Squad: King and nonviolence

Religion / God Squad /

Holidays are supposed to have rituals and beliefs. Having just traversed the winter religious holidays of Hanukkah and Christmas and the secular holidays of Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day we prepare this coming Monday for a holiday that is not really a holiday and has no agreed upon rituals and that is Martin ...Read more

The God Squad: The spiritual necessity of pets

Religion / God Squad /

Hi, Rabbi Gellman, I just found your old article on losing a pet. All of your articles "speak" to me, but this one touched me deeply. We have lost Franklin, Eleanor, Miss Kitty, Spenser and my love, Teddy. We laugh, we cry remembering our fur babies. Your article was so heartwarming. On this New Year's Eve, I thank you and ...Read more

The God Squad: A cup of kindness: Auld lang syne this year

Religion / God Squad /

My New Year’s prayer for you, dear readers, is a prayer for any year but this one. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza are only the lead prayers in our worldwide litany of woe. Let us agree to gather on New Year’s Eve with hope in our hearts that the year ahead will be kinder to humans on planet earth than the year that has just come to its ...Read more

The God Squad: Emmanuel Christmas blessings from Rabbi Gellman

Religion / God Squad /

As I reminded you on Hanukkah, which has recently passed, our custom as the God Squad during the winter holidays was to trade off writing the column. Tommy would write a Hanukkah greeting and I would write a Christmas greeting. Since Tommy’s death in 2016, I have tried to piece together his notes to me about <...Read more

The God Squad: More on the difference between pain and suffering

Religion / God Squad /

Q: I look forward to reading your column every week and have learned a great deal from you, and for this, I thank you. However, your claim in the Nov. 30 column that suffering "is a choice we make" has left me confused. Your insight is no doubt true for those of us who have enough food and water, clothes, and a home, ...Read more

The God Squad: A Hanukkah gift to God Squad children and grandchildren…

Religion / God Squad /

Sticky Winged Heather

By Marc Gellman

When God made the world God made some rats and the angels said, "Who cares. They’ll be good food for cats."

But when God said, "Rats are not the total plan. Tomorrow I'm gonna make a man." The angels screamed out, "God, what are you, nuts? That man is gonna be a yutz! ...Read more

The God Squad: The difference between pain and suffering

Religion / God Squad /

Q: I think I learn about life and spiritual well-being as I enjoy reading your articles in our local newspaper. I just read your "Honoring the Dead" piece and once again, I was struck by the human suffering and challenges that life presents.

The offering you included in the piece was from H. H mentioned that his father was a ...Read more

The God Squad: Thanksgiving and the posters

Religion / God Squad /

Every Thanksgiving I send you a list of things/people for which/whom I am thankful. The list is always outside of the traditional items like hearth and home. I have given thanks for powerline workers who restore electrical service after storms. I have given thanks for hospice workers who care for the dying in their last days. I ...Read more

 

Comics

Joel Pett Luann Mother Goose & Grimm Mutts Mike Beckom Kirk Walters