9. Inalienable Obligations

In each of the faith communities, it is understood that God has established the order of the physical world in which we live, and He has ordered the way in which we are to live in it. There are natural laws and processes which we do not control, but which we can utilize for good or for evil, depending upon what we value. We have natural desires that we are to control rather than letting them control us. John Stuart Mill pointed out that “To dig, to plough, to build, to wear clothes, are direct infringements of the injunction to follow nature.”¹ The natural world constrains us in many ways, but it is not our master.

Abraham Joshua Heschel said that “Our age is one in which usefulness is thought to be the chief merit of nature; in which the attainment of power, the utilization of its resource is taken to be the chief purpose of man in God’s creation. Man had indeed become primarily a tool-making animal, and the world is now a gigantic tool box for the satisfaction of his needs…. Nature as a tool box is a world that does not point beyond itself.”²

As a teacher, Nature points to God, the One who created it. “The heavens are as books telling the glory of God; and the vast expanse declares the work of His hands.”³ If we are listening and observing well, we can know His will, and the rights and responsibilities it entails.

The natural world and the human world form the setting in which we make our decisions. To some extent we are subject to both these worlds but in another sense we are to overcome them both. “And the world, to each individual, means the part of it with which he comes in contact; his party, his sect, his church, his class of society.”⁴

But there are things about God and what He requires that anyone can know, regardless of their surroundings. Abel knew, and Cain could have known. Noah knew, and his relatives could have known. Abraham knew, and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah could have known also. Mr. Singh knew. So did his son. Their neighbors could have known.

Or maybe all those who could have known actually did know. Maybe they knew, but they chose to follow some powerful human emotion or desire instead. Or they simply chose to go the way of the world.

Isa/Jesus taught that God gives a certain amount of light to everyone who comes into the world. Each individual chooses whether or not to walk in that light and pursue it. In the Day of Judgment, God will judge people according to the choices they have made. “This is the verdict: the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.”⁵

The people of Nineveh knew what was right, but they had chosen what was wrong. When they heard Jonah/Yunus the prophet declaring God’s imminent judgment, they turned away from their sins and sought forgiveness. They were not Jews, Christians, or Muslims, but God spared them because they turned to walk in the light they had been given.

In Islam, there are different categories of believers, and therefore different standards by which God assesses their faith, but every category begins with and is built upon the faith of Abraham. “And they say, ‘Be Jews or Christians and you shall be rightly guided.’ Say, ‘Rather, [ours is] the creed of Abraham a hanif, and he was not of the idolaters.’”⁶ Every believer is to be a hanif, righteous in the ways that Abraham was.

No later revelation can change who Abraham was or annul what he did. “O People of the Book! Why do you dispute concerning Abraham, as neither the Torah nor the Gospel was sent down until after him? Do you not understand?”⁷ Likewise, the Quran was sent down after Ibrahim. He lived unto God — he was God’s friend — before any of these Books were sent down.

He did not follow the particular teachings of Moses, or the particular teachings of Jesus, or the particular teachings of Muhammad. As the Quran says, these revelations present differences and distinctions which God established centuries after Abraham.

In the etymological senses of the words, all three communities would agree that everyone should be Jews/Yehudim/”praised worshippers” [of God], Christians/Christianos/”followers of the Anointed One,” and Muslims/”submitters” [to God]. In the religious senses of the words, millions have fought and died to either maintain their community identity, or to force others to switch their identity.

Though those differences and distinctions are extremely important, they do not alter the nature of God or what He desires from humanity as a whole. These can be seen in His relationship with Abraham. “Who is better in religion than the one who submits his face to God, and is virtuous, and follows the creed of Abraham as a hanif? And God did take Abraham for a friend.”⁸ In Quran we are told there is nothing better than that.

Building on that foundation, the Quran says that the Children of Israel are to follow Torah; Christians are to follow the Gospel, and other peoples of the Book are to follow whatever is in the Book which God gave to them. But there are some virtuous characteristics which Abraham exhibited that caused God to take him as a friend. Likewise, there are some vile characteristics which will cause God to reject anyone who exhibits them. There are obligations which all people have in common.

