Thursday, December 31, 2015

An Invitation to a Friendly, Dispassionate Discussion.


I am compelled to write something that may offend a lot of you. I certainly hope not but it is necessary that it be said. Sometimes it is important that we be told not necessarily what we want to hear but what we ought to hear.  I assume that many of you who frequent this site have had mothers who’ve told you what you didn’t necessarily want to hear, like “go to your room” or "wait ‘till your father gets home”, yet as a consequence, you probably turned out relatively well adjusted.  And so, it’s in that spirit that I write what is to follow.




Israel has known a "war on terror" for 68 years now. That war, of course, has waged long before then. The early pre-Israel Palestinian Jews were well aware of that.  The United States just really became conscious of this "war" since 9/11/2001, ‘though the bombing of the marine barracks in Lebanon and the USS Cole were not exactly mere unfortunate accidents.




Many will say that this war is driven by economics, education, etc... Such thoughts are an utter denial of reality. Osama Bin Laden, for instance, was wealthy and well-educated. Jews endured the Pale in Russia where they were poor, beaten, endured many pogroms, but never resorted to violence or terrorism. In fact, the only time that I can recall when we resorted to terrorism within the past 1500 years or so was when we had to fight the British in order obtain a little piece of earth that we could call our own after facing annihilation.




This "war on terror" highlights a reality that we cannot deny or ignore.. The basis for this war is not economics or even culture, but religion.  The entire world is filled with inhabitants influenced to varying degrees by religions and/or philosophies by which we guide our lives.  Some of these world views are extremely presumptuous, such as is the case with Islam which is so arrogantly confident in its own veracity that its adherents are willing to take the lives of others who have a differing opinion.

 


One of my favorite refrains in the synagogue, growing up in Chicago, was found in the Aleynu.  The melody which fit the lyrics, like a glove, is something that I joyfully sing to myself  almost daily even to this day.

 

“Bayom Ha hu, Bayom Ha hu, yi-hi-yeh Adonai echod.  Oo-Sh’mo, oo-Sh’mo, oo-Sh’mo echod.”

 

“On that day (the day when peace reigns on earth) the L-rd shall be one and His Name shall be one”.

 

The refrain of the Aleynu tells me, in practical terms, that the day (or age) marked by peace will be a day when there’s a universal consensus concerning whom G-d is, what He’s like and what He expects from us.  I would go even further and say that each individual living during that time will be able to speak to God in the second person (calling Him "You") just as King David did in the psalms.

 

Isaiah, spoke for G-d when, at the end of the first chapter of his monumental opus, he wrote:

 

“Come, let us reason together, says your God.

Though your sins be like scarlet they shall be as white as snow.

Though they should be like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

 

As I recall, in my freshman logics class in college many (many) years ago, violence was one of the logical fallacies.  In other words, truth cannot be attained via the use of violence.  Hence, if indeed, the god of Islam is an advocate of violence in order to gain “converts”, he is not the same god as the God of the Bible… the God of the Jews and of Israel.  The God of the Bible calls us to reason.  Argue with Him.  Carry on a debate with Him.  He doesn’t mind.  He spent a night wrestling with our father Jacob He’d be delighted in spending a night wrestling (metaphorically or otherwise) with you.


The God of the Bible calls us to reason.  Argue with Him.  Carry on a debate with Him.  He doesn’t mind.

 

And now here’s the “punch line”. .. In 1971 I drew the conclusion that Jesus was, in fact, our Messiah… the Messiah of the Jews.  All too often, when I’ve presented my case, it was met with irrational vitriol marked by fideism.  I believe that we Jews are better than that.  It is assumed that faith is simply something that one believes and does not require logic or rational thought.  I contest, on the contrary, that faith ought to be rationally derived and that G-d, as Isaiah affirms, implores you to come to Him via a rational means. 

