Has The Last Hand Grasped The Bat?
When every form of violence and destruction is carried out in the name of one G-d or another it gives us pause as to whether faith in a supernatural entity can put us in a superior moral position. The secular seem to have a much better track record as to the score card but if abortion is murder then the balance shifts as to carnage and if the pillage of planetary resources are counted as unwarranted destruction the scale must be radically re-calibrated.
(Note: I personally hate to read articles that come down firmly on both sides of an issue. So I can promise to you, dear reader, this exploration of deism vs. deism vs. secularism will not.)
We find ourselves today in a world of tumultuous change. The very founding principles we held as unassailable seem to be shaking. We in the western Judaeo-Christian world have over time developed a pluralistic/secular form of government. We have seen religion as quite apart from politics. What a person believed or didn’t believe was between him and what ever G-d he chose or did not choose to serve. We were tolerant of abortion, seeing it as choice while at the same time we would accommodate the occasional uninvited door step preacher. In that world a porno palace and gothic cathedrals co-existed separate but equal for Good men looked the other way, after all your right to do violence ended at the beginning of my nose. The odd Stoic among us had their right to exist as long as they did not interfere with the hedonistic pursuits of their neighbor. Although some of these argued, the government had the duty to save men from themselves and we should quickly re-institute prohibition and then drastically increase those ‘heinous sins’ it quarantined. In the mind of the Stoic Ideologue government’s mandate is to demand and enforce morality. Most, happily, saw the trap this would trigger and realized less government means more freedom while more begs despotism.
But meanwhile in the Islamic world this restrictive model is seen as blessed by their Allah, while blindness toward evil is to them, the very epitome of evil. This is the real argument between the combatants now locked in this mortal conflict. Do you want some one else’s g-d enforcing a particular morality on you and your family?
Isn’t it just as critical, what G-d we serve as it is deism vs. secularism. Many who think themselves secular are secretly deist. The G-ds they serve may be blind evolution, dialectic materialism or hedonism for that matter. Most adherents to these g-ds build universities or nations instead of cathedrals but they are no less dangerous. The next time you listen to a humanist, see how much of his doctrine is built on faith. Notice that time is the Gregorian chant of the evolutionist, while the Marxist dirge drones ethereally of labor. While the siren psalm of Humanists flaunt loves passion as the essence and the glory of man, they then errantly hold that man is ultimately perfectible. The ‘never met a spotted mud sucker I didn’t like’ crowd may say ‘trees are people too’ and tell you can’t clear brush on your property or others may proclaim, if any plant can be used as a recreational drug it is contraband and if a seed of this evil plant is found in your possession the constabulary can automatically confiscate all your assets and put you on trial for crimes against the state.
We here at the bet have been relieved of this form of ‘new orthodoxy’ having had two rounds of the ‘gone to pot’ argument. We see this Theocracy as something that only can be properly run by YHWH Himself. Until the coming of His Kingdom we have no right to rule. We are ruled by His laws and cannot dictate what others out side our limited jurisdiction can or cannot do.
May we now swiftly flounder this seemingly stately ship of secularism. The very concept of indifference to religious considerations in affairs of state constitute an intrinsically amoral structure which is by its nature with out jurisdictional authorization. Such a government is constructed on an assumption of right and is nothing more than a legal fiction, whose power is at best both temporal and fraudulent. So much for these unfounded idealists then.
Now to the hard part, what side are we at Qumran Bet on? To say neither would be an over simplification. We feel that a government that is openly tolerant of many points of view is the better choice. Now we must question whether we have the G-d given right to make a choice?
So now you may begin to see the clear answer. We at the bet believe we are, in truth, citizens of His Kingdom and He is our only sovereign and we serve only the One YHWH because we have no capacity for double allegiance, seeing the serving of two masters as mutually destructive. So we are confined to our jurisdiction which is family and those who wish to be a part of our family. As to those who are related by blood and wish to take another direction and serve others, well, they are no longer a family member. Just as YHWH demands His children obey His house rules we are obliged to act in accordance. What so ever they do or do not do is between them and the one or more they may serve, or not. This same measure is used when we look at the nations. Yes a child of ours may wish to serve a loving, forgiving and generous G-d which would be more to our liking than one who serves only their selfish desires at the expense of any one else. Neither of these wishes to serve YHWH because they would not submit to His will nor ask for the Father’s will be done in them. So with these, just as the rest we wish them no harm but we cannot co-mingle because we are, first and foremost, a set apart people who are governed by YHWH alone.
You see, dear reader, I have kept my promise. Even more, I have stealthily put before you a choice. This is a decision you and only you can make. As for you and your house today, who will you serve?
Josh 24:15
15 But if serving YHWH seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve YHWH."