Accountability, Equity, Respect

In the different Scriptures, all human beings have rights which are given by God and obligations which are imposed by Him. An obligation is a duty required by a superior authority. There are actions and behaviors which God requires of all who are not incapable of performing them. Judgment from God will come upon all human failure or refusal to fulfill those obligations, and upon every choice to transgress the rights of others.

As expressed in the Cairo Declaration, “All men are equal in terms of basic human dignity and basic obligations and responsibilities”.⁹ God gives each person “basic human dignity” which everyone else is obligated to respect. God gives each person “basic obligations and responsibilities” which everyone is required to fulfill.

This indicates that the primary, inalienable obligation of every human being is self-government. “I” cannot free myself of that obligation — that accountability in the Day of Judgment — by entrusting it to “you”, even if you are a teacher, a religious or political leader, or an esteemed patriarch or matriarch. “You” will be held accountable for what you teach; whether it is true or false “You” will be held accountable for how you teach; whether it draws people to God or only to you. “I” will be held accountable for what I choose to believe, whether it is true or false.

The Quran speaks of how the exaltation of religious leaders can become a form of shirk, i.e. idolatry. “They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords apart from God…”¹⁰ Even as that can be true of Jewish and Christian forms, so it can also be true of Islamic forms.

It is one of the ways in which people seek to escape from the inalienable obligation to walk in the light God has given. Another way is by believing that repeating ritual phrases and actions is all that God requires. Through Isaiah the prophet, God said to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “this people has drawn near with their mouth, and with their lips they have honored Me, but they have put their heart far from Me, and their fear of Me? a commandment of men is taught.”¹¹ With their lips they say they are serving God, but what they actually believe is revealed by what they do.

Equity is essential to how we treat one another. We are not allowed to judge with bias or favoritism. In the Bible, this is expressed as: “Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.”¹²

In the Quran, the equivalent seems to be: “And give full measure when you measure, and weigh with the straight balance. That is better and more virtuous in the end.“¹³ As for those who tip the scales to their own advantage: “Woe unto the defrauders, who, when they take measure from people, demand [it] in full, and when they measure for them or weigh for them, they stint.”¹⁴ That applies as well to bias in judging one’s own actions and the actions of others.

According to all the Holy Scriptures, each individual will give account to God for the choices he or she makes. That means that along with the right of self-government, God has also given the obligation of self-government. Because the individual is ultimately accountable before God, the obligation cannot be alienated, even if some delegation of authority is permitted. To deny individual accountability is to deny that there is a Day of Accounting/Judgment for each and every individual.

Muhammad gave a form of the Golden Rule, when “The Prophet said, ‘None of you will have faith till he likes for his brother what he likes for himself.’”¹⁵ That is not authorization for imposing your likes and dislikes upon your brother. To the contrary, it is an admonition that the exaltation of one’s own needs and desires over those of one’s brother [or sister] is incompatible with Islamic faith.

It is a declation of the necessity of treating others as one would like to be treated. Muhammad was saying that the person who does not do that does not have faith. This is a categorical statement with universal application. Circumstances and situations may change, but this is presented as a constant obligation. Our obligations to God provide a firm foundation for our relationships with one another.

Yeshua/Isa gave a condensed form of how the Holy Scriptures present those obligations. He said, “‘You are to love the Everpresent Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Torah and the prophets are hung upon these two commandments.”¹⁶

The first love and obedience of every human is due to God. Love and obedience to others is to flow from that primary responsibility; even as they are to point back to God. In that way, all of life is framed by universal, inalienable obligations to God.

Priorities

The Rabbis understood the basic universal obligations to be contained in what they called “the Noachide Laws”. These are laws that God implanted within the hearts of all the descendants of Noah, even in all the descendants of Adam. They are part of God’s creation of humanity.

