George W. Bush’s True Legacy
By Mario Goveia
[The left has mercilessly attacked Bush and demonized him and most people believe that he is the worst President ever. But it is not true. Read this article and decide for yourself.]
As the George Bush presidency comes to an end it may help to put on the record his many epic accomplishments which have been so distorted by his political adversaries. Throughout it all, President Bush and the Bush family have been unfailingly civil and courteous to their worst domestic adversaries, like the Kennedy family and the civil rights leadership, almost to a fault, while the Kennedy’s, the civil rights leaders and those on the left continue to try and demonize him with the most vicious calumnies and personal slurs any modern president has been labled with. Yet George Bush smiles, keeps his cool, and wins almost all his political battles.
It all began in 2000. After a successful stint as Governor of our second largest state, re-elected by a larger margin than his original victory against Democrat icon Ann Richards, George Bush was elected US President after his opponent, Al Gore, tried every trick in the book to try and overturn the results of the flawed Florida vote count. Every one of the offending precincts that had had voting problems in Florida were run by Democrats, yet Al Gore’s campaign claimed the election was stolen, and he demanded a selective re-count, not across Florida, but in only certain Democrat-controlled areas. Then the Democrat controlled Florida Supreme Court blatantly misconstrued the Florida constitution and had to be over-ruled by the US Supreme Court. Finally, Bush had won. The left has never forgiven him and he has been under a relentless barrage of public and personal attack ever since.
The interesting information that has been expunged from the Democrat anti-Bush record is that several independent investigations after the 2000 elections all confirmed that Bush would have won by a narrow margin regardless of how the hanging chads had been counted by anyone other than Al Gore and his left wing partisans. So, the Democrat myth was created that Bush stole the election and that he was “appointed” by the US Supreme Court, which is absurd and patently false.
With the delay in deciding the election the Bush administration had to scramble to catch up because the economy had declined since the fourth quarter of 2000, which Bush approached by proposing cutting income tax rates and capital gains tax rates in his first budget, which was largely approved to begin October 1, 2001.
Well, we were attacked on 9/11/2001 before Bush and his administration had any time to get their hands around the rot in our defense and intelligence foundations from the feckless Clinton administration, which had, throughout the 90s refused to consider Al Qaeda as terrorists and considered them only as criminals who had all the due process protections in the US Constitution. The success of the attack sent the already slow US economy reeling.
Not only had the Clinton administration puffed up their budget surpluses by cutting defense and intelligence spending to 3% of GDP, but they had raised the information-sharing “wall” between the CIA and the FBI and had banned US intelligence operatives from gathering intel from folks they considered “unsavory”, the very people who have access to unique sources even though their information has to always be thoroughly vetted.
To make matters worse, Bill Clinton had refused THREE attempts by Sudan to hand over Osama Bin Laden to the US as documented by the go-between, Pakistani businessman and journalist Mansoor Ijaz. Clinton claimed that he did not have any probable couse to hold Bin Laden, even though Al Qaeda had already claimed responsibility for several attacks on US interests including the World Trade Center in 1993, the coordinated bombings of hotels in Kenya and Tanzania, and the Khobar T
owers in Saudi Arabia.
Then, after Bin Laden left Sudan and went to Afghanistan, Clinton refused to give the CIA the approval to shoot when they had him in their sights THIRTEEN times because of concerns for collateral damage, and this has been documented by the CIA agent in charge of finding Bin Laden prior to 2003, Michael Scheuer.
Fortunately the massive tax rate cuts that Bush had pushed through between 2002 and 2003, with help from the Republicans who controlled both houses of Congress turned the economy around and caused tax revenues to skyrocket. We had seven years of moderate growth with low inflation until the current slowdown as part of a seven year business cycle. While the economy is in the doldrums, we are not even in a recession yet based on traditional criteria.
Unfortunately, Bush’s major failure was his inability to curb wasteful government spending and earmarks passed by Republicans and Democrats alike, which, with the wars on terror and liberation in Afghanistan and Iraq, caused massive budget deficits. The Federal Reserve Bank loosened the money supply to help grow the economy by keeping interest rates low because inflation was also low. Unfortunately, right about the same time, the Ivy Leaguers who heavily populate the financial institutions and brokerages in New York and elsewhere decided like a brainless herd on a fundamentally flawed premise now known as sub-prime lending. They made millions personally through inflated growths in their business portfolios, but the fundamentals soon caught up, as they always do, and the rest of the economy is now in shambles and US taxpayers are left to pick up the pieces.
The combination of all these unfortunate events has devalued the US currency. It is small comfort to note that, because the economy had also grown, the federal budget deficit, massive in absolute terms has DECLINED as a percentage of GDP from 3.5% in 2001 to 1.9% in 2006 and is expected to increase in the next couple of years to 3% of GDP which is about where it has been on average over the longer term.
With the Democrats taking control of Congress in 2006 things have gotten even worse than the Republicans before them, and the approval rating of the Congress is now in single digits, far below even the President’s low approval ratings, fairly typical when the country is at war, and now exacerbated by the propaganda onslaught from the far left wing, largely being funded by George Soros, who always benefits financially from chaos and confusion.
Little noticed among the sturm and drang of politics and the ongoing media bias is that Bush’s education reforms have turned the US public school system around and minority school kids are experiencing historically high grades and passing rates, in spite of the powerful teachers unions which resist any attempts at quality control in education.
Bush-supported programs to encourage poor people to own their own homes has caused the highest level of minority home ownership in history.
Bush-supported vocational initiatives are retraining workers laid off from declining and obsolete industries preparing them for growing industries of the future, like energy.
Bush implemented a $15 BILLION 10-year-plan to help in the worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS, in mostly poor and tropical countries. Recently he added $48 BILLION on top of that and included TB and malaria to the plan. Yet he continues to be excoriated by African leaders like Nelson Mandela, who worship Bill Clinton who did NOTHING for Africa when he was president - other than apologize for long past atrocities like slavery to correct the effects of which the US has spent BILLIONS in reparations in the form of welfare programs and other taxpayer-funded assistance administered by a small army of “community organizers”.
America has earned some respect among previously hostile Indonesians in the aftermath of the deadly tsunamis of a few years ago when Americans were first on the scene with tangible assistance. Covered up by most in the heavily anti-Bush media was that it was Bush who ordered an aircraft carrier on its way to the war in Iraq diverted to help the devastated Indonesians.
Because of Bush, 50 million Muslims who were previously oppressed and brutalized by Muslim tyrants are well on their way to freedom and democracy, peace and prosperity in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iraq now has a budget surplus and is paying for most of it’s own expenses, un-reported by most of the anti-Bush media.