 

If the Jewish community simply tacitly rejects Jesus without wrestling with the arguments in favor of His claim to Messiahship, how can we even start to approach this ideal of universal consensus spoken of in the Aleynu?  How will we ever begin to approximate pursuit of this direction of universal peace?






Please feel free to write whatever sincere comments, questions, even objections that you may have in the “comment section” below.  I'll try to correspond with you.


Best regards,





Benyomin

Friday, December 18, 2015

Saudi Millionaire Aquitted of Rape After "Falling onto Sleeping Girl and by Accident" Penetrating Her

Yes, boys and girls... This actually happened!




This 46 year old Saudi Millionaire, wakes up in the middle of the night (after having sex with the woman in his bedroom), offers to give a young 18 year old girl sleeping on his couch, a t-shirt to sleep in or provide a cab for her to get home (he doesn't quite remember which), but in the process of performing his act of gallantry, stumbles, falls, and by accident, his erected penis, of all places, lands inside her vagina! 



What's even more astounding is that he's acquitted in British court.  (The article that I got this story from, a reliable source, which I nevertheless, don't care to link, says that the Judge, during the trial, went off with the defendant behind the courtroom and had a private conversation with him.  Personally, I wonder what happened behind closed doors.)
It's a shame that Sharia law isn't already in place in England.  That way no one would have ever had to go through this bothersome, expensive and worthless trial.  Our Saudi Millionaire never would have had to endure this embarrassment, because the testimony of the young girl never would have carried any weight.  Nor would his actions have actually been seen as a crime.  The girl had been drinking.  She wasn't wearing a hijab (a Muslim woman’s head covering), or better yet, a burka.  The perpetrator could have been honest and simply said that his victim, by virtue of her unconcealed beauty, aroused the lust in him, and being a man, he simply did what men do and raped her.  Now, in light of the reality that, the girl had been doing all the wrong things, she deserves to be stoned to death.  And, of course, a hole in the ground would have been ready and waiting to place her where only her head would be exposed above ground so that she could judiciously receive her punishment for having aroused the lusts of her rapist.
What happened behind closed doors between the judge and the defendant?  One could only speculate.  But this is truly one instance where one has to question whether justice has, indeed been served.  It is easy, in this case, to judge the situation.  Although I was not there, I'm pretty confident that the defendant either slipped the judge a couple of Euros or threatened to have him beheaded if the trial didn't go his way.  It's nice to have power isn't it?  And it's not nice if you don't have power.  Wouldn't you agree?
Allow me, if you will, to contrast the judicial system associated with the true story I just recounted to you, with a different sort of judicial system...  the Law of Moses, to which, it seems, all forms of Christianity have shown disdain as, presumably, a refutation of the grace of God which is to be seen solely through Jesus nowadays.
What most Christians don't quite seem to understand is that the Mosaic Law was never intended as part of a religion, but as a necessary Constitution by which a group of people, a nation as it were, could peaceably and morally be governed.  This system was intended to ensure that justice would truly be meted out fairly.  The rich Saudi Millionaire would be treated with the same consideration as the poor (and admittedly foolish) 18 year old girl.  There would be no way that our defendant could "grease the palms" of the judge.
The old adage "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" is not just a clever saying, it's an axiom.  Judges have a lot of power and if there is nothing to keep it in check, they can become corrupted and pervert justice.  One of the goals of the Mosaic Law was to deprive judges of the perception that they had absolute power.
Central to the Mosaic Law was a sacrificial system.  Animals were burned on an altar to remind the Children of Israel that there was a God to whom one was responsible for one's thoughts, attitudes, words and actions.  Once a year the blood of a bull and the blood of a goat were brought into a pitch black, unlit room called the "Holy of Holies" along with hot, burning coals of incense the cloud from which permeated every corner of the room.  The blood was sprinkled onto a kapporeth (often translated mercy seat) and seven drops of the blood were placed in front of the kapporeth.  The kapporeth was made of pure gold and covered a golden casing which contained three items. The first item was a rod of an almond branch which miraculously budded in spite of the reality that it had been pruned off of its source, and testified to the authenticity of the priesthood of only one particular individual who had been designated to be priest by God... a man by the name of Aaron.  The second item was a golden jar of manna... a food substance that, miraculously remained fresh and preserved inside the ark and which had fallen from the sky in order to feed the children of Israel while they wandered forty years in the wilderness. The third item was the two stone tablets of the law of God... the Ten Commandments.  The first three commandments were to reflect man's relationship to God and the last seven commandments were to reflect men's relationships to one another.
The blood of the animals indicated that something or someone had to die because of the offenses of the people who invariably failed to keep the law that was inside that arc.  Seated upon the kapporeth sat the invisible, all knowing, all seeing creator and ultimate judge of the universe who sees and knows the hearts, thoughts, deeds, and attitudes of all men throughout time.  And of course, this God is not just limited to a little vacant room, but this room of which we speak, is really a replication of a "room" that exists in some other “spiritual” dimension outside the vast universe as we know it.  This room exists infinitely beyond human experience or perception.
Only the blood of those two animals assuaged the wrath of this God who's law, as was  symbolized by the contents in the arc, was constantly and invariably broken by men.
When it came to judicial matters, applying the "nuts and bolts" to maintaining law and order in a society, judges were assigned to decide matters between disputing parties.  Moses gave these judges strict orders... 
 "You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly."
Leviticus 19:15
The words of Moses were simple and straight forward but the Judge who was assigned to his post was not simply assigned to a position of honor.  He was assigned a sacred task... to dispense justice knowing that there was a God who was aware of how he was performing his task and that he would be held accountable eventually at one time or another, in this life or in the next, for how he'd performed his duties.  He was to be reminded that he did not hold absolute power but that the God, his creator, was the one with the absolute power.
And so, my friends, as long as people believe that there is no God, we shall see a continued deterioration of society.  As long as people believe in the wrong God, that deterioration will also happen and at an even greater pace! 
I feel quite confident that eventually the world will fall into such a level of depravity, lawlessness and evil, where justice is virtually non-existent, that the blood in front of that arc, which really was a foreshadowing of the blood of Jesus who died on a cross, will no longer restrain the rage of the invisible God who knows all, sees all and is the final judge of all things. 
The judge and the defendant, as well as the plaintiff in our little vignette will each one day, have a firsthand experience with perfectly meted out justice.  And I assure you, none of them will like it.