There are universal obligations required of all people, and there are specific obligations required of specific people. God does not treat everyone exactly the same, but He treats everyone with equity. “…Much will be required from the one to whom much is given, and more will be asked from the one to whom much was entrusted.”¹⁷

There is a passage in the Talmud which summarizes the universal obligations of Torah. “Isaiah came and reduced them to six, as it is written, “He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly, he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hand from holding of bribes, that stops his ear from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil; he shall dwell on high. …

“Micah came and reduced them to three, as it is written, ‘It hath been told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord does require of you: only to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly before your God….

“Again came Isaiah and reduced them to two, as it is said, ‘Thus says the Lord, Keep justice and do righteousness… Amos came and reduced them to one, as it is said, ‘For this is what the Lord says unto the house of Israel, Seek Me and live. …But it is Habakuk who came and based them all on one, as it is said, ‘But the righteous shall live by his faith.”¹⁸ Faith in God as He actually is should determine how we live.

Each of the Holy Scriptures commands that the believers treat others, even those who do not have the same beliefs, with respect and mercy. Some people, however, are quick to appoint themselves as God’s executioners. That is inadvisable because, first of all, the texts indicate that though some transgressions are to be punished by the human authorities which God has established, other transgressions are only to be punished by God Himself.

Secondly, “The importance of displaying the virtue of mercy among all human beings is emphasized by a hadith: ‘God is not merciful to one who is not merciful.’”¹⁹ In the Hebrew Scriptures: “With the kind You will show Yourself kind, and with the wholesome mighty man You will show yourself wholesome. With the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the perverse You will show Yourself subtle. And the afflicted people You will save; but Your eyes are upon the haughty, that You may bring them down.”²⁰

“If You, Lord, were to preserve [our] iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”²¹ Every human is guilty; some will be forgiven, some will not be. The knowledge of that fact should inspire us to walk in the fear of the Lord; i.e to fear to do those things which He has forbidden.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, God commands, “Do not go about among your people as a slanderer. Do not stand by the blood of your neighbor. I am the Lord.”²² From this and other passages, the Talmud derives the principle of pikuach nefesh: overriding lesser commandments for the saving of a human life. “R. Mattia ben Heresch said, ‘On Shabbat, one may pour medicine into the mouth of one who has a pain in his throat, because there may be danger to human life, and all danger to human life sets aside Shabbat.”²³

If it is in my power to act for the saving of a life, I am obligated by God to do so. I might be busy with something else; I might be afraid of endangering myself; the obligation remains. It is a reminder that “whosoever saves the life of one, it is as though he saved the life of mankind altogether.”²⁴ “And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”²⁵

As Moses said to the people of Israel before they entered the Land God had promised to them: “This day I call heaven and earth to testify against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”²⁶ There are many commandments, some of which are exceptionally important. But among those, Life itself stands out as a treasure which God has entrusted to humanity.

It is easier to tear down and destroy than it is to build up and protect. It is easier to use His Name than it is to show forth His character. Sometimes it is easier to hate than it is to love and respect. But what is easier in the passing whirlwind of life might not be the best choice.

It was Moses who passed on to us the record of what happened with Cain and Abel. If saving a single life is the equivalent of saving the whole world, then it should be a very high priority for all the peoples to whom God has given a Book. Moses showed us what that means. It should certainly be a goal common to all believers/submitters.

That is what gives peace its great value; it protects life. That is why there is a traditional Jewish prayer: “Grant us peace, Thy most precious gift, O Thou eternal source of peace, and enable Israel to be its messenger unto the peoples of the earth.” To be chosen by God means there is additional responsibility and accountability.