If the Taliban in Afghanistan and a small number of Shia and Sunni extremists in Iraq had not decided to kill innocent civilians and each other in order to thwart the people’s expressed desire for democracy, the war would have been over long ago, and reconstruction well on its way as we saw in Italy, Germany and Japan after World War II.
Because of Bush’s brilliant foreign policy strategies, Libya and N. Korea have given up their hostility and nuclear weapons plans and rejoined the community of nations, without a shot being fired. Only a rampant Iran remains to be dealt with, and a Russia that is quickly regressing to its totalitarian past. Once again, while the Europeans have the most to lose, somehow the world somehow takes it for granted that it is the US that is responsible for dealing with such global threats. Then when we confront the threats, their drumbeat of criticism begins, almost in unison. Oh, well, that’s why it is so important for the US to continue to be a superpower and the only global bulwark against tyranny.
Because of Bush’s increased domestic intelligence and internal defense programs Al Qaeda has been unable to attack the US mainland since 9/11/2001 in spite of Bin Laden’s regular threats to do so. No one in 2001-2002 expected Al Qaeda to be unable to attack the US mainland again. History will give the credit to George Bush without whose stubborn cowboy resolve in the face of withering opposition from the Democrats and the entire left wing worldwide, none of this would have been possible.
Finally, even Bush’s harshest critics have been unable to confirm the worst canards thrown out against him, that he lied and misrepresentated the available intelligence for his own partisan purposes. Every one of the several investigations have found that Bush had essentially the same information that Clinton had before him and that every credible intelligence service in the western world had as well.
In the post 9/11 world, when Saddam Hussein was refusing to disclose what he had done with his WMDs, when his communications with the Islamic extremists were growing, when Al Qaeda had already been so emboldened by the ineffective Clinton administration as to successfully launch the worst attack on the US mainland in history, no serious US President could sit back and risk another suicide attack, this time with WMDs. They had to be stopped, and they have been. Retaliation after a pre-emptive strike with WMDs would be hollow because of the horrific casualties we would suffer.
Like Harry Truman before him, who had to make the bone-chilling decision to use nuclear weapons to stop the defiant Japanese once and for all, Bush had to step up to the plate and make a difficult call - and he did.
Democrat icon, Bill Clinton, left us with a series of scandals, a declining economy and a hidden vulnerability to attack by an emboldened enemy. George Bush is also leaving us with a struggling economy but with a nation that has safeguards in place, with Al Qaeda on the run, a southern border that is better protected and an epic imminent victory all but secured in Iraq that the Democrats who opposed him every step of the way had publicly declared a lost cause right in the middle of the conflict. No one could have predicted any of this in the aftermath of 9/11/2001.
Business cycles are an inevitable feature of a free economy, but how often can a President liberate 50 million people in the heart of an area with no history of either freedom or democracy, while also defanging two hostile countries without a shot being fired?
So, based on the facts, I’d say George Bush had more victories than defeats, a country that is safer, several adversaries who have given up their former hostility towards us, some new threats looming on the horizon, but a country that has also been battle-hardened. I’d say he can hold his head high, did his best in most cases and has a pretty decent legacy going for him when unbiased historians look back at the immediate post 9/11 era, in proper context, wouldn’t you?
I seem to recall another recent president being demonized with the most vicious calumnies and personal slurs any modern president has been labled with. We do have short memories, don’t we.
Comment by Laura — September 13, 2008 @ 11:55 am
Laura … you must be mistaken !
It is only the left that demonize with the most vicious calumnies and personal slurs.
The right is always holy and gracious and never ever says anything mean.
The right never ever said one mean thing about Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, or Chelsea Clinton during his eight years in office … anything you remember hearing back then is obviously a figment of your imagination !
Comment by Ooga Booga — September 13, 2008 @ 6:33 pm
Oh, conservatives have extremely good memories…
What President was caught with an intern under his desk? What President had a “Bimbo Eruption” team.
What President used a cigar to light his intern?
What President presided over the Dot-com bust of the late 1990’s?
What President does not know the defintion of “is”?
What President had forced sex with a woman, hurt her, and then told her to “put ice on it?”
What President fired the White House Travel Office, had the FBI conduct a bogus investigation of its director, and then watched a jury return a “not guilty” verdict within five minutes?
What President projected deficits for as far as he could see in 1994 only to have a Republican Congress (elected that year)actually balance the budget for him?
What President gave us the largest tax increase in history?
What President did not have a single President-proposed program passed in his entire eight years that had any measurable effect on the United States and its citizens? I challenge any leftist to name a single Clinton program. Midnight basketball does not count.
As noted in the article, what President had the chance to capture Bin Laden (actually have him handed to us) but ELECTED not to accept him?
Give me President Bush any day.
Comment by rickinms — September 13, 2008 @ 7:24 pm
Lot of verbiage, but not one word about Israel, or about Bush’s all too cozy relationship with the Saudis. If the true legacy of Bush and Rice consists (as it still can) of rendering Israel more vulnerable to destruction by slicing it up, none of the brilliant achievements mentioned above will matter very much. While Bush and Rice push for a new terrorist state in the Jewish biblical heartland and capital before his term expires, Goveia and commentators are busy discussing which recent administration was better than the other. Have we lost all focus?
Comment by Jewish Survival — September 13, 2008 @ 9:19 pm
Bush was the first US President to claim that the US is committed to a Two State policy for Israel. Also, it was under Bush’s watch that Gaza was ethnically cleansed of Jews. So much for Israel policy. On the home front, the US was attacked by the Arabs under Bush and he has failed to defeat them.
Those aren’t good marks. the biggest friends of Israel were Harry Truman, who enabled Israeli independence, and Lyndon Baines Johnson, under whose watch Israel achieved a great victory. Both were moderate Democrats, opposed by the Left and the Right.
Comment by BlandOatmeal — September 14, 2008 @ 6:30 am
Bush’s entire program started to fall apart the year before the 2004 elections.
That was post-Invasion of Iraq. The White House stupidly allowed a few wack-job Democrats to get away with lying about Bush and the war.
Once a few of them got away with lying and had the news spread their lies, that opened the door to the mutinty of the treasonous Democrats as a whole.
Having Condi Rice as Sec State sealed his doom… as he bascially outsourced all Foreign Policy to her. Everything has turned to crap since then… Kosovo, the “Palestinians”, Iran, NKor, Russia, etc..
Comment by VinceP1974 — September 14, 2008 @ 9:12 am
Bush will be remembered For his,
* Almost tearing apart the western alliance that took almost 50 years to build.
* His attempts to destroy the U.S. Constitution by suspending due legal process.
*Lack of leadership in the matter of Katrina.
*Total ineptitude in managing America’s economy, e.g. debt crises, energy crises, housing crises,mortgage crises, banking crises,auto crises, dollar crises etc. etc. ad infinitum.
