The Inerrancy of the Torah, Genocide, the Third Temple and the Mormons

I open this week's update with a screenshot of Craig Wescoe, my pastor, at 20 minutes 06 seconds into his most recent sermon for the Creation Care Church. The sermon is titled Friday Night Live #160: Jesus Disrupting the Temple. Craig is gesturing as Jeremiah 7:22 sets off a theological explosion in his mind. It does in my mind, too. Is Jeremiah here and in verse 8:8 teaching us that some parts of the Torah (the first five books of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible) are not inspired? That some of the verses in the Torah - such as the animal sacrifices and the apparent genocide of the Canaanites - may even be misrepresentations of God's will? The Torah is canonical in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but there is spirited debate within and across these three Abrahamic traditions concerning the divine inspiration of some Torah verses (cf. Corruption in the Bible: The Muslim Stance and Tahrif and the Torah: The Views of the Early Muslim Writers and Polemicists on the Authenticity of the Hebrew Scriptures). My sense of the debate is that it is necessary to consider some Torah passages as possible misrepresentations of God's will, at least during critical periods in our theological development (cf. The Value of Doubt | Jewish Theological Seminary and Rabbi Sacks on Doubt | Video | The Rabbi Sacks Legacy). On the other side of the coin, it also seems necessary for us to consider these difficult passages as correct depictions of God's will, at least for a particular dispensation, even when we are moved to abhorrence by God's apparent moral calculus. Our abhorrence challenges us to engage in searching theological inquiry with faith-based philosophical experts like William Lane Craig. Once we have grappled under these experts with the problem of evil in the iron age texts, the difficult passages in the Torah function as tests of our commitment to the True and the Good - tests that take us on an astonishing diversity of individual learning journeys within and outside of higher criticism. As people of faith in the Torah, we believe that all of these interacting journeys will ultimately lead world history to God's intended outcome. Perhaps I may fairly call this a doctrine of the Torah's teleological inerrancy. 

So much for the current state of my Bibliology. April is Genocide Awareness Month, and regarding the question of genocide and the Torah - perhaps by the God of Israel in the past and perhaps by the government of Israel today - let me hasten to recall that Jews are the world's leading experts on the subject, having continued their study of the Torah through the Babylonian captivity, the Diaspora, and the Holocaust. Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish jurist, first coined the term genocide during World War II. Especially in light of the Holocaust, every Christian and every Muslim who stands by the Torah as sacred scripture is obligated to think deeply about what God is saying in these five foundational books. As I see it, God has pinned the Jews between a rock and a hard place. If they don't manage Israel in accordance with the finest contemporary synthesis of Torah (the rock) and international law (the hard place), God will turn Israel into a pariah state. This will delay the Messianic era, and all peoples will suffer as a consequence. Therefore, I think it is incumbent on the world to help the Jews continue to wisely and courageously bear the immense responsibility for the state of Israel that God has placed on their shoulders. On one hand, God may not want the Jews to surrender any of the territory they now control. On the other hand, God may want the Jews to surrender some of the territory they currently occupy in the service of a two-state solution. Some theologians may even ask whether God is using the Palestinians to reclaim disputed territory from the Israelis as a chastisement for Jewish sins, including the cardinal sin of rejecting Jesus as their Messiah (cf. Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East | Desiring God). I disagree completely with this point of view, but if it is correct, then the conscription of Haredim assumes additional theological weight. Instead of fighting with Hamas after Israel broke the most recent ceasefire, Haredi men should perhaps be studying ICC, ICJ, and New Testament literature while praying for guidance from Hashem on Israel's behalf - in tandem with Israel's judiciary and Attorney General. This is how some Christians see it. 