In each of the Holy Scriptures, the believers are called to be faithful, even at the cost of their lives. That might be in war, but it equally might be in peace. We are called to let God be the judge. In the Quran, God says, “For every community We have appointed a rite they are to perform; so let them not argue with thee over the matter. And call to thy Lord. Truly thou art following a straight guidance. And if they dispute with thee, say, ‘God knows best what you do. God will judge between you on the Day of Resurrection concerning that wherein you used to differ.’”²⁷

In Quran we are told, “If a group of you believe in that wherewith I have been sent, and a group of you believe not, then be patient till God shall judge between us, and He is the best of judges.”²⁸ This too is an obligation. It is a commanded recognition of God’s authority. ”And unto God belongs sovereignty over the heavens and the earth, and unto God is the journey’s end.”²⁹

A Note on Authoritative Interpretation

The rabbinic sage “Avtalion used to say: ‘You who are wise, be careful in your words so that you are not condemned to exile, and you be exiled to a place of evil waters, and the disciples who come after you drink and die, causing the Name of Heaven to be profaned.”³⁰ Avtalion had his own method of interpreting the Scriptures, a method which he taught to Hillel and Shammai, his disciples, who taught many others.

“Hillel used to say, ’Be of the disciples of Aaron [the first high priest], loving peace and pursuing peace, loving those God has created and bringing them near to the Torah.’”³¹ “Shammai used to say, ‘Do your Torah with regularity; say little but do much; and be one who receives every person with kindness.’”³²

Following them in the Talmudic tractate, Rabban Simeon, son of Gamaliel, used to say: “All my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for the body than silence. Study is not the principal thing, but the doing; and all who multiply words bring about sin. …. On three things does the world stand: on justice, on Truth, and on Peace, as it is said: ‘Judge with truth and peace in your gates.’”³³

The seventh Nasrid monarch, Yusuf Abdul Hajjaj (1333-1354 C.E.), founded the university of Granada. On the portals of one of its buildings, there is the inscription, “The world is supported by four things only: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave.”

It is a privilege and responsibility to be a teacher, especially one who teaches the Holy Scriptures. Avtalion suggested that improper teaching can bring exile and death to both teacher and student alike. We are warned, in effect, to avoid study without thinking, thinking without studying, and thinking and studying without doing. And all of these are to be done in humble submission to God in prayer.

The role of a teacher should be understood in terms of the primary inalienable obligation, from which all others flow: self-government. That obligation is also the foundation on which all human authority beyond the individual must rest. Since I have spoken briefly of the common political practice of forsaking that foundation, it is appropriate to also speak briefly of the common religious practice of forsaking that foundation.

Sometimes those who demand self-government for themselves are unwilling to grant it to others. This is a visible human tendency in many endeavors where one person wants to rule over others. God’s revelation is then turned into a vehicle for human control.

“The Prophet said that God, Blessed and Most High, said, ‘My slaves, I have forbidden tyranny for Myself, and have made it forbidden among you. So be not tyrants of one another.’”³⁴

Governmental law is written, at least in theory, to be understood by the people to whom it applies. The courts, however — and ultimately the Supreme Court — give the authoritative interpretation of the text of the law. If the courts are acting within their legitimate authority, then the citizens are required, after all appeals are exhausted, to accept their interpretation of the law.

Religions are often structured in a similar way. The Holy Scriptures are to be understood by everyone, but the authoritative interpretation is given by those at the top of the religious structure. If that elite is functioning within its legitimate authority, then their rulings must be accepted. I am not saying that this is the way it should be, but that this is the way it often is.

There are, however, as with the political realm, some claims which are not legitimate. It may be difficult to do, but it is the responsibility of the citizen and the believer to discern whether or not a claim of authority is true or false. That is part of self-government.

Humans have basically three options for determining the content of “Good” and of “Evil”. The first option is to accept the definition and content which are given by God, understanding that He has established priorities within those values. The second option is for each person to create his or her own definition and content. That is certainly possible, though likely to cause numerous conflicts in interpersonal relations.

The third option is to accept the definition and content which “society” as a whole accepts. That could take the form of “the law of the land” or the prevailing opinion of those with whom we most identify That may be what most people choose to accept, but it is certainly not an infallible guide, and it does not relieve anyone of accountability before God.