*Lack of planning and coordination in The war on terror, War in Iraq, War in Afghanistan.
In summary a total disaster
Comment by h peskin — September 14, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
Thank God for people like Mario Goveia! I am heartily sick of the relentless anti-Bush invective, especially in the media. Goveia’s article carefully looks at the facts behind the Lying Left’s spin.
Iraq was the right thing to do. Clinton has a huge amount to answer for. The media constantly ignores Clinton’s failings. Bush’s record on education is a good one. And so on.
Now the media wouldn’t be continuing in this vein and overwhelmingly be supporting Obama over McCain/Palin, would they?
Comment by hmccallum — September 14, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
Up until the summer of 2006, most attacks against Bush were not justified. However, during the summmer of 2006 Middle East policy was turned over to James “F*ck the Jews Baker” and the Iraq study group. For that Bush
DESERVESto be demonized!Comment by i_am_me — September 15, 2008 @ 11:28 am
Let’s remember that W. ran the US military into the ground in Iraq by trying to do too much with too few troops. I also suspect he was too concerned about civilian casualties. In addition let’s remember Condi Rice who, on behalf of W.’s legacy is subjecting Israel to enormous pressure on behalf of the Arab terrorists. Olmert may be our problem but Rice is not helping matters.
Comment by Fred — September 15, 2008 @ 11:36 am
Too early to give Bush a solid critique, but on a 1-10 scale ten being good 1 being worse than atrocious my take on Bush is around the 1 mark. Forget about the phony war on terror which is Governments way of doing things under less scrutiny and stealing as much as possible till somebody blows the whistle. That whistle should have been the press and the media but the fools went after Bush for the wrong reasons.
Under Bush we will see and are seeing the overdue collapse of the American financial and housing bubbles. Lehman Brothers went down under the defaulting $60-billion real estate debt. At this time, the US Treasury refused to subsidize a buyout as it did half a year ago with Bear Sterns. Evidently, the Treasury has had it enough with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose nationalization cost could run anywhere from $300 billion to 1.5 trillion, a debacle comparable to the S&L default two decades ago or to the entire lend-lease wartime assistance.
The current crisis wipes out the American real estate casino, a mega-bubble which saw the real estate price soaring by up to five times since 1994. Irresponsible banks provided mortgages with zero downpayment, often without checking the borrower’s credit history in the stupid expectation of ever-rising prices. Irresponsible depositors, secured by the FDIC insurance, brought money into those banks. Irresponsible government secured the doomed deposits. Naturally, someone stands to lose in that casino: taxpayers, as always. In the Fannie and Freddie affair, the US government uses tax proceeds to cover the mega-profits received by real estate developers and traders.
The current real estate crisis is a continuation of the dot-com stock market debacle: as millions of Americans saw their fictitious stock market gains and ultra-high startup salaries wiped out, they could no longer afford the housing at inflated prices.
Unlike in the 1929, international credit market more than suffices to support any truly efficient and competitive American enterprises, and bursting the dot-com and real estate bubbles won’t destroy the really productive sectors of American economy. The problem is, much of the American economic competitiveness was concentrated in those bubbles. As the crisis spreads to other inflated markets, such as technology stocks, the American GDP would shrink considerably. As happens cyclically every few decades, the casino part of the American economy stands to be greatly corrected
Why did Bush invade Iraq? Mainly to support American oil companies who at 10$ a bbl at the time were facing bankruptcy. Nothing spikes oil prices like war or threat of war. So while all those conspiracy theorists who claimed Bush invaded for Iraqi oil, the ans. is yes but from the other end he wanted the price of oil to rise and rise big to help out American oil and of course the Saudis. Many things seem stupid until we realize they are wise. The falling dollar is great for America as it wipes out the US foreign debt and dollar reserves and increases competitiveness of American export.
The US oil corporations cannot dictate the politics, but they are influential enough to swing the political balance toward invading Iraq and staying there. It’s not that Bush took a bribe from Saudis or US oil producers for launching a war in Iraq, though he did. US oil interests are even more influential with congressmen than with president through political donations, employee voters, and paying taxes into the local budgets. About taxes, by the way. The American scheme of paying for oil concessions comes with a twist: when oil prices rise too much, the concession payments are stable, thus allowing for super profits. Oil money is extremely concentrated and always available for lobbying.
Oil price increases almost entirely translate into profits, as the production cost changes very little. Therefore the price spike left oil corporations with profits in the range of 700%. Creative accounting allowed to show only reasonably high figures instead. At the current prices, Saudis are slated to receive $420 billion annually from oil sales; they have no other exports or industry. A semi-nomadic Arab nation soared to the whole 3% of the US GDP, and vastly exceeded Israel’s. In terms of the expendable income, Saudis look even better, never mind their constant whining of insufficient funds for social welfare.
Iran scores half that much, and Libya – a quarter. Overall, Israel’s Muslim enemies would milk the world for $1.1 trillion in a year. Add half a trillion dollars for Russia. The money is channeled into sensitive investments, buying media, influence, lobbying. Chinese people like Jews, but the Chinese government supports Arabs - simply to secure the oil sources.
Comment by yamit82 — September 15, 2008 @ 12:16 pm
Excellent article. It’s not the “popular” thing to like our President, and unfortunately that’s he is measured by the liberal media. Unlike his White House predecessor, he has chosen to do the RIGHT things to make sure America stands tall.
I wonder if CNN would post this article? Guess not. It would not be “popular”.
Years from now people will look back on his legacy and know we had the right person in the White House.
Comment by w4ak3up — September 15, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
email rec’d
Comment by Ted Belman — September 15, 2008 @ 12:41 pm
email rec’d
Comment by Ted Belman — September 15, 2008 @ 1:58 pm
Bush is sooo bad that McCain doesn’t mention his name, no joint pictures no request for G.W to fund raise. When is the last time we have seen a political party totally ignore and even run against the sitting President of their own party? I haven’t even begun to give my take on Bush from an Israeli perspective, that would put him totally under the bus. for example:
Sale of US bunker buster bombs to Israel goes through
Bush Administration submitted a routine notice of approval to congress. Israel needs such bombs against Hezbollah and Iran.
The problem is, Bush Administration approved GBU-39 which penetrate only 5 feet of reinforced concrete, and are useless even against Natanz, let alone Iran’s mountain facilities. GBU-39 can perform against some of the shallow Hezbollah bunkers and most Hamas bunkers.
The Bushies refused Israeli request for GBU-28 which penetrate 20ft of concrete and can be used against Natanz.
Fuck George Bush and the Black Plague by his side!!!
