The things we do for God, or imagine that we do for God, or do for an imagined God -- it doesn't matter which, since it's largely the same thing -- range from the very best things in the world to the very worst. In study after study, we learn that people of faith are more likely to donate their time and money than their non-believer counterparts, and that when they do, the amount donated is more likely to be a larger portion of the whole. And in just as many studies, we learn that individuals who identify strongly with a particular faith are more likely to fear and mistrust those who are not like them.
Like any powerful tool, faith can help us to build our world or destroy it. The issue is not whether we have faith, but how we use whatever faith we possess. And the most effective remedies to the excesses and damage done in the name of God are found within the traditions themselves. If they cannot be found from within, then it's time for that tradition to go.
Perhaps it's because of where we are in the cycle of weekly Torah readings, or perhaps it's because a day doesn't go by without stories of religious zealotry making the news. More than likely, for me at least, it's the combination of the two. The biblical story of Pinchas challenges us to recognize the seduction of religious zeal, reminding us that there are limits when it comes to acting on what we think of as God's behalf.
And it's the things we do for God that are the most dangerously seductive. When we act out of whatever we consider to be base impulses -- hate, greed, ego, etc. -- we eventually either satisfy the urge or feel sufficiently guilty to stop. But when "God wills it," it's amazing how easy it is to justify pressing on with even the most ugly behavior. After all, the underlying logic goes: we are not acting for ourselves, but for God. Enter Pinchas.
The Israelites, according to Numbers 25, were camped at Shittim when the people began "profaning themselves" by having illicit sex with the local Moabites. One of the men, Zimri, appears to have made a public spectacle of himself with a Moabite woman named Kozbi. A priest named Pinchas, grandson of the first High Priest Aaron, and grand-nephew of Moses, took a spear and impaled them on the spot. Result? God blesses Pinchas.
What at first appears to be a happy ending to the story turns out to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of religious zeal. Pinchas is indeed blessed by God, but the blessing reflects both what's missing in Pinchas and the fact that zealots such as he should spend their time removed from the daily life of normal people.
Pinchas is blessed with divine peace, clearly something which neither he nor any religious zealot possess, no matter how much they may say otherwise. Pinchas is filled with rage, and the fact that he believes it to be sacred doesn't make it any less problematic to God (often rage-filled Himself), who confers a corrective blessing which would diminish it.
In addition to the blessing of divine peace, Pinchas and his descendants are guaranteed that they will be priests -- people who serve in the ideal and disconnected world of the Tabernacle and later, the Temple. While that ideal may be beautiful -- a place of soft music, gentle prayer and sweet incense, no illness, human suffering or death (animal sacrifice too, but 2,000 years ago that would have been experienced positively, by the people, if not the animals) -- the Temple was also a place of rigid rules and the total domination of the ideal over the real. In other words, a zealot's dream come true, in which no violations were acceptable and any that occurred, required and swift and automatic ritual corrective.
The Temple was to reality what Disneyland is to six-year-olds: a place where their most deeply-held wishes and dreams were fulfilled, if only for a while. And just as Disneyland, and places like it, play an important role in nurturing children's sense of possibility, the Temple did the same for the Israelites.
But anyone who needs to spend their whole life at either Disneyland or the Temple has a problem. The problem? Not distinguishing between the real and the ideal, not accepting that life is about maintaining a healthy tension between the two. That is the problem of all zealots, Pinchas included, and why he was assigned to Tabernacle/Temple service for the rest of his life.
As Mick Jagger taught, if we are lucky, we get what we need. The same can be said of divine blessings. Pinchas' was given the inner peace needed to resist his own religious zealotry and a safe place to go when that same zeal needed to be expressed.
May none of us be zealots. But if zealots there will be, let them find this same blessing and let us find the strength to help them to do so.
Follow Brad Hirschfield on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bradhirschfield
David Shasha: Israel's Sephardic-Ashkenazi Rift: The Shas Paradox
Extremism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore BE ZEALOUS and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"
- Jesus Christ (Rev. 14-22)
If you read though the gospels its hard to see Jesus himself as anything less than a passionate and zealous fundamentalist. He's our role model right?
Often times the forces of Religiosity will merely invoke "belief" as an attempt to shut down debate. They are wrong and should be informed no matter how "sincere" they are...
http://www.thecolumbiastar.com/news/2005-04-07/Opinion/019.html
"Adding to the attack on our courts are the hysterical right–wing evangelistic do–gooders who do not believe in democracy. They do not believe in a balance of powers unless it is under the control of their particular brand of religion. They hate the idea of separation of church and state. These people believe God is totally on their side; therefore, they are God’s policemen who can dictate to the rest of us sinners.
