SHOULD YOU VOTE? FATE.....OR FATALISM? An Error in Logic

One common belief that made the rounds after the election of George W. Bush was that whoever won the election was "God's choice". Bush  "won"; therefore, it was meant to be. God had spoken, and He chose Bush. Strangely, I haven't heard the same belief expressed by the so-called "Christian Right" (which is neither Christian nor right) about Obama's election. I've, however,  heard a similar belief from conservatives, as well as fatalistic liberals; many of them mistakenly believe that whatever happens must be the will of God. As the bumper sticker reads, "Relax, God is in control". They feel that God will somehow override the political process and cause his favorite to win.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are those who believe that all political activity, including even casting a ballot, is somehow "sinful". Traditionally, the Amish and Mennonites adhered to this belief, but now we see disaffected voters who boycott the elections. "It doesn't matter who you vote for," they whine at the sidelines. Others refuse to vote their conscience, picking instead the "lesser of two evils".  "Otherwise, you are throwing away your vote," they reason.

However, a political election can hardly be seen as a reflection of the will of God. In a Democracy, all citizens can vote, if eligible - not just Christians. Does God use the votes of atheists and Satanists? What about the votes of "false" religions and cults, like the Moonies?

According to Medieval belief, the Kings were divinely appointed by God. This was known as the "divine right of Kings". The belief in the “divine right of kings” is, of course, undemocratic, as it implies that disobedience to the king is actually disobedience to God. This is what some Christians would have you believe, though, especially when "their" favorite candidate wins!

In order to believe that the election was somehow a reflection of the will of God, we also have to believe that God's will is made manifest in the lives of those who don't believe in Him. If everything that happens is the will of God, then we must accept that every child who dies of cancer has died due to God's will. We also must believe that horrible events in human history, such as the Holocaust, were direct manifestations of the will of God. This is a very severe view of human history, as well as a harsh view of God. I don't think that I would want to worship such a God.

Fate versus Free Will

This begs the question: If everything that occurs is fated by God, then what is "sin"? If everything that happens in the world is the will of God, then there can't be such a thing as sin, can there? If you take this idea to the extreme, then why bother to be a Christian? God's will will be done, whether I am a Christian or not. Maybe I wasn't "fated" to be a Christian. In Christian theology, this idea is known as "Predeterminism"- some were "fated" to be "saved", and some weren't, and there's nothing you can do about it.

So if everything that occurs was meant to be, isn't it cruel for God to punish people for doing "wrong", if it was His will for me to do wrong in the first place? If you apply this attitude to the Presidential Elections, then God will decide who will become president - so why bother voting? Many voters simply stayed home and didn't bother to vote in the German elections for Chancellor in 1932, reasoning that their votes wouldn't make much of a difference, anyway. Hindenburg won by a very slim margin, then Hitler was made Chancellor. Was that God's will? Did God divinely "choose" Hitler to be the leader of the German people?

Fatalism vs. the cross

The word "fatalism" is of Latin origins, deriving from the names of the Roman pagan deities, the "Fatas".
Here is some info, taken from the website takeourword.com, regarding this word's etymology:

"Surprisingly, it is derived from the Latin fata "fates" (plural of fatum "fate").  The literal meaning of fatum is "that which has been spoken" (from the verb fari "to speak") and implies a destiny which has been pronounced by the gods.  In Roman mythology, the Fata were the three terrifying sisters Nona, Decima and Parcae, who determined the length and quality of each person's life. "

This belief is not a Judeo- Christian belief, but one whose fruits are the basest form of nihilism, decadence and cruelty. Roman society was renowned for its cruelty, bestiality, violence and bloodshed. It's interesting, then, that some Christians have adopted paganistic beliefs into their theology.

Thank God, the Bible does not teach fatalism; we don't believe in an angry, harsh taskmaster who sets us up to sin, then condemns us for all eternity at his own whims. That's not our God - that's more like the god of the Romans, Zeus, who favored whomever he pleased, and lashed out in jealousy at anyone who displeased him.

The Bible teaches that the cosmos comes from God, and that its beauty and intricacy are a reflection of His will. However, all creation also was given free will- and thus, the capacity to do His will, as well as to do what is contrary to His will. Seen this way, world events can be the will of God, at times, since God reserves the right to intervene when we ask Him to. However, not all world events are God's will.