Comment by yamit82 — September 15, 2008 @ 2:18 pm
G. Bush wa a good pres for the 1st term but stabbed everyone in the back on his second. He had been a Conservative all of his life, but he changed in 2004. He became an appeaser, a spender and other avenues that one would credit the Democrats for doing. I have no idea what happened; however, not in this life will I ever vote for another Democrat. We should be focasing on electing more Conservatives to Congress because that is where most of the problems stem. No president, no matter how good or bad he is, has any control if he can’t get the Congress to back him. We must get rid of the garbage who are members of the Senate and the House regardless which party he/she belongs and be certain that the new ones are Americans first. I want to see legislation cutting spending (no ear marks), build up our military to fight the many brush fires around the world. Cut welfare for those who are able to work and if there is no work to be had, go back and restart the CCCs. It worked in the 30’s and it will work today.
Comment by Ed D — September 15, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
email rec’d
Comment by Ted Belman — September 15, 2008 @ 5:01 pm
True. Right-wingers used to tear Golda Meir apart; but in comparison to those who followed her, she has become something of a hero (except to Yamit, who has no heroes except Rabbi Kahane).
…a bubble Bush inherited from all who preceeded him. In fact, the “dot.com” part of the bubble had already popped by the time Bush came into office; the rest is simply a delayed reaction from the “Let the good tinmes roll!” days of Bill Clinton.
Sadaam Hussein tried to kill his dad. How’s that for starters? If someone tried to kill YOUR dad, what would you do when you became PM? If you didn’t seek out the first opportunity to wreak vengeance on him, I question your humanity.
Iraq hasn’t been a tremendous success story for “US” oil companies. “US” oil companies, like Chevron, have holdings all over the world. People have criticized the attack on Iraq because it was supposedly without basis. That’s baloney — Sadaam’s repeated refusal to allow a peaceful resolution to the WMD issue forced our hand. Our intervention against him provides the teeth to our threats against Iran of consequenses they will suffer if they continue with their program. You cannot seriously condemn Bush’s invasion of Iraq, on the one hand, and call for an Israeli strike against Iran on the other.
I personally thought, at the time, that Bush was invading Iraq because it was politically easier than invading Saudi Arabia — the REAL enemy of both the US and Israel. By quickly and convincingly defeating Sadaam and laying waste to his cities, Bush gave a clear message to the Saudis that if they didn’t cooperate with us in putting animals like bin Laden in their cages, the same could happen to them. That was wishful thinking on my part. Bush’s subsequent behavior with the Saudis, his walking arm-in-arm with their princes as though they were his lovers, his giving them the red-carpet treatment on his ranch while Ariel Sharon had to look for lodging in Waco, and his forcing the Jews to use the service entrance at Annapolis while the Saudis came through the front door — all this showed me I had been wrong about his motives.
It’s clear to me now, that Bush DIDN’T attack the Saudis because, frankly, he is their slave; but I think he attacked Iraq for personal revenge; and to set a precedent concerning WMDs, which he really was concerned about. Sadaam had used chemical weapons against the Kurds, and the Israelis had destroyed a REAL reactor from a REAL nuclear program. Sadaam was foolish, in his brinksmanship concerning UN inspectors, but Bush had every right to suspect that he was covering up a continuation of programs that all evidence shows he had been engaged in.
I guess that’s the bulk of what you talked about. I’m disappointed in you — I thought that with all your words, you were going to say something profound.
I give George W. Bush credit, for taking on and doing fair-to-middling in carrying out the most difficult job in the world. I fault him for his strange coziness to the Saudis, that led him to treating freinds (such as Americans trying to board airplanes, and the people of Israel) like enemies, and enemies (like the Saudis, who bombed the Twin Towers) like friends. That was a colossal failure, which gives him a grade of “D” (while every other world leader, including the PMs of Israel) get “F”s. If that seems like a pretty low scoring curve, the reason is this: The world situation today is similar to what it was during the 1930s — I don’t know if there’s a leader alive today, who won’t be looked upon by historians as a total disgrace. Bush has this to his credit: To the extent that he stood up for Israel AT ALL, he was scorned by the rest of the world.
Shalom shalom, good buddy
Comment by BlandOatmeal — September 15, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
email rec’d
Comment by Ted Belman — September 16, 2008 @ 4:35 am
email rec’d
Comment by Ted Belman — September 16, 2008 @ 4:40 am
email rec’d
Comment by Ted Belman — September 16, 2008 @ 8:32 am
Ted’s bad hair day.
Comment by Shy Guy — September 16, 2008 @ 8:55 am
Bush’s Luciferian legacy is one that helped put nails in the coffin of our Constitution and launched deliberate attacks against our liberties under Orwellian pretense of “protecting” them; globalist Bush has prepared the wicked way for whatever CFR puppet who follows him to declare martial law without congressional approval or understanding of why for six months (too late when everything will have been “rearranged” as planned and now the law of the land); CFR and globalist banker puppet Bush has murderously lied to the American people and used our loved ones as fodder for the Military Industrial Complex while coddling terrorists in the White House at taxpayers’ expense; rewarded terrorists by expelling Jews rather than sworn Arab enemies from holy land in Israel; has refused to protect our borders or enforce our laws against illegal immigrants; and this is just the tip of the iceberg about to sink our ship if “We The People” don’t cry out to God to save us (2 Chron. 7:14) and do whatever is necessary to save ourselves.
As for the AIDS band-aid and such that only enrich the pharmaceutical drug lords (and whatever kickbacks the president and fellow politicians enjoy from such publicity stunts), why should American taxpayers be forced to care for others when many can’t afford to care for themselves or their loved ones?
Comment by David BenAriel — September 16, 2008 @ 9:24 pm
email rec’d
As these emails indicate, the left absolutely hate Bush and anyone who has the temerity to defend him.
Comment by Ted Belman — September 16, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
Those who are truly in their right mind, not just the left (I’m definitely not a leftist), should hate what George Bush has done against US and not be fooled again and again and again… It’s not about party loyalty, or shouldn’t be, but what’s best for the United States.
“Stop being good Democrats…Stop being good Republicans…and start being Good Americans” - Aaron Russo.
Award-Winning Film Maker Says US Is Becoming Police State
Comment by David BenAriel — September 16, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Ted - Why not publish the names of those who sent you the emails, especially the ones from those who insult you?
Comment by i_am_me — September 16, 2008 @ 10:00 pm
Aaron Russo was a crackpot conspirationist, full of fantastic stories of which only he was privy to hear. He’s a source of encouragement to 9/11 troofers and was the leading advocate of Jews for Ron Paul. Buh-bye.
BTW, click on David Ben Ariel’s name to go to his website. His real name is David Hoover. He’s not Jewish. He belongs to the nutcases that believe that many Christians are of the lost 10 tribes and in the end of days, they will mesh with Jews and bring Jesus into our midst, Rachmana litzlan.