One justification for imperialism is that ‘the people are not able to understand on their own or rule themselves.’ Accordingly, some teachers teach their students to obey rather than teaching them how to think and pray. In some way, teachers and rulers are supposedly a superior kind of people.

Here is an example in Judaism for which there are parallels in Christianity and Islam. There is an ingenious way of reasoning and arguing that the Rabbis call pilpul. Some speak of it positively, while others speak of it negatively. It may be that it has both a positive aspect and a negative aspect.

It often involves assigning specific meaning to certain words without any visible basis in the text for doing so. The teacher then presents an argument and builds a proof based on these assigned meanings. This “proof” is then treated as the only legitimate interpretation.

Initially, the method was a means of tying to the text particular traditions that did not appear in the text. It was also seen as a way to stimulate greater creativity in understanding the text. Over time, “The pilpulistic method of study soon degenerated into sophistry. It was no longer regarded as a means of arriving at the correct sense of a Talmudic passage and of critically examining a decision as to its soundness. It was regarded as an end in itself; and more stress was laid on a display of cleverness than on the investigation of truth…. The adherents of this pilpulistic method did not, however, intend, by their ingenious disputations, to draw deductions for practical purposes. Its chief representatives, in order that they might not influence any one in practical matters, did not commit the results of their disputations or their hiddushim to writing. They intended merely to sharpen the minds of their pupils and to lead them to think independently; for this course precedent was to be found in the Talmud (Ber. 33b; ‘Er. 13a).”³⁵

But even in the beginning of the method, the focus was on human rationality rather than on scriptural truth. The focus was on being able to prove a point even if one knew that the point was not true. “Rab Judah said in Rab’s name: ‘None is to be given a seat on the Sanhedrin unless he is able to prove the cleanness of a reptile from Biblical texts.’”³⁶

The Biblical text is fairly explicit about such animals. For example, “These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the rat, and the mouse, and the tortoise after its kind, and the gecko, and the monitor-lizard, and the lizard, and the snail, and the chameleon.”³⁷ But to have the sharpness of mind that would qualify you to sit on the governing Council, you must be able to use the Scriptures to prove the opposite of what they explicitly say. In this way, human rationality is exalted above humility before scriptural revelation.

There are advantages to creative reasoning, but there are also disadvantages when it comes to knowing what is right. Sometimes the ability to prove a point is exalted above the desire to know what is true or just. The practice can lead some “to think independently,” but it can also lead others to become dependent upon the cleverest teacher. In terms of the Holy Scriptures, a good teacher is one who brings his students closer to the text and closer to God; not one who brings his students closer to himself instead.

“If someone gives precedence to the saying of an Imam, Mujtahid, a Ghauth, a Qutub, a religious scholar, a preceptor, a saint, one’s father or grandfather, a king, a minister, priest or a pundit over the commandments of Islamic law; or happens to prefer the ideas and methodologies devised by the preceptors and saints in an open defiance of Qur’an and Hadith; or nursing a persuasion in regard to the Prophets that Shari’ah merely consists of their own commands, to the effect that they said whatever they wished to say and it became an obligation on their Ummah to abide by their dictates. All the above things and utterances confirm one’s Shirk.”³⁸

In all these cases, following the leader is considered idolatry. In all these religions, the overwhelming majority of the people believe that obeying their esteemed leaders is a sure guarantee of pleasing God. Muhammad said that in all these religions, including Islam, 98.6% of the people are so wrong in that assumption that they will end up in the Fire.

Outside the particular faith or tradition, such assumptions make interaction with those of a different faith very difficult, because the reasonings are actually based on unstated presuppositions rather than upon the text itself. When words do not have anchored meanings, communication is impaired if not impossible. Attitudes are communicated even when content is not. Some people speak only to express themselves, not to communicate.

