Please note that I'm not saying that Islam is necessarily simple-minded. I don't know enough about the religion to make that statement. But any religion in the hands of egomaniacal tyrants whose only motivation is self-interest will become a tool to enslave people. Make no mistake, those who worship at the fanatical fringes (or is it more mainstream than we like to admit?) of Islam are enslaved by choice to a cult, an ideology that suppresses even as it gives license to the basest human urges: revenge, domination, and glory. There is nothing more dangerous than immorality backed up by God, Himself.
This trend toward Islamic fascism will not stop. History has shown that it must be pushed back and that to only contain it. Why won't it stop? A little Biblical history is in order:
- True believing Islamists (as opposed to the weak, back-sliding "moderate" Muslims who say nothing for fear of their own lives) know that they are the heirs of the FIRST born son of Abraham--Ishmael. Isaac whose name was changed to Israel wasn't the first-born son at all, in their opinion, and should not have been so blessed. It is unfair and wrong. Israel must pay. Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Sarah's (his wife's) handmaiden Hagar, was the special one for many years before baby Isaac came on the scene and ruined everything. When Isaac turned five, Sarah finally weened him (can you blame her, she was in her 80s when she finally had her kid--I'd spoil him, too) and Abraham had a party to celebrate. Ishmael, being the older brother, taunted Isaac (can't you just hear him saying "Mama's boy!" and then Isaac crying, which only proved the point). Hagar had been insufferable for quite some time and refused to take direction from her boss once Ishmael was around. Sarah took it for so long, but had had it at the party. Sarah begged Abraham to turn them both out. Abraham was distressed (he loved Ishmael) and asked God what to do. And God said, "Listen to your wife." Read the whole account in Genesis 21. Hagar wasn't much of a believer as she sat in the desert waiting to die, but Ishmael was and he prayed to God. God told Hagar,"Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand: for I will make him a great nation." And he is a great nation today.
- True believing Islamists share the following trait with their father Ishmael. I quote here the King James version of the Bible in Genesis 16:12 where the Angel of God talks to Hagar who has run away from Sarah because Sarah wasn't too kind to the unsubmissive Egyptian woman, "...you shalt bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael: because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." Can you think of a better description of the Middle East?
There are plenty of secularized Christians and Agnostics or even Atheists whose new religion is Humanism mixed with a little Relativism, who view this history as pure silliness. All ideas and people are the same. What quaint little ideas are put forth in the Bible. Or even more likely: the ideas in the book cause the world's conflict--the solution is to get rid of religion all together and work together person to person.
Many Jews I know seem to shy away from their "destiny" wanting to melt into the surroundings as average people. You might too, if you knew the prophecies yet to come. As the people in France and the rest of Europe prove, though, anonymity will elude Israel's descendents just as peace will elude Ishmael's.
Isn't it amazing how the legacy of two brothers affects us all?
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