In the book of Exodus, chapter two, we read the story of the birth of Moses. Pharoah commanded the deaths of all the Hebrew infants-  an evil action. Pharoah's daughter disobeyed the will of her father, and had pity on the baby she found in the water. Unlike today's "fatalistic" Christians, Pharoah's daughter did what she knew in her heart was right, and didn't meekly accept the rule of Pharoah to be the will of the gods.

Here we see the will of those who do evil juxtaposed with God's intervention, and His will made manifest despite Pharoah's actions. God would certainly prefer it that we would all do His will, but He only will directly intervene in human affairs to the extent that we allow Him to.

The cross represents the will of God meeting the human condition - the vertical line reaching up to heaven, and the horizontal representing the earth's horizon. On the cross, God made the ultimate intervention, and the most radical sacrifice ever made. Jesus, who could raise men from the grave, who could turn water into wine, and whose oratory powers could astound and bewilder the greatest teachers of His day, certainly could have prevented his execution.

Instead, He refused to speak in His own defense. What would impel Him to do such a thing? Two things - firstly, His substitutionary death on the cross was foretold by the Prophets, and was the will of God. Secondly, He gave us Himself as an example of radical nonviolence.

Which brings us to the topic of Prophecy-  if God gave us free will, and everyone has the right to choose what to do, then how can prophecy operate? How can God know what will happen beforehand?

This is a divine paradox - God is omnipotent, meaning He is all-powerful. However, He has limited His power over us, so that we can exercise our free will. The paradox goes further-  if He is all-powerful, then He also must know all things - otherwise, knowledge would be greater than God, and, therefore, God would not be omnipotent. Therefore, God knows what our choices will be before we make them.

Christians have a responsibility to make wise choices, therefore. We will be held accountable for our choices. We can't just make lousy choices, then claim that whatever God wanted was fated to be. So go out and vote, but vote for a candidate who truly reflects your moral and ethical belief system, not just the "lesser of two evils".

So what about the two choices before us? The two-party system is similar in many ways to the choices you see at a fast-food strip, featuring KFC and Taco Bell - two different "tastes" owned by the same company. While the parties differ in "lifestyle" issues such as abortion and gay rights, they are essentially the same on the real "meat and potatoes" issues - jobs, health care, education and war. Both parties are in favor of cutting social programs in order to benefit big banking, the military and the prison-industrial complex. It's ironic that a guy who grew up nominally Muslim and a Mormon are the only two choices for a nation that used to be devoted to the Judeo-Christian tradition.

And why shouldn't they have more or less the same platform? They are both beholden to the same big business and banking interests who pour millions of dollars into their campaigns. So long as the corporate candidates hold all the power, nothing in the US will change.

Even worse, while Jesus upheld the sanctity of all life, even refusing to participate in an execution by stoning (which was unthought-of in his day), both parties support the extinction of human life, while upholding the bizarre doctrine that a corporation is a person. Is there a real difference? The democrats believe you are a person AFTER you are born, but have no rights even one hour before birth. The republicans believe you have rights BEFORE you were born (and wouldn't even allow a raped or ill woman to abort), but AFTER birth, you lose the right to healthcare, housing and education.

My suggestion? There are tons of small independent parties. Sure, you could be "throwing away your vote", but it is preferable to throwing away your soul or conscience voting for the devil.

The London Riots- UK's Chickens Come Home to Roost

For years, we have been telling young people that they are what they buy, wear and own. We have been feeding them a steady diet of nihilism, violence and materialism. The recent riots across the UK show what happens when a whole generation of young people, bereft of values, is let loose in a society in crisis. We can soon expect similar riots in the US. The reason is clear- as the bible says, "You shall reap what you sow".

The pretext of the riots, police brutality and racism, quickly devolved into random violence. It would be easy to blame this on "black youths", but the pictures show another story. We saw young people, boys and some girls, of all colors, rioting, looting and setting fire to shops, cars and homes. Disenfranchised, alienated and hopeless, they took out their frustrations on whatever or whoever was at hand.

In the US in the days of the Great Depression, there was a spirit of unity. The idea that "we're all in this together" held society together, and while some social unrest occurred, on the whole, people made an effort to get along. One reason for this was that Roosevelt insisted that every segment of society should "buckle up" and make sacrifices, while at the same time, he provided relief for the neediest. The message was clear- all human beings are deserving of basic dignity, and our monetary worth is not the sum of our human worth.