As someone discerning the Christian vegan hermit's path here in upstate New York, I am well aware of the Native American genocide, which together with the African slave trade surely comprises the worst sin of European Colonialism in North America. (This is not, of course, to deny the existence of either pre-Columbian slavery or colonial European virtue). I am further aware of contemporary allegations of genocide in Xinjiang, in Tibet, and on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine War. Indeed, I am well aware of a long line of genocide on every continent (cf. Genocide: A World History and Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur). It's a tragic inheritance that we definitely want to transcend with God's own deep longing and help. This is why we have inherited the Genocide Convention of 1948 (the same year Israel was reborn, and the word "vegan" was coined). We are in a new dispensation, and America is a powerful force for good in this dispensation's fight against genocide and racial discrimination. Maybe America is the most powerful such force now on Earth. Whether or not this is true, I trust America can do better in the fight against genocide and antisemitism, and I am praying that God will inspire President Trump to do just that. Regardless of what Trump decides to do about Iran - fraught with risk as all the options are - Gaza is an immediate humanitarian crisis. What is the American plan for Gaza now? Some devout Christians supported President Trump's assertion that Gaza will be unlivable during a total rebuild, certainly for much more than 500,000 civilians during the first half of reconstruction. Some of us also believe we'll need an international teacher corps to help with education reform in Sinai refugee camps for those who choose a right to return over voluntary permanent migration out of Palestine (cf. Reform Gaza Education System | USIEA). Especially for those who believe Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, it seems absolutely essential, under international law, to demand that Egypt open its border for refugees. But in that case, it is probably necessary to send in UN peacekeepers, too. And this could end up in something like a UN General Assembly proposal to override the use of a single Security Council veto on Chapter VII genocide intervention votes. (Whether it should be possible to override two P5 vetoes is another question altogether). 

On the subject of the Third Temple, I am very much looking forward to next week's class in the Vegan Christian Discipleship School, which will focus specifically on the possible resumption of animal sacrifice on the Temple Mount. In the meantime, I would like to draw your attention to What About the Temple Sacrifices? by John Enarson from Cry for Zion. In his opening, Enarson writes: "First off, Cry for Zion is focused squarely on Israel exercising its full, legal sovereignty and guaranteeing Jewish freedom on the Temple Mount. That said, how the Jewish people justly administer and develop the site—including rebuilding the Temple—is their choice." This is an important argument. I am very sympathetic to Jewish self-determination, but I think the basis for its unilateral application to the Temple Mount needs to be more fully developed. For example, the Olmert - Al-Kidwa Plan calls for multilateral sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem. Why is this not a better solution to the Temple Mount administration issue, all things considered? 

Allow me to close with an update about my church attendance. I attended The Peaceable Kingdom Hour - Episode 33: An Easter Special live with Matthew King on Sunday, and as noted at the top of this weblog entry, I watched a Creation Care Church service in its recorded version later on Sunday afternoon. Beyond these virtual connections, my next closest local church is a Mormon temple. It's very walkable and it's quite attractive. Coincidentally - or perhaps it's a sign from God - this Mormon temple is located at 420 New Scotland Avenue, and April 20th will be our last "4/20" Easter until 2087. I have been taking this coincidence (which could also be a mild delusion of reference) as instruction from the Holy Spirit to look into Mormonism. The Mormons offer bread and water communion, they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, and, like me, they don't drink alcohol, coffee, or caffeine tea. They do permit medical cannabis use. Mitt Romney got 47 percent of the vote against Barack Obama in 2012. Is it more common to be a Mormon or a vegan in America these days? Are Mormons more Christian than I am? If I am indeed experiencing a call to walkable Sunday mass with bread and water, does Mormon communion meet my minimum ecumenical standard? Do I meet theirs? As you can see, I have many questions. The bottom line is that I am now asking myself where I stand ecumenically in relation to Mormonism. I've taken into account The Question of the Validity of Baptism conferred in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as reasonably authoritative sources. I've also been reflecting on The Wentworth Letter, several YouTube videos, and everything I have in my personal memory bank related to Mormonism. At this point, I think the Holy Spirit is telling me two things this Good Friday as we head into Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. First, I need to be patient, trust in my own experiences of personal revelation, and wait for the fullness of the Gospel to be made clear to me in time. Second, I may not agree with the Mormons on a number of doctrines, but that doesn't mean they don't have an essential piece of the End Times puzzle to teach me. The Catholic Church puts it well: "Catholics and Mormons often find themselves working together on a range of problems regarding the common good of the entire human race. It can be hoped therefore that through further studies, dialogue and good will, there can be progress in reciprocal understanding and mutual respect."