Here. Have some fun - not.
Comment by Shy Guy — September 16, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
[...] George W. Bush’s True Legacy [...]
Pingback by Bush’s Luciferian legacy « David Ben-Ariel — September 16, 2008 @ 11:32 pm
Clearly “Shy Guy” doesn’t have a clue or is just playing stupid to spread hateful disinformation, whether it’s about Aaron Russo (whose excellent and revealing film Award-Winning Film Maker Says US Is Becoming Police State is well documented) or little ol’ me, but he’s typical: those who cannot refute, ridicule; those who cannot debate, defame.
My legal name is David Ben-Ariel and I’ve never claimed to be Jewish according to halacha, and have been very open about being a Christian Zionist without apology, as my many Torah-observant friends in Israel and the United States recognize and appreciate.
God-Given Names
Comment by David BenAriel — September 16, 2008 @ 11:41 pm
Oat
I consider myself a rationalist who does not believe in Hero worship ( I consider any form of HERO Worship a form of paganism)
This certainly includes Kahane. There is a difference between respect, even support,(ideas) than blind worship of any individual. (that is a Christian forte)
Golda was responsible for the mass murder of Jews. Golda Meir, fearful of the American reaction and procrastinating in the face of Jewish holiday, did not preempt in 1973 when the Egyptian military buildup was unmistakable though one could have deluded herself about its purpose. Compounding a grave error with grave crime, Golda sent Jewish reservists to the
slaughter which resulted in 10,000 casualties – instead of employing nuclear weapons. Golda’s fear of the world opinion greatly exceeded her concern with Jewish lives. That ugly character famously announced that she can forgive the Arabs for killing Jews but not for making the Jews to kill Arabs. Likewise, her accomplice Moshe Dayan remarked during the early stages of the Yom Kippur war, “We’re witnessing the Third Temple’s destruction” – and reportedly was on the way to offer capitulation instead of nuking the Arabs.
The perversion gets worse. During the Lebanon war, the leftists demanded that Israel pulls out, thus wasting over 600 Jewish lives lost to combat the terror on our northern border. The right-wing Likud demanded that the IDF stay put in Beirut, opening itself to still more casualties. No mainstream politician had the guts to do what has to be done to secure the North Israel: depopulate South Lebanon.
The appeasement of gentiles, a policy brought to the fore by Golda Meir, produced bloody fruits: the IDF was instructed to save Arab lives. In practice, that meant not firing at the civilians used by the terrorists as shields, so that Jews often operated without air support and suffered heavy casualties. No doubt, the gentiles were concerned with civilian death toll, the very gentiles who designed blockbuster bombs to rip away the roofs so that subsequently dropped incendiary bombs could set the houses on fire more reliably; fried (and rightly so) Dresdners caused no public outcry in Albion.
Even if true? eight years certainly enough time to make necessary changes and corrections. Its all Bush now!!!
I don’t believe you believe such bullshit but if you do and if true then Bush is a War criminal as you do not commit a nation to war costing a trillion dollars and thousands of American casualties for such personal vendettas.
Oat your understanding of history seems to be clouded by who you are than the actual facts.
Comment by yamit82 — September 17, 2008 @ 12:23 am
I also respect Meir Kahane and was honored to attend his funeral in Jerusalem…
Thoughts on Meir Kahane…
The “blind worship of any individual” is not a “Christian forte” - perhaps if you took the log out of your own eye you would notice how it appears to be a Jewish forte whether speaking of political messianism that idolizes Marx, Lenin or Yitzhak Rabin or religious fanaticism exhibited in the followers of Shabtai Tzvi, Menachem Schneerson, etc. Clearly, all need to be on guard against it - whether Jew, Israelite or Gentile.
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 9:30 am
True many Jews mostly minorities even vanguarded some of your cites, but after some time got the message and scrambled to some other ism and internationalist cause. But you Christians have millions of heroes but above all have stuck with against all logic,empirical data (even from the Vatican) That pagan symbol on a stick. So who is the dumber one? As for those who claim that the Lubavitch was and is the Messia. Well what can I say, every nation has their fruitcakes and embarrassments Rabin, nobody under the age of 16 has ever heard of him and in 10 years he will be just a footnote in history books.
Comment by yamit82 — September 17, 2008 @ 10:34 am
Do you appreciate it when stereotypes are used to tarbrush all Jews? I am a Christian Zionist and abhor the accursed Vatican and reject their idolatry, whether crucifixes or statues (or pagan popes before whom they kneel), including Protestant pictures of “Jesus” and consider both the Babylonian Mystery religion in Christian drag, a gross misrepresentation.
Some could argue the same about Judaism being against all logic, empirical data, etc. and Judaism certainly isn’t infallible, is it? Furthermore, it’s not a question of who is the “dumber one” but the point that all can be misled and most have been and all have room for growth.
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 11:23 am
Questions: As a Christian what parts of the NT do you reject? Besides yourself whom do you represent or consider at one with your views and beliefs? Who finances you? What is your personal position on Hebrew Messianics including J 4 J and similar groups? What Christian denomination to do you belong to or do identify with?
That you are openly Zionist (Your writings and blog) Leaves me with some intuitive doubts. When a non Jew is holier than Herzl the question comes up Why? It isn’t love for the Jews ( if yes what type of Jew are you referring to?) and except for some geographical sites you probably don’t care much about the Land, O yes the Bible told you so, Right?
Comment by yamit82 — September 17, 2008 @ 11:51 am
Yamit, just click on his name under his post and you’ll eventually find this page. Sunstar numero duo.
If you’re not familiar with him, introducing Herbert W. Armstrong. Noch a wannabee!
Comment by Shy Guy — September 17, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
David BenAriel
Now I would ask with regard to this statement a definition of What the Pope means by antisemitism? Then like you I would ask what parts of the NT(totally antisemitic)The Church has expunged? I would ask is anti Zionism different from antisemitism? Would support of those who seek to kill me not an antisemitic act or should I chalk it up to be just anti Yamit82.
You see and I have just touched the surface of a myriad of questions to you and the Pope to pin you both down to real theology, real beliefs and real motivations. I never take at face value any positive statement from those or whose ancestors who so pleasured in killing my people in the name of that same Demigod and on the instructions of that same book. I hope you will excuse me for even doubting your sincerity and honesty.
Comment by yamit82 — September 17, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
Just to get an idea of what similar Christian soul vampires are up to, have a look at this. Note the quote from Rav Kahane in the upper right column.
BTW, this “two house” theory is actively promoted by well known Evangelist Joel Bell and his wife, Pamela, who actually have fully established offices, with recording studios, in Israel.