What about you?  How do you stand in the sight of the One who sits on the kapporeth?  Maybe you've not done anything nearly as bad as the players in our present day news story.  Maybe you’ve done worse.  But have you gone through your days doing things and carrying on in a manner that's oblivious to that one who sits on that kapporeth?  Have you said to yourself “Even if He did exist, He doesn’t see what I do”? God tells you to repent.  Give your life to Him.  That blood before the arc?  That was a look ahead to the blood of Jesus which stayed the wrath of the living God for the breaking of His law.  Apply that blood to your life, make amends, where you can, for what you've done, and seek to serve the true God of both love and mercy and yet justice.  He will forgive you and He will give you a fresh start.
My very best to you.

           Benyomin












Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Syrian Immigration – A Prelude to a Disaster of Biblical Proportions


In 2008, the mantra of the political left was “if you do not vote for Barak Obama for President you are a racist”.   I’d venture that many Americans didn’t want to be called racist so they voted for Barak Obama.  Of course history has it that Mr. Obama was elected.  America had proved, at least in a superficial fashion, that it wasn’t racist.  It had elected a black President.

However it seems that Americans are still racist”.  The man whom they’d elected is calling them racist.  “In spite of the fact that you’d voted for me, if you don’t receive refugees from Syria you’re still racist” he declares.

Mr. Obama’s appeal to the guilt ridden “racist” left, as farfetched as this may sound, is, in my humble opinion, prelude to the greatest holocaust in human history and here’s why I say so.