The do–gooders demonstrating in Florida were really involved in the “right to life” abortion issue as well as the insertion of their churches in our state houses and courts. Terri Schiavo became the convenient tool of choice for these evangelicals who would tyrannically dictate to the rest of us how we conduct our civil affairs regardless of our federal laws, state laws, and constitutions. As God’s policemen, these people showed little respect for Florida civil or criminal laws."
Be that as it may, the subject matter is interesting, but as others here have written, why deal with zealotry instead of just dealing with religion? It is impossible to believe that where religion exists there will always be zealots, religion breeds them by offering the greatest gift of all after they are dead. Religion demeans and belittles life by focusing people on their death and the rewards that await them.
It was a good effort Rabbi, but it fell short in my humble gay atheist opinion.
"It is impossible to believe that where religion exists there will always be zealots," should read, It is impossible to believe that where religion exists there can be no zealots,
Resisting the Seductions of Religions.
Why bother to urge the religious to turn down the zeal? It is all superstition anyway.
I think I like your word better. "Mythology" is too benevolent-sounding and conjures up images of ancient Greece, which was/is still more advanced socially and spiritually than we are today. They didn't actually believe Apollo carried the Sun across the sky in a chariot, it just sounded good as they were demanding more wine. "Superstition" puts it right under a ladder with a black cat where it belongs. :)
Get a digital copy of the OT and do a search on "edge of the sword" or "kill," or suchlike. Parental supervision advised.
kssy kissy hugs and smooches to huff post and the 'gate keepers' --- oh youre so woooonnndeerful!! xoxoxoxoxo
(maybe thats what it takes for your thoughts to appear here.)
I was banned from any comments in the "Green" section for a couple of days once, so I know the feeling
Chapter 1: KEEP HOPE ALIVE: THE MORNING AFTER APRIL 4, 1968
"'This is a time when there seems to be a particular need for men of philosophical persuasion—that is to say, friends of wisdom and truth—to join together…We Jews should be, and remain, the carriers and patrons of spiritual values. But we should also always be aware of the fact that these spiritual values are and always have been the common goal of mankind.'
"Einstein’s advice should be heeded by all men of good will. But it seems to me that we all can claim to do God’s will, and yet we all can too easily justify unjust behavior.”
The Muslim and the Jew locked eyes, and tears welled up from within them both, and then overflowed at the same time. After a time of timelessness, Riad softly spoke. “I offer you Thomas saying forty-eight, and I quote: ‘Jesus said, “If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, ‘move from here’, and it will be done.’”
http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1672&Itemid=231
“We first must move from domination to partnership, and we begin by educating our young in awe and wonder, not how to take tests. Awe leads to reverence, which leads to gratitude, which will reinvent our species. This is the task of our generation: to regain awe. The three R’s need to be balanced by the ten C’s: contemplation, creativity, chaos, compassion, courage, critical consciousness, community, celebration, ceremony, and character.
“In community, people remain united, despite everything that divides them. In capitalist society, people are isolated, separated, despite everything that should hold them together. We are in the midst of an epic struggle between community and capitalistic society. We need a new narrative. It is the economy of materialism; it is the virus of affluenza that has weakened family life.”
Excerpted from "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" Chapter 12: THE REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN...
http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1424&Itemid=224
http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2995/jewish/The-Zealot.htm
For this Christian Anarchist-Buddhist with a dose of dervish, Jesus for me is my Brother and The Prince of Peace. He never said bow down and worship me-BUT he did say Follow Me!
His last words to the community before his crucifixion-the Roman occupying forces standard method of capital punishment-was "To put down the sword."
Among the last words the Prince of Peace uttered on the cross were: "Father, forgive them; they know not what they are doing."
And not much has changed in 2,000 years!
Two thousand years ago, there was lively debate about whom the Christ-the very first WIDE AWAKE man.
Until the Church got in bed with Emperor Constantine, all the churches were hot beds of individuality and not the institutions that have become big business today...
"Beyond Theism and On with Evolution" @ http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1738&Itemid=233
What is this God-thing you're attempting to discuss?
Surely, in any argument, you must at least make an attempt to define your terms.
What is it?
Either God existences and people do things for God, or people believe that they are doing things for God but really are not, or what people do they do for a myth and by implication, God does not exist.
So why bust the author's chops?