Comment by Shy Guy — September 17, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
I’m sure Christian Zionist Orde Wingate heard such snide comments too, as he lived in Eretz Yisrael (promised to all Twelve Tribes of Israel) and did all he could to help the Jews and didn’t permit the prejudice of some to hinder his God-given purpose.
Christian Zionist Orde Wingate respected Jews but recognized Joseph isn’t Jewish and that family fact, that historical/biblical detail, didn’t disturb those Jews around him with “intuitive doubts,” any more than those Jews on the 8 kibbutzim I’ve lived on (see From Toledo to Jerusalem) or my Torah-observant friends throughout Israel had any problem with my understanding of the Hebrew roots and Israelite origins of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples, and the Israeli leaders didn’t lose sleep over the fact that Herbert W. Armstrong believed the same with whom they met time and again, including former Mayor Teddy Kollek even presenting him (at a banquet in his honor in Jerusalem) with an Israeli sculpture of David (since Kollek knew Armstrong considered himself a scion of David through the British Royal Family).
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
I trust you’ll understand how I hate Jewish self-righteousness and Jewish hypocrisy (not Jews or Israelis), and refuse to be part of your arrogant Inquisition (you realize that was ignited by Catholic Jews?) in light of the following facts that honest and reasonable Jews acknowledge as true, however uncomfortable that makes comfortable Jews feel:
Jewish Blood Libel Against Christianity
Where are Jews who denounce Jewish doctrines of destruction?
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 12:50 pm
David BenAriel:
He meant you Christians as well, lets call it Jewish purity, and guess what you ain’t Jewish no matter how you package yourselves!!!
Comment by yamit82 — September 17, 2008 @ 1:02 pm
Jewish Blood Libel Against Christianity
It wasn’t the Christians it was those bastard Catholics, no Satan, no Martians, no sir; it was your ancestors. I don’t hold that against you personally though you weren’t there now were you? By the way nobody killed Moses, died a very old fellow and he was never venerated as a demigod like yours but in terms of real personal accomplishments and leadership no comparison. That said he was never elevated to Demigod status never. Greatest Prophet though. Who you guys got with similar accomplishments?
I suppose you never heard of Martin Luther, the Puritans John Calvin. the hundred years war, the thirty years war? Much More Much More. Should I list for you every pogrom in every protestant country? I can you know and they were all not satanists or Martians THEY WERE CHRISTIANS!!!!!
Some Zionist comparing Jews to Nazis. Amazing how you cretins manage to worm your way into sites who never challenge you.
Comment by yamit82 — September 17, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
David BenAriel
Proof of having any links to the lost tribes of Israel can be ascertained quite simply today through DNA testing. Were you tested? Was your friend Armstrong tested? Were any of you nuts who believe you are decedents of the kingdom of Israel DNA tested? Is there anything in your family history showing or demonstrating Jewish roots?
Brit Am a a site for absolute kooks and I have followed them for some time. Logic would dictate that a majority of the Kingdom of Israel found refuge with their brothers in Judah and most probably assimilated in the nearby neighbors societies, like the Pathans
One can act like an ostrich, and put his or her head in the ground, and pretend not to see the imminent redemption. But, one can’t deny the evidence that has been rolling in from all over the world, that we are seeing Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled before our very eyes.
Who’s afraid of redemption? The Fundamentalist Christians and the missionaries are, because they know that Moshiach will destroy the twenty centuries of lies that they’ve used to persecute us. Afghanistan - and particularly the Pathans - make them tremble in their boots. The Pathans: The Pathans are proud of several things - one, they’ve never assimilated; two, they acknowledge their roots from the tribes of Israel (some claim to be Benjaminites while others claim to be Menashe; I concur with the latter opinion); three, although they are offically Moslems, they wear a fringed garment that resembles tzitzit, keep their heads covered, observe the Sabbath, and circumcise their sons at exactly 8 days old. The Pathans are fiercely brave and totally committed, having succeeded to drive the Russian Army out of Afghanistan.
Comment by yamit82 — September 17, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
To the racist DavidBenAriel, of course you bring up the usual Christian philosemite, the unquestionable Zionist Orde Wingate, however, you lift him out of his historical context, since even in the first 1/2 of the 20th century, particularly in Britain, the British-Israelism lost tribes brand of replacement theology hadn’t been so thoroughly discredited, and it definitely wasn’t associated with the disgusting white supremacists and Christian Identity types that hold to it now. I have no doubt Orde would have ditched that theology (just as your Herbert W. Armstrong admitted his cult heresies) in light of the scriptural works that have come out debunking that theology. There’s supposed to be a no Christian rule of some sort on this site I think, otherwise I’d get out a long string of verses to thump you with, you racist.
Comment by soren — September 17, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
soren seems to be one of a few (Christian )if not the sole Christian commenter here who is honest, knowledgeable and respectful of Jewish sensitivities. I for one appreciate her for that plus her obvious intelligence.
Comment by yamit82 — September 17, 2008 @ 4:51 pm
David BenAriel Post #39 - I disagree.
In the first link, Jewish Blood Libel Against Christianity you assert that any Jew who says that the Crusades, the Inquisition, the interminable religious wars, the Salem witch hunts, Protestant Catholic conflicts, violence directed at Jews were done in the name of Jesus, is guilty of a blood libel against Christianity.
You ignore the historical truth that all such actions by various Christians against Jews and indeed other Christian sects were done in the name of Jesus.
Your suggestion that if a Jew notes this historical truth they commit a blood libel against Christianity and Jesus.
Such is the irrational closed mindset of Muslims who are quick to accuse any non-Muslim of racist Islamophobia when such non-Muslims quote in context, Muslim leaders and imams living and dead and in context words from the foundational Islamic religious texts, which words speak ugly truths about Islam.
Your second link, Where are Jews who denounce Jewish doctrines of destruction?, you damn unnamed Jews in general, for being completely or at least substantially responsible for bringing into our world, communism, socialism, the PC cult, by which I assume you mean to include the doctrines of multiculturalism, and Freudism, and all self-righteous “civil rights” campaigns which you go on to claim have destroyed diversity in many societies.
Come on now!
You are casting racist aspersions on all Jews based on your very debateable assumption that some Jews might bear some responsibility for the creation of those various ‘isms’ as opposed to some Jews supporting, but not creating those ‘isms’.
Your thinking on this point is specious and irrational just as your thinking was in your first link.
David BenAriel you could do with a reality check.
Comment by Bill Narvey — September 17, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 9:19 pm
I’m as “racist” as that ethnocentric Bible (with its focus on the family of Jacob-Israel) teaches me to be. Would you try and be more righteous than God? Have you accepted the replacement theology of the politically correct cult and foolishly let them define what is right and wrong? Shame. They would also brand Bible-believers, whether Torah-observant Jews or legitimate Christians, as sexist and homophobic. Does that make you cower and seek their approval? Shame.
