Those who are looking for reasons to judge G-d to be cruel according to "modern, conventional morality" (the same morality that has condoned the slaughter of 60 million infants in this country since 1973,) do not have to look very far to find examples in the Tanakh. While G-d very specifically commands that the Israelites during the invasion of Canaan not wage war against any nation that claims descent from Abraham or Lot; for the rest the fate is not so kind. The Israelites are commanded to completely destroy them, every man woman and child, along with their personal possessions and especially any religious idols. They are all basically to be piled in the center of town, the inhabitants along with all their household goods and idols, and burned. How intolerant!
Now as time goes on, things get modified a bit, whether at the command of G-d or more likely despite it. Frequently the Canaanite towns are allowed to surrender and serve as slaves. Arguably it is the self-interest of the Israelites to blame, not the command of G-d, that this is sometimes an option. G-d is pretty unambiguous about the "no prisoners" thing, and constantly warns of the ill consequences of Israelites associating with the Canaanites in any way whatsoever. Total destruction is specified.
However in the Tanakh, G-d does not always delegate mass destruction to His servants. Sometimes He takes action directly. The first and most notable example of this is the destruction of the ante-diluvian world in the Flood. Now you can think what you like about the historicity of such things, but what is undeniable is that the Tanakh SAYS G-d destroyed them. So for the people who are looking for ammunition against the G-d of the Tanakh, grounds for an accusation of cruelty, that is what the Tanakh said He did. We don't know what numbers were involved, but it was clearly depicting a mass death event.
The second most notable example is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or rather the destruction of the whole Dead Sea valley because it was not strictly limited just to those two cities. In terms of total dead, probably 100,000 is not too high a number. And this again was the destruction of every man, woman, child, cow, donkey and chicken. It was a holocaust, which originally meant a burnt offering to G-d to the point of complete destruction.
And again you can argue one way or the other about the historicity of such an event. That's not the point. The point is that the Tanakh says G-D HIMSELF DID IT.
And I am about to argue that this was an act of kindness, a mercy towards humanity. In fact, if you are living in an era where Sodoms and Gomorrahs are NOT destroyed in such a way (as is currently the case,) that this signifies that G-d is really really very very unhappy with Mankind and we should be very very concerned. This is not to say that the Sodoms and Gomorrahs of the 21st Century will not meet destruction: they absolutely will, but through the fruition of their own evil. In other words the full fruit of the wicked cities of America and the world will be allowed to manifest, and that fruit will destroy them. Rather than G-d pruning those branches before they are allowed to fruit.
Evil is incapable of creation and can only destroy in the end. Comparing evil to a virus, the virus of evil eventually destroys the cell that allows it to replicate and so it must find new cells to destroy. America's most wicked cities will eventually lack even the most basic structures that allow them to continue, such as the rule of law and the protection of property and life.
It is a mercy of G-d to clean up Humanity's mistakes for it, and nothing cleans like fire. Like, clearly mistakes were made and G-d is going to clean up that mess for you, Humanity. You get a fresh start, a clean slate. That is in some ways the greatest of mercies: a second chance. Or in this case a third or more chance.
What would have happened if G-d had not destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? What is happening now, to us, today?
Future generations would have been raised completely saturated in evil and abomination. Opportunities for children to grow up to be righteous would have been very slim indeed: in fact without the grace and intervention of G-d there would be no chance of that whatsoever. The evil, the power hunger, the arrogance and the deviance of Man would have grown unbounded, distorting and blaspheming the image of Man who was made in G-d's image. The Devil likes nothing better than to blaspheme G-d by twisting His image into a perversion and a mockery. Those who have eyes to see can already see that happening so clearly. The innocent, those who have not yet seriously sinned, are a special target: either for destruction or for corruption. The Devil kills babies and those who are not killed he makes a special target for moral corruption. We should wish that America's cities be absolutely destroyed rather than for dozens of future generations to live as slaves to wickedness. You may call me evil, and according to "conventional, modern morality" I probably am, but I have often prayed for this. That G-d would give us the kindness that he showed the people of the age of Sodom and wipe out evil from the land. Scourge it from the land with fire. But that seemingly is not what is going on in this era. Evil is going to full flower and fruit.
Death is infinitely preferable to slavery to wickedness. It is infinitely better for the human race to be decontaminated from that evil. It was better for the future generations of Sodom not to be born, than to be born deeply entrenched in spiritual slavery. And that is why the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a blessing: to the rest of the human race that survived, and to the future generations who would now not be born into complete spiritual oppression.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was an event worthy of thanks and praise, not our all-too-human judgments about the "cruelty of G-d." Our hearts should pine and pray for fresh starts, for clean slates, for the mistakes and deliberate evils of humanity to be wiped away from the Earth. For the possibility of children being raised uncorrupted and clean, and old men going to their graves in peace, reconciled to their G-d. Amen.
 | |
| By Daderot - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62711574 |
No comments:
Post a Comment