Furthermore, people in those days had a belief in the greater good, which was linked to the common belief in spiritual values. Granted, religious beliefs alone do not make a person good, but for those who are inclined to goodness, there is a foundation for living one's faith, and for those searching, there is a direction. 

Today, not just in the US, but across Europe and the rest of the industrialized world, governments are slashing budgets for social programs, all the while refusing to add one penny of tax for the upper crust. Multinationals, banking cartels and the defense industry are making record sums of money, while the poorest of the poor are treated like rubbish. The message is clear- those who have money are somehow worth more than those without. Without the designer clothes, the fancy car and the flashy clothes, you are nothing. Is it any wonder that young people crave these things?

Delayed gratification is nullified by advertising campaigns that tell us to buy now, pay later. Kids have watched as, for decades, their parents and elders have paid for everything on credit, sometimes getting things they could not afford. A sense of entitlement has trickled down from the very rich, who are held up as idols. Paris Hilton, a woman with no discernible talent, is lionized by the press while millions wait at the local food pantry for a bag of canned goods.

Meanwhile, for decades, religious values and morals have been scoffed at, and parents began to believe that so long as kids have adequate food, clothing and some kind of job training, their needs are being met. We all forgot somewhere along the way that our greatest need is the need for meaning. Kids who are left to solve the riddle of their own existence on their own find themselves overwhelmed and rudderless in a sea of confusion. They see that their elders not only are without answers, they refuse to acknowledge the questions. The kid whose parents refuse to provide moral guidance may join the Taliban, become a skinhead or join a religious cult.  We let them "choose their own values", afraid to tell them what to believe, mainly because we are afraid of having our own lack of faith and integrity questioned. Is it any wonder that they respond with violence?

Money and materialism have also steered society for too long. "Extras" such as music, the arts and sport have been cut, in favor of "practical" programs that are more money-oriented. We often use money and careers as a "motivation" for kids to stay in school, not noticing as their eyes glaze over, and they begin to tune out more and more. The message we send kids is that money is all that matters. The things that make life meaningful are delegated to being "extras". Without the arts as a means of self-expression, they will express themselves the only way they know how: with brute force. 

Who owns the television stations that pump kids up with value-free violence? Who owns the radio stations and record companies that promote music for "gangstas" and ""pimps"? Certainly not the young people! Yet calls to monitor the film, television or game industry are pooh-poohed as forms of "censorship". We forget that teenagers are still too immature to make wise choices.

We, the adults, have got to start behaving like adults. We have to be the role models that young people crave, and stop shirking responsibility. Parents have to stop blaming teachers, teachers have to stop blaming parents, and corporations that make money marketing products have to start showing some corporate responsibility. And lastly, we need a return to spiritual principles and embracing our humanity instead of materialism, hedonism and nihilism. These riots ought to be a wake-up call to act now, before something similar-or even far worse - comes to your town.

How to Destroy a Nation in 15 Easy Steps, or What Happened to the USA: a cautionary tale

1. Attack ALL tradition, even relatively innoculous traditions, like religious feasts, parades, traditional clothing, etc. Make sure that people follow fashion instead of tradition. Change the fashions as quickly as possible, so that people will have no time to attend to important matters, being continually consumed with following the latest trends. "New architecture", consisting of ugly buildings devoid of ornament, should be promoted. Old buildings that are beautiful should be torn down, so that people have little connection to the past. "Modern music" that is sterile, devoid of human feeling and hypnotic in effect should be promoted as well. Folk music, traditional forms of art and architecture should be eliminated. Art and film should reinforce a style that is either entirely devoid of meaning or substance, or simply decadent. "High art" should be eliminated from popular culture, and sneered at as "old fashioned" and "high brow". Thus demoralized, the population will be easier to manipulate.

2. Divide people by minor traits such as skin color. Reinforce these differences by treating people differently, or creating identity movements. Create separate magazines, television programs, radio stations, etc., so that people will be divided as much as possible.

3. Divide people by age. Make sure that young and old cannot wear the same clothing, eat the same foods, listen to the same music, or even speak the same language. Create a "generation gap". This will make it virtually impossible to create a community of resistance.

4. Create a plethora of different political groups, appealing to different factions, all proposing the same policies, and none of them offering meaningful change. Put "your people" in every party.

5. Make sure that most people work at jobs that have little relation to their lives. Eliminate self-employment as much as possible, so that most people are completely dependent on corporations and anonymous multinationals. Slowly lower the wages and make sure that people have to work at several jobs to get by. A nation that is being worked to death cannot put up any resistance. They will not be able to take time off to demonstrate. 