Is it racist for God to promise the Land from the Nile to the Euphrates to the ethnic descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (not just the Jews)? Was it racist for God to command genocide of those who occupied the land when it was known as Canaan? Learn to let the Bible, the Word of God, define what is right and wrong or suffer the consequences of wandering the the wilderness of spiritual anarchy.
Isaiah 55:7-9
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
You’re in denial, being dishonest, since you can’t refute he based his beliefs upon the Bible and recognized Joseph as the Anglo-Saxon-Celtics peoples, even if some to this day choose to remain willfully blind to Joseph’s identity, prejudiced against Joes.
Apparently you’re woefully ignorant that there are humble Jews who also understand the Hebrew roots and Israelite origins of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtics and White peoples of NW Europe, such as Brit Am in Jerusalem, and Torah-observant rabbis like Avraham Feld.
“Christian Identity” and such give a bad name to British-Israelites and Christianity, as liberal Jews and those wayward Jews who founded Communism, Socialism (and a host of other evil isms) do to Judaism and Catholics and Protestants do to Christianity.
I’ve honestly addressed those misguided souls as I honestly address misguided Jewish souls:
David Ben-Ariel Faces the Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations to be Deported by Germany!
Your “faith” is without foundation and amounts to worthless speculation against Christian Zionist Orde Wingate (who recognized our Hebrew roots and Israelite origins) and you clearly don’t have a clue about Herbert W. Armstrong who never “admitted his cult heresies” - especially since those who falsely charge such things are often guilty of hating Herbert W. Armstrong for being biblical and exposing their idolatrous traditions, their cult heresies they received from bloody Rome. Won’t you let the truth set you free? Traditional Christianity is not Christian. Roman Catholicism is not Christian.
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
Nothing new under the sun?
Yamit, please notice that my posts prove that I prefer to focus on where Jews in their right mind (rather than out in left field) and Christian Zionists can definitely agree, and only after my Christian views are viciously attacked, a stab in my heart, do I respond (and with great restraint).
Shabbat Shalom!
Comment by David BenAriel — March 21, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 10:03 pm
Read more carefully and then you’ll see I urge all to put things in context, and was being somewhat facetious to make a point (apparently lost) that those Jews who would rashly unsheath such a sword should beware that it is a double-edged sword and cuts both ways.
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 10:07 pm
I’m as “racist” as that ethnocentric Bible (with its focus on the family of Jacob-Israel) teaches me to be. Would you try and be more righteous than God? Have you accepted the replacement theology of the politically correct cult and foolishly let them define what is right and wrong? Shame. They would also brand Bible-believers, whether Torah-observant Jews or legitimate Christians, as sexist and homophobic. Does that make you cower and seek their approval? Shame.
Is it racist for God to promise the Land from the Nile to the Euphrates to the ethnic descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (not just the Jews)? Was it racist for God to command genocide of those who occupied the land when it was known as Canaan? Learn to let the Bible, the Word of God, define what is right and wrong or suffer the consequences of wandering the the wilderness of spiritual anarchy (Isaiah 55:7-9).
You’re in denial, being dishonest, since you can’t refute he based his beliefs upon the Bible and recognized Joseph as the Anglo-Saxon-Celtics peoples, even if some to this day choose to remain willfully blind to Joseph’s identity, prejudiced against Joes.
Apparently you’re woefully ignorant that there are humble Jews who also understand the Hebrew roots and Israelite origins of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtics and White peoples of NW Europe, such as Brit Am in Jerusalem, and Torah-observant rabbis like Avraham Feld.
“Christian Identity” and such give a bad name to British-Israelites and Christianity, as liberal Jews and those wayward Jews who founded Communism, Socialism (and a host of other evil isms) do to Judaism and Catholics and Protestants do to Christianity.
I’ve honestly addressed those misguided souls as I honestly address misguided Jewish souls:
David Ben-Ariel Faces the Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations to be Deported by Germany!
Your “faith” is without foundation and amounts to worthless speculation against Christian Zionist Orde Wingate (who recognized our Hebrew roots and Israelite origins) and you clearly don’t have a clue about Herbert W. Armstrong who never “admitted his cult heresies” - especially since those who falsely charge such things are often guilty of hating Herbert W. Armstrong for being biblical and exposing their idolatrous traditions, their cult heresies they received from bloody Rome. Won’t you let the truth set you free? Traditional Christianity is not Christian. Roman Catholicism is not Christian.
Comment by David BenAriel — September 17, 2008 @ 10:24 pm
[...] George W. Bush’s True Legacy That you are openly Zionist (Your writings and blog) Leaves me with some intuitive doubts. When a [...]
Pingback by Openly Zionist « David Ben-Ariel — September 17, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
“david ben-ariel” fortunately nobody even reads your posts, but i encourage very honestly you to continue waisting your unprecious time in writing even more sensless posts, so you will do less damage on other sites.
Comment by Tar Yag — September 18, 2008 @ 7:17 am
So you consider yourself a “nobody”?
How, in your hostile world of unwarranted hatred and sibling rivalry against Joseph, could you even consider my posts “senseless” unless you’ve read them? Why are you afraid of the Bible and history and Christian Zionists who actually love Jews and Israel, without shying away from our differences, but being mature enough to agree to disagree whenever necessary?
What part of my original post (on this subject about George W. Bush) don’t you agree with and why don’t you address it rather than hatefully shoot the messenger? Are you miffed because you’re a Bushnik? I voted for Bush, and then I realized he was using and abusing and misleading professing Christian voters.
Comment by David BenAriel — September 18, 2008 @ 7:42 am
David BenAriel
I think unless you can add anything new to my assertions below, we have nothing further to discuss:
A Rational Approach
to the Torah’s Divine Origin http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/proof-torah-true.htm
The beginnings of all ancient and modern religions have a common thread: one or two people have a revelation and persuade others to follow. Thus, for example, Buddhist writings tell us that Prince Siddhartha Gautama launched Buddhism after his solitary ascendance through the eight stages of Transic insight; Islamic texts tell us that Muhammad founded Islam following the first of many personal, prophetic experiences; Christian writings reveal that Paul first met Jesus, converted to Christianity, and spread the faith more than three decades after Jesus’ death; Joseph Smith, Jr., and his partner, Oliver Cowdery, launched the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints (the Mormon church) after the two men were visited by angels and long-dead disciples of Jesus; and Sun Myung Moon launched the Unification Church after privately receiving direct orders to do so from Jesus himself. The beginnings of Children of God, Christian Science, Eckankar, Elan Vital, I AM, and Theosophy — in fact, the beginnings of all world religions — are equally unverifiable. Never does a large, clearly identifiable group of people experience prophecy and live to tell others about it. Moreover, in a handful of cases wherein large groups of people supposedly witnessed miracles, rarely are these witnesses named or identified in any way that would allow for verification; and in the very exceptional cases involving clearly identified groups of witnesses, never more than one or two of the religion’s current adherents claim to have met or descended directly from the named witnesses. In all these cases, the religion’s credibility rests on the credibility of its one or two founders. While it is certainly possible that the beginnings claimed by any of the thousands of sects and cults included in the world’s more than three hundred major religious traditions could be true, it is easy to imagine how charismatic charlatans could have launched any of these movements.