First of all, allow me to examine the rationale behind the receiving of Syrian refugees:  At face value it seems like the compassionate thing to do.  “People who are destitute… whose lives are in danger, are being rescued.”  That sounds good, altruistic and loving but it is the very antithesis. 

a.       It seems that the people who are willing to bring the refugees in are willing to risk the associated dangers which is fine, but they neglect the reality that they’re willing to risk the danger of fellow Americans in the process.

b.      It seems that they also have a sense of justification for this risk because those who don’t want to risk this danger can be labeled as “cowards”, “Islamophobes”, and “racists”, and therefore, are deserving of the consequences of their “heartless,” fearful” and “hateful” attitudes.  Thus, in reality, it is they who are passing judgment on others.

c.       They risk the lives and safety of their own sons and daughters and replace that for the alleged well-being of others.  Such a decision causes one to doubt whether they really love their own sons and daughters at all. This will become more evident as I continue.

Secondly, bringing Syrian refugees onto American soil is irrational.  It does not solve the problem as to why there are Syrian refugees in the first place.  Syrian refugees, like any other refugee, are refugees fleeing to the West and the United States in particular because in one way or another, life is better in the West and in the United States than it is in Syria.   In a previous essay, I outlined four ways for solving a refugee problem.

a.       The first was to not let anyone in, and build border fences so as to prevent people from coming in who’ve not been thoroughly vetted particularly through the naturalization process.  This lacks desirability simply because it returns the refugees back to the allegedly horrid circumstances from which they’re fleeing.

b.      The second remedy for this problem is the most desirable and gets to the heart of the reason for the refugee problem in the first place.    I confess, however that there’s a major problem with the remedy that I propose.  It’s not going to happen! 

In essence, this remedy is built upon the rather obvious premise that the refugee problem exists because there’s some evil which makes life miserable for those refugees.  We know that in the situation at hand, Syria is dominated by a dictator by the name of Bashar Al Asad.  He’s trying to hold onto his power and has therefore, resorted to violence so as to repel anyone or any entity that would seek his overthrow.  The resulting civil war has turned into a blood bath which is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands already.  As evil as Mr. Asad is, it seems that his opposition is even more evil.  ISIS is already known far and wide for its cruelty.  So it seems that not too many parties within the boundaries of Syria are particularly nice people.

The most desirable remedy to our problem, however, is that Mr. Asad put down his arms, sing cumbaya with his enemies, all parties involved, including ISIS, shake hands with one another, make peace, set up mutually agreeable boundaries and have the refugees return to Syria which would then be called “Happy Land” (in Arabic of course).  I think you see why this will not happen.

c.       The third remedy would be to obliterate those belligerents who won’t make peace with one another in accordance with the above remedy, and b y so doing, get rid of those who are making life unbearable for the immigrants.   Safe places can be established for the immigrants within their homeland, buttressed by international “Peace Keepers” while the belligerents are blown to smithereens.  Once that’s accomplished the refugees can live in peace in the land of their birth (assuming that there aren’t clandestine belligerents already in the midst of the refugees).

d.      The fourth remedy is to bring the refugees in and hold out the welcome mat.  That, it seems, is the tact that the Obama Administration has taken.  The refugees come in.  They introduce the actualization of multiculturalism to the American and Western way of life and because of the resulting clash of incompatible cultures, a sort of homeostasis takes place in which life in the United States become as intolerable as life in Syria.  Hence, refugees will no longer want to come in.  That will most certainly end the influx of further immigration!   In essence, terrorist instigated violence will erupt, and law enforcement and domestic related military intervention becomes necessary to diminish the violence which will, nevertheless become greater in frequency because of the inadequacy of law enforcement to cover all eventualities.  The only possible outcomes will either be civil war temporarily delayed by peace keeping militia” or a police state with loss of liberties accompanied by occasional or perhaps even frequent acts of violence.  It seems likely that the former will morph into the latter. This is destined to become the natural universal outcome everywhere on our planet which all of us allegedly call home.  In essence, it will grow to be a less and less comfortable home in which to live with time except for those who reside at the top of the political spectrum.