6. Make sure that the nation is more and more dependent on imported goods. Eliminate small, family-run farms and locally owned factories. Bit by bit, send all meaningful work overseas to foreigners. A nation that produces nothing but debt will be easily cut off from outside resources. Those jobs that remain will be fought over by a desperate populace, who have lost their self-respect and self-sufficiency. 

7. Make sure that the nation goes into debt. In order to do this, it is necessary to encourage spending and discourage thrift. Consumerism and a life of shopping will mean that people will do anything to "keep up with the Joneses".

8. Attack the family and traditional marriage as "old fashioned". Make traditional virtues such as chastity, faithfulness and loyalty unfashionable, and replace them with "sexual liberation". Hire women to do menial work, paying them much less than men, so that one-parent families will be thrust into poverty. The children growing up without fathers or mothers will be easy to manipulate. Some can be taken by the state, raised to be "killers", and sent to the army. Undermine parental authority, so that children will do as they please. With the help of the media, you can steer them to do as you please.

9. Attack the traditions of the army. Make sure that morale is as low as possible, by allowing and encouraging abuse of power, rape and torture. Punish whistle-blowers, so that the most competent, ethical members of the armed forces will resign in disgust. When such abuse occurs, make sure that it is readily publicized, so that people will fear and distrust their own government. 

10. Attack or sublimate traditional religion.  Those that cannot be turned into mouthpieces for propaganda can be eliminated through infiltration, division and scandal. Send spies to the theology seminars, and have them seduce priests, pastors and seminarians. Disseminate heresy and pass it off as "new thinking". Encourage atheism. Meanwhile, pour as much money as possible into "fringe groups", sects and cults so that there is little unity among people. Make sure that legitimate religion is cast into the same pot as fanatical sects, so that people can see little difference between the two. A nation that is godless is also without morals, and can be persuaded to do anything that is suggested, including murder and cannibalism.

11. Find anything that is traditionally a sexual taboo (pedophilia, sadomasochism, bestiality) and re-label them "alternative lifestyles" and use the issue of sexuality as a wedge issue. Make sure you stoke as much controversy as possible, by allowing religious "fanatics" to have equal time with "perverts". Eliminate indecency laws, and allow pornography to flourish, becoming more and more crude. Meanwhile, divide people on the issue of "freedom of speech", so that they equate freedom with pornography, sexual libertinism and vulgarity. People will be so involved in defending their own positions on these issues, that they will barely notice that their nation is being taken over.

12. Attack the traditional school and university system, making sure that "new methods" do not encourage young people to think for themselves, but merely teach them to memorize facts, repeat other people's opinions and regurgitate information. Slowly lower standards so that the typical student is ill-informed and lazy. Discourage logical thinking. Meanwhile, "dumb down" all newspapers, television reports and books. Denigrate the study of history, politics, philosophy or theology and encourage young people to confine their studies to "practical" matters, such as business, engineering, banking, accounting, etc. You will then have a mass of willing slaves to perform remedial tasks such as bookkeeping, data processing, banking or graphics, none of which will be able to convincingly challenge your rights to do as you please. 

13. Plant some of your own people in positions of authority. Make sure that they propose laws that will undermine freedom and political transparency. If anyone opposes them, accuse them of being unpatriotic or old-fashioned. Use the word "patriotism" to your own advantage, diverting its meaning so that it is equated with flag-waving and nationalism instead of traditional values or traditions.    

14. Consolidate all news media and publishing companies, so that "your people" control virtually all that people see, hear, read or experience. Package propaganda as "entertainment". Vulgarize the arts so that they appeal to sensationalism instead of reflective thought.  Attack independent media by either "buying them out" or "shutting them down". Use the media to distract people with an unending stream of useless information, disinformation, scandals, gossip and trashy programming, so that they barely have time to attend to serious matters.

15. Without religion or traditions, moral and ethical objections to your political takeover will be rendered toothless. Set up fascist laws under the pretext of "security". Attack traditionalists as fundamentalists, reactionaries or terrorists. Attack liberal opponents as socialists or anarchists. Without laws guaranteeing fair trials, it will be easy to allow your opponents to "disappear", or die under "mysterious circumstances". You will now have the support of enough of the population that it will be relatively easy to take over. Many will barely notice a change in slave masters.

The Blue Meanies of Our Age

I've recently been re- viewing an old childhood favorