Renunciation

 Much as I do not ascribe to a central tenet of Christianity, that someone besides G-d was also G-d -

- at heart I am at least as much a Christian as a Jew. More so, since while I was never a bona fide (Rabbinical) Jew, I once was a bona fide Christian. Christian concepts work their way into my thinking all the time, for which I have to go back to the Tanakh sometimes and sort out how much they are justified based on it.

Renunciation of the World, in the sense that it is a concept in the writings of St. John, does not have an exact translation into the terms of the Tanakh. The best and most evocative parallel in the Tanakh is circumcision, both literal and metaphorical. In Leviticus, Jeremiah and Ezekiel it speaks of uncircumcised hearts, which is the most relevant form of uncircumcision. Your willingness to deal with the physical issue is merely a token of your willingness to deal with the spiritual issue.

What does circumcision symbolize? That you are willing to part with something near and dear (albeit useless) and endure pain, for the sake of G-d. For the sake of holiness. The visible passes away in a flash of steel and blood: the invisible is affirmed. Of course for most people that decision is taken at an age when you have no involvement in whether you are circumcised or not; but as with many things in Judaism physical circumcision is a pact the community and family makes, not just the individual. Long story short, St. John's "do not love the world" does not translate perfectly into Jewish, but there are connections.

Complicating matters further is that Judaism as it originally existed was in many ways legitimately a warlike and confrontational religion, while Christianity (originally) is not. On this topic the child is not very much like its parent. Judaism's response to evil is "sweep out the evil from among you." Capital punishment, albeit with an early form of due process, is a frequent response to evil within, whereas absolute destruction is the usual response to evil outside the community (the Canaanites.) Christianity says "turn the other cheek" and "do not resist an evil person."

Paradoxically it seems rather hard to renounce the "World" while you are making war on it. We find it much harder to synthesize godliness AND violence than perhaps Joshua and the Judges did. There is no doubt however that according to the Tanakh, people like Joshua were able to harmonize both godliness and ultraviolence somehow. Better men than you and me, perhaps.

There is some debate about the degree to which Christianity is a "world-denying" religion, or a religion which tends to think of the world as evil. I would say there is a bit of both: the physical world itself is good or at least originally good: the powers of the "World" are evil. The real neutral or originally benevolent world is a stage on which "The World" plays itself out, powers of spiritual darkness in high places. There is less debate about Judaism: Judaism seems to say eat, drink, have sex, enjoy yourself but keep the law and love G-d.

Of course, those things can come into conflict. Perhaps good food, wine, women and jollity are not bad in themselves, but love of the same can lead you astray.

I have to confess though, I am very sympathetic to St. John's more ascetic worldview. This topic arises for me because while I was out and about today in the "World" (physical and otherwise,) quotes from the New Testament came to mind repeatedly. This presents a problem in that I don't believe any man was ever G-d and so the NT, in so far as it asserts that a man was G-d, is not scripture for me. I feel myself pulled however towards John's gospel; perhaps that is a symptom of weakness rather than wisdom, but it is there nonetheless. I would like to check out of the whole ball game honestly. Stop posting confrontational content online, stop getting in debates with and trying to pwn the libs (who are genuinely lost in evil, but I'm not going to save them,) stop fighting the "World" at all. Attend to the Kingdom within.

Resign from "The World." Stop fighting it and focus on the only thing I can change. Me.


"Be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves." 
~ Matthew 10:16


Joshua, Elijah, King Josiah and many others in the Tanakh, even Moses, were not at all harmless! They didn't hesitate to kill a b*tch, more frequently than most men. In fact, Moses starts out the story of Exodus killing a dude, the Egyptian. Terminate, with extreme prejudice.

They were ass-kickers. Judaism, is an ass-kicking religion, a fact that has tended to fade from view as the Hebrews sadly got their own behinds booted on repeatedly since Biblical times.

This is not a resolvable conflict. Either the Tanakh is right, or the New Testament is. Christians all the time state that Christianity is not a pacifistic religion, but they state that on the basis of the Tanakh, which is scripture for them too. If you take what Jesus literally says as primary, ignoring the Tanakh, it absolutely is a pacifistic religion. "Don't resist an evil person," how do you reason your way out of that? Turn the other cheek. "If someone takes away your shirt, give them your coat as well."

Christianity and Judaism cannot be easily reconciled on this, and that is a real problem for me because right now I am uncharacteristically feeling more on Jesus' side. Maybe that will pass, maybe this is as I suggested previously, a moment of weakness. I am feeling fatigued from constantly being in inward and outward turmoil against the evil of this world. 

It is no coincidence however that the same Jesus who said "do not resist an evil person" also said "take up your cross." The one follows kind of logically from the other. If you do not comply with the World and do not resist the World either, you can find yourself a lamb to the slaughter. It was no coincidence they crucified the man. If you renounce and hate the World but aren't prepared to make war on it too if need be, you are a crucifixion magnet. If you renounce the World AND are prepared to kill to defend yourself doing it, at least the World's agents will think twice. The World's people are very scared of death. If they are not afraid of you, well, the minions of the World are just creaming themselves thinking of all they could do to you. That is our reality. We are cattle to them, unless we resist them.

How do you inwardly have the heart of Jesus, and outwardly have the heart of Joshua, King Josiah and Elijah? Can you be both? Saint AND warrior? Or is it only Saint OR warrior?

This is the question that haunts me today.


EDIT: And a voice came saying:
"You cannot have the perfect peace you seek on Earth. Only in Heaven."

And so on Earth we can never be altogether done with war, and other strife. However much we wish to be.