It is evident that there are many who are willing to fight, kill, and die for what they believe. There may be no way to reconcile warring ideologies, but there is a way to reconcile warring peoples, if they are willing to listen. In those different Holy Scriptures there is a commonality of values on which all life and government are supposed to be built. In those Scriptures, there are common exhortations to live in peace with one’s neighbors.

Faith need not be an insurmountable obstacle to working together; it can be an invaluable aid. The likelihood of that happening is increased when people actually believe what they say they believe. The likelihood of that happening is decreased when people actually follow their own thoughts and feelings rather than what they say they believe.

For Muslims, the Quran gives God’s understanding and guidance. “O you who believe! When you go forth in the way of God, be discerning, and say not unto him who offers you peace, ‘You are not a believer,’ seeking the ephemeralities of the life of this world, for with God are abundant spoils. Thus were you yourselves beforehand, but God has been gracious to you. Therefore be discerning. Truly God is Aware of whatsoever you do.”³⁹

“… So if they withdraw from you, and do not fight you, and offer peace, then GOD allows you no way against them.”⁴⁰ “And if they incline toward peace, incline thou toward it, and trust in God. Truly He is the Hearing, the Knowing.”⁴¹ (Which is to say, God is the One who knows, not you.)

“And God calls unto the Abode of Peace, and guides whomsoever He will unto a straight path.”⁴²

If one is following God, then one will walk in the ways of peace. If one is not walking in the ways of peace, then what is it that he, she, or they are truly following? Our actions show what we believe.

“We have sent down unto thee the Book in truth, confirming the Book that came before it, and as a protector over it. So judge between them in accordance with what God has sent down, and follow not their caprices away from the truth that has come onto thee. For each among you We have appointed a law and a way. And had God willed it, He would have made you one community, but [He willed otherwise], that He might try you in that which He has given you. So vie with one another in good deeds. Unto God shall be your return altogether, and He will inform you of that wherein you differ.”⁴³

God chose to make them different from you, giving them a different book and a different faith. God chose to use those differences to test you in your own faith. When you stand before Him, God will explain the differences to you. In the meantime, seek to be the people who excel in doing good.

So is there somewhere a follower of Muhammad who believes what God has said in the Quran? who believes it enough to act on it? Where are the ones whose goal is to do good to others? If you have faith, that will be your goal, for “The Prophet said, ‘None of you will have faith till he likes for his brother what he likes for himself.’”⁴⁴

Are there such followers of the revelation Muhammad brought? I don’t see and know every heart; my own heart requires a lot of my attention; but I believe there are.

Is there somewhere a follower of Yeshua/Jesus who has the faith to live in accordance with what he said? “You⁺ have heard that it was said, ‘You are to love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you⁺: love your⁺ enemies; bless those who curse you⁺. Do good to those who hate you⁺, and pray for those who mistreat and persecute you⁺. …For if you⁺ love those who love you⁺, what reward do you⁺ have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you⁺ only greet those close to you⁺, what do you⁺ do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”⁴⁵ Are there followers of his who make that effort?

Are there believers who strive to wak in the light of what Paul said? “He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all actions contrary to the Law, and might purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.”⁴⁶ Where are the followers who believe it enough to act on it? who are zealous to do good to others? even when the others are doing evil to them. “If possible, as much as it is up to you⁺, be at peace with all men.”⁴⁷

Are there those who say and live “Amen!” in response to what Yohanan/John said? “If a man says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”⁴⁸ I believe there are such followers of Yeshua.

It was Moses who communicated God’s commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.”⁴⁹ And it was Moses who, in the midst of oppression, called the Egyptians in Egypt the “neighbors” of the Children of Israel.⁵⁰ Are there somewhere followers of Moses who are committed to love their neighbors with actions, even when those neighbors are trying to kill them?

Moses had other neighbors who also tried to kill him — not just Pharaoh, but sometimes some of his own brethren as well.⁵¹ But he pleaded with God to forgive them. “Yet now, if You forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I beg You, from Your book which you have written.”⁵² Moses did not plead for them because they loved him, for they did not love him, but because he loved them, and because he loved God. That love made him willing to give up his own life (for eternity) if it would preserve theirs. I believe Moses has followers today who are willing to make the effort and pay the price.