Thirdly – How do I know that the fourth remedy will be as disastrous as I predict?

a.       It is already documented that a vast plurality of Syrian refugees are men of combat age.  Apparently they’d left the women and children behind to fight ISIS which, it seems, at least to me, is not exactly the manly thing to do. Besides, it’s already been shown that women have served as terrorists as well.  Furthermore, there is absolutely no way that these “refugees” can be adequately vetted because there’s no way that customs officials are sufficiently trained (let alone psychiatrists) to read people’s minds.

b.      The incidences in Europe, of refugee instigated terror attacks, including beheadings, mass murders rapes, especially of young, virgin girls as well as their enslavement, and other atrocities has risen exponentially since the influx of these refugees has begun.

c.       Muslims do not have a history of assimilating into western culture.  To a very high degree, Muslims have displayed a disdain for western law and particularly secularization.

d.      And how can I assume that almost every refugee which has shown up on Western shores is a Muslim?  It’s been documented that boats of refugees that have arrived on the north side of the Mediterranean had thrown Christians overboard prior to their arrival onto Western shores.  No such behavior has been documented to have occurred at the hands of Christians.
e.      In light of the reality that the vast majority (if not all) of this influx of refugees is Muslim, and in light of the reality that a large plurality of these refugees are men, it’s easy to presume that a many of these refugees do not have a benevolent attitudw towards their well meaning western hosts.  Islam is a world view bent on world domination and the establishment of Sharia law all around the globe.   It is naïve to think that Muslims think like western folk.  They don’t.  Islam offers no rights for women.   Islam allows for polygamy, and the most radical/religious/orthodox among them provide loopholes in their interpretation of Sharia law which allow for homosexuality and bestiality.   Women are covered up, not because it is an indication of piety and modesty, but because the men don’t have the self-control to reign in their lusts and passions.  Hence, the incidences of rape in Europe are skyrocketing because the life-style of young Western women and girls does not require the sort of attire demanded by Sharia law.  Furthermore the one doing the raping blames the victim for wearing her comparatively skimpy attire.

f.        But this is not the only way that Muslims think differently than people in the West.  The word “Islam” means “submission”.  To the Muslim mind, Muslims are expendable.   The only thing that counts is the expansion of Islam.  Out of servitude, therefore, the truly devout Muslim will offer up his life for the cause.  Why else is there this enormous prevalence of suicide bombings?  Like ants that sacrifice themselves to make bridges by which armies of ants can cross a stream, Muslims are sacrificing themselves to cross the Mediterranean to get into Europe.  Already many have died, but that’s OK as far as Islam is concerned.  They’ve died as martyrs.  Their deaths prick the conscience of the compassionate but misguided West.  This tact is also useful in garnering anti-Israel sympathy.  No life means anything to Islam and so Palestinians, whether willingly, or otherwise, are placed in harm’s way so that they’re either maimed or killed by an Israeli ordinate and by so doing serve as nice photo-ops for appearing on CNN or some tabloid, thus garnering sympathy for the cause.

g.       Ultimately Jihad requires either the subjugation of non-Muslims or preferably their deaths.  What ISIS does to the Christians and Yazids in Iraq and Syria it will surely do to the people of the West.  Armies won’t stop them because they will be among the people of Europe and America.  They will each have a face.

h.      Islam in its fundamental, unbridled form, appeals to the most base of human instincts… sex, self-indulgence, power and sadism.  The accompanying behaviors associated with these instincts are hidden in the West only because such behaviors would give Islam a bad name.  In Islamic countries, however, these behaviors run rampant.