The one known exception to this rule is Judaism. The Torah claims that every Jewish man, woman, and child alive in 1312 B.C.E. — about three million people, according to the Torah — heard God speak at Mount Sinai and survived to teach their descendants about the event. Here we have an easily identifiable group — all of Jewry — who could have verified or denied the story any time during the first two or three generations after the alleged mass prophecy transpired. While it is easy to imagine how most religious mythologies could have been fabricated and spread, understanding how Judaism could be a lie requires more extensive analysis.
Smart Lies and Foolish Lies
Anyone who has studied history will affirm that people are gullible. We consistently find that sufficiently charismatic leaders can persuade people of any lie, even a lie that obligates followers to engage in painful or self-destructive behavior, as long as followers cannot check the lie. Lies that cannot be checked or validated are “smart” lies, insofar as they are maximally seductive. However, claims that can be checked, “foolish” lies, tend to be tested and rejected, especially when the lie obligates followers in unpleasant or suicidal observances.
con’t
Comment by yamit82 — September 18, 2008 @ 9:14 am
con’t
As an illustration, imagine someone exhibited a brick of solid gold and claimed that it was once wood, but that he had used a natural chemical process to convert the wood into gold. Imagine further that twenty thousand chemists were handed a description of the process supposedly used, but that in fifty years of trials not a single experimenter succeeded in duplicating the effect. What would the scholarly community conclude? Precisely because we believe that natural events will happen more than once, we would deduce either that wood never really became gold, or, if the phenomenon really took place, that it transpired supernaturally.
The axiom that natural events reoccur is translated by historians into the principle “History repeats itself.” Since history is the story of natural creatures interacting according to natural laws, we expect and do find the same sort of human experiences and responses happening over and over again. Hence religions throughout history and across the globe have produced a strikingly limited set of claims of how they began: individual founders of religion have interacted with the gods, sun, moon, stars, oceans, trees, animals; individuals claim to have been visited by the dead or by aliens from outer space; and individuals claim to be incarnations of divinity. Although the details of theology vary, all of the general claims about how the world’s religions began fit neatly into a handful of general categories. There is only one categorically unique claim in mankind’s religious history: only the Torah claims that a large, easily identifiable group heard God speak and survived to tell about it.
Crucially, the Torah’s claim about national revelation isn’t esoteric. If a religion claimed to have started when a centipede metamorphosed into a gorilla who, falling into a river, exploded in flame and disintegrated into ashes before rising in the form of a great human prophet, we would understand why such a claim might never be repeated. It is unlikely that two people would independently dream up identical stories with such intricate and nonintuitive details. Yet the Jewish claim is obvious and simple: God spoke to a group of people. This is the sort of claim that would occur to anyone.
Moreover, the claim of mass revelation was needed by other religions. Because Jews believed that millions of people — all of their ancestors — received the Torah directly from God, they were hesitant to accept just Jesus or Muhammad’s word that the Torah had been annulled. If God changed His mind, Jewry reasoned, why didn’t He let us or any other large group of people know? Furthermore, intelligent pagans might have wondered why, if God really intended to reveal an equally acceptable alternative to Judaism, He didn’t do it in front of a few million non-Jews. By hesitating to claim a mass prophecy, early Christians and Muslims thus lost an opportunity to raise their credibility, even in the gentile world.
Skeptics who would construct apparently reasonable scenarios explaining Judaism’s beginning are thus faced with a paradox: as they become more convinced of any scenario’s plausibility, they become increasingly incapable of explaining why no other group seized the obvious, simple, and valuable claim of national prophecy. Maybe one generation of Jews was unusually wily and succeeded in forming and maintaining a national conspiracy. Maybe one generation of Jews were exceedingly gullible and incorporated the whole story without checking their older relatives. Maybe the Jews were developmentally disabled or on a massive drug trip. Maybe thunder sounded like “I am the Lord, thy God. . . .” Whatever scenario we formulate, we face the challenge: if it’s natural for an entire people to think they or their ancestors heard God speak, why didn’t it happen more than once in history? Just as thousands of failed trials would persuade us that wood cannot naturally be transformed into gold, so too the total absence from history of the most basic religious claim — national revelation — should tell us that people don’t naturally come to the conclusion that they or their ancestors experienced prophecy.
We understand the beginnings of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and modern cults. We can envision how such faiths started. But how do we explain Judaism’s genesis? What rational, natural explanation describes the events leading to the only claim of mass revelation in four thousand years of recorded human history? The proposition that God indeed spoke to the Jewish nation seems at least as probable as the alternatives.
LAWRENCE KELEMEN is the author of Permission to Believe: Four Rational Approaches to God’s Existence (Targum/Feldheim, 1990) and Permission to Receive: Four Rational Approaches to the Torah’s Divine Origin (Targum Press, 1996). He studied at U.C.L.A., YU of Los Angeles, and Harvard University. He was also a downhill skiing instructor on the staff of the Mammoth Mountain Ski School in California and served as news director and anchorman for KMMT-FM radio station. Currently he teaches medieval and modern Jewish philosophy at Neve Yerushalayim College of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. This article is taken with permission from Jewish Matters: A Pocketbook of Knowledge and Inspiration.
Comment by yamit82 — September 18, 2008 @ 9:15 am
Yamit, I’ll read your long cut and paste later, out of curiosity, since I’m always willing to live and learn and turn (so help me God), but how can you say we have nothing further to discuss when this whole thread is supposed to be about GEORGE W. BUSH? What part do you agree or disagree with what I’ve posted about his legacy (if you care to discuss the subject at hand)? Aren’t we at least in agreement that globalist Bush has been horrible for the United States and Israel?
Comment by David BenAriel — September 18, 2008 @ 11:24 am
See Yamit’s very first post on this page.
Comment by Shy Guy — September 18, 2008 @ 11:42 am
“david ben-ariel” rosh hashana is coming, we’ll the price you’ll get
Comment by Tar Yag — September 21, 2008 @ 11:02 am
hey…
exellent…
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