There are Children of Cain/Qabil today who still seek to destroy life. Cain did not listen to God but thought that he could offer to Him whatever he wanted and it would be acceptable. God told Cain that he was wrong. His rage against God telling him that he was wrong caused him to kill his own brother. After God confronted Cain with the sin of killing his brother, his only voiced concern was protection for himself.⁵³ No repentance, no acceptance of responsibility.

Because everyone is descended from the same parents, all men are brothers. The question is, “What kind of brothers do we choose to be?” Can those who believe in God, though their faiths are different, work together to glorify God? There are values which they are all commanded to honor. Can they, in encouraging one another, compete with one another to do good to each other?

Or are the unbelievers correct who say, “Your God/faith has nothing to offer but compulsion, division, and death?” Friedrich Nietzsche, the celebrated nihilist, bemoaned the fact that there were so few genuine hypocrites in his day. In his understanding, genuine faith was necessary for there to be genuine hypocrisy, which would be choosing to do the opposite of what one actually believed. “Nothing seems more rare to me today than genuine hypocrisy. …The few hypocrites I have met were imitating hypocrisy: they, like almost every tenth person today, were actors.”⁵⁴

In his view, people were merely pretending to believe, even as they pretended many other things. They were giving a performance for an audience, rather than living in response to genuine faith. All the Scriptures say that God will hold each one accountable for the inalienable obligations He has given humanity.

For Nietzsche, if a person doesn’t have a genuine faith, and can’t even act in genuine hypocrisy, then why go through the motions of pretense? “Better to have no God, better to set up destiny on one’s own account, better to be God oneself!’”⁵⁵ If in reality people are only doing what they want to do rather than what they ought to do, then why carry the burden of a pretended faith? Why not just declare yourself to be your own god?

There are, of course, societal reasons for pretense, sometimes even self-preservation. Yet here is the point where Nietzsche confronts societal standards and any transcendent standard of Good and Evil. He said you should make your own standard.

A thoroughly consistent nihilist has no basis for making recommendations, because to do so presupposes meaning and purpose, but Nietzsche’s advice is to pursue the new “Good” based on the Self as god. “What is good? Everything that heightens the feeling of power in man, the will to power, power itself.”⁵⁶

That, unfortunately, is the creed of many empires and political endeavors, past and present. It is not wisdom, and it is deadly. And, unfortunately, it is also the practice of some in religious disguise.

The anarchist Max Stirner proclaimed that Man is the new God. “After the annihilation of faith… Who is his God? Man with a great M! What is the divine? The human! …instead of ‘God has become man,’ ‘Man has become God,’ etc. It is nothing more or less than a new — religion.”⁵⁷ In his morality, “I decide whether it is the right thing in me; there is no right outside me. If it is right for me, it is right.”⁵⁸

That is too stark for some to echo in words, but it is accurate enough to describe the way that humans sometimes act. That happens within religious as well as political circles. Sometimes even the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures is held captive within pseudo-authority structures.

Thousands of years after Moses and Pharaoh, in the seventeenth century C.E., John Locke aptly described the founders and rulers of empire and their intent: ”he who attempts to get another man into his absolute power, does thereby put himself into a state of war with him; it being to be understood as a declaration of a design upon his life: for I have reason to conclude that he who would get me into his power without my consent would use me as he pleased when he had got me there, and destroy me too when he had a fancy to it; for nobody can desire to have me in his absolute power unless it be to compel me by force to that which is against the right of my freedom — i.e. make me a slave.”⁵⁹