A book authored by William Golding in 1954, entitled “Lord of the Flies” depicts the gradual moral and behavioral decay of a group of boys stranded on a desert island who are unbridled by Law.  They begin to indulge in cultic practices until finally they kill the most likeable among them.   This book is really nothing more than a depiction of what is common in the gang community where gang members join as a result of deprivation particularly of paternal love and instruction.  They have their own set of laws.  Gangs are a microcosm of Islam… which may just as well be likened to a giant gang filled with initiation rites.  Initiation into the gang requires some sort of evidence of loyalty.  As gang members get initiated by killing some other gang member or robbing some old lady on the street, so,  Muslims will be required to kill some Muslim of a different (wrong believing) sect, or some unbeliever as proof of his or her loyalty.  Why else, do you see evidence in the news of ISIS killing other Muslims for not being “real” Muslims?  Just like in the case with gangs, leaving the gang can mean death, so, in Islam, leaving Islam is literally punishable by death.

To him whom we would call the “radical Muslim”, Islam makes perfect sense.  It appeals to the most basic of human instincts!  It is assumed that man was made that way.  This way of thinking will not be stopped with armies and, in light of the “end game” resulting from the homeostasis approach to the immigration problem mentioned above, the “bad guys” in Syria will win.  They allegedly get rid of the people that they don’t want and foist those individuals on the people of the unsuspecting West.   Evil wins because the West is confronted with lawlessness, anarchy and an unconfined “gang-like”/self-indulgent and sadistic mentality in its midst under the guise of “religion”.

So what is the true solution to the immigration problem?  The only genuine solution to the immigration problem is the 2nd remedy mentioned above.  But that remedy runs counter to human nature.  Rather than giving in to the self-preservation and sadistic instincts found in Asad and ISIS and others, these instincts need to be replaced by selflessness, compassion, humility and benevolence…traits that run counter to human nature and yet embody nobility and strength of character.   These are traits that are only to be found in their fullness and perfection in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish Messiah.

Our politicians have done a great disservice to the one’s they allegedly serve.  They attribute credibility to a world view that is thoroughly sadistic and destructive.  Its only rationales for credibility are that it has the moniker of “religion”, it expands its domain not through reason but through violence, and a façade of religiosity covers the reality that it is unloving and lawless.

And what feeds into this “creeping Jihad” that would vote a politician into office who would open the flood gates for the entrance of this cancer into the midst of the West?  Simply put, it’s moral relativism. 

The people of the West have determined that it is better for a woman to be lascivious, and kill a baby because nurturing that baby is too big of a responsibility and denies her of her freedom.

The people of the West have determined that it is better for a man to “be free” rather than assume the responsibility of protecting and nurturing the woman he’s “screwed”, and the child he’d created.

The people of the West have determined that ”freedom” is synonymous with the term, “license”.  Abandoning a spouse contrary to the vows of fidelity which one has taken is OK because it means “freedom”.   Indulging in sexual behaviors contrary to the way in which one was designed by his Creator, which, by the way, do coincide with the laws of nature (as opposed to the laws of human nature) is not only acceptable but rewarded as “brave”.

The people of the West have determined that cheating (whether it is in sports, tests in school, finances or any other field) is OK because they’ve determined that success, wealth and reputation are more important than honesty, transparency, humility and a clear conscience before a God whom they prefer not to exist because their lifestyle could not endure His scrutiny.

The moral relativism of the Western mind can no longer discern between good and evil.  It can only see the “color of one’s skin”.  It does not see the “content of one’s character”. 

The American people have replaced the morally pure, righteous and, dare I say holy, Jesus, with the morally relativistic self-indulgent and arrogant Barak Obama who is in the process of opening the floodgates of the West to people who own a world view that is fundamentally cruel and sadistic. 

The liberal of the West attempts to assuage his guilt of self-indulgence and lawlessness by offering asylum to those whom he assumes to be in need.  But he lets the bad guys win and ultimately offers asylum to those who will execute his own demise.

And so I hold that this immigration policy promulgated by Barak Husein Obama, if enacted, will bring the world to the edge of the greatest bloodbath it has ever known.