FOOTNOTES

1. JS Mill, Three Essays on Religion: Nature, The Utility of Religion, and Theism, 3d ed., (London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1874) p.20
2. Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, (NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1983) 34, 36
3. Psalm 19:2/1
4. JS Mill, On Liberty, Ebook, Ch. 2, 64.8 / 328
5. Yohanan 3:19
6. Quran, The Cow/al-Barqarah 2:135
7. Quran, The House of Imran/Al-Imran 3:65
8. Quran, Women/al-Nisa 4:125
9. Cairo Declaration, Article 1 (a).
10. Quran, Repentance/al-Tawbah 9:31
11. Isaiah 29:13
12. Proverbs 20:10
13. Quran, The Night Journey, al-Isra [Banu Isra’il] 17:35
14. Quran, Those who defraud/al-Mutaffifin 83:1-3
15. Bulugh al-Maram 6.13 “Narrated Anas …”
16. Matthew 22:37-40, citing Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:15.
17. Luke 12:48b
18. Talmud Makkot 24a
19. Study Quran note at 74394
20. 2Samuel 22:26-28
21. Psalm 130:3-4
22. Leviticus 19:16, referred to in the Talmudic passage Yoma 83-84.
23. Talmud Yoma 83a Mishnah
24. Quran, The Table Spread, al-Ma’idah 5:32. 17403
25. Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:1 (22a)
26. Deuteronomy 30:19
27. Quran, The Pilgrimage/al-Hajj 22::67-69
28. Quran, The Heights/al-Araf 7:87, [Noah v.71, 6:158; 9:52; 10:20,102; 11:122; 20:135; 52:31]
29. Quran, Light/al-Nur 24:42
30. Talmud Mishna Avot 1.11
31. Talmud Mishna Avot 1.12
32. Talmud Mishna Avot 1.15
33. Mishna Avot 1:17,18 referring to Zechariah 8:16, a chapter that speaks of the restoration of Jerusalem.
34. Sahih Muslim no. 6737, Kitab al-Birr wa’l-Silah wa’l-Adab. “Forty Hadith on Divine Mercy,” p.20, Jordan, 2009
35. “Pilpul,” Executive Committee of the Editorial Board, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906. “ḥiddushim” are a kind of commentary that search for new or hidden meaning.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12153-pilpul

36. Talmud Sanhedrin 17a
37. Leviticus 11:29-30
38. Taqwiyat Ul-Iman (Strengthening of the Faith), Shah Ismail Shaheed, Darussallam, 2nd Edition, Riyadh, 2002, pp. 95-96
39. Quran, Women/al-Nisa 4:94
40. Quran, Women/al-Nisa 4:90
41. Quran, The Spoils/al-Anfal 8:61
42. Quran, Jonah/Yunus 10:25
43. Quran, The Table Spread/al-Maidah 5:48
44. Bulugh al-Maram 6.13 “Narrated Anas …”
45. Mattathias/Matthew 5:43-44,46-47. The ⁺ in “you⁺” indicates that the Greek pronoun is plural.
46. Titus 2:14
47. Romans 12:18
48. 1Yohanan/John 4:20
49. Leviticus 19:18
50. Exodus 11:2
51. E.g. Exodus 17 (the people are about to stone Moses because of their thirst); Numbers 14 (the people want to stone Moses and have a new leader take them back to Egypt); Numbers 16 (Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and 250 leaders rebel).
52. Exodus 32:32
53. Cf. Genesis 4:13
54. Twilight of the Idols or How to Philosophize with a Hammer, “Raids of an Untimely Man,” 18, Friedrich Nietzsche, [1889] Translated by Richard Polt, (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1997) pp.60,61
55. Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra. Project Gutenberg ePub 440.8/663
56. Nietzsche, “The Anti-Christ”, The Portable Nietzsche, translated by Walter Kaufmann, (NY: Viking, 1973), P. 570
57. Stirner, Max, The Ego and His Own, Trans. by Steven T. Byington, (New York: Benj. R. Tucker, 1907), p. 74

http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/stirner/theego0.html,

58. Stirner, The Ego and His Own, p. 248
59. John Locke, Second treatise of Government, Section 17, (1690) (Project Gutenberg eBook) ePub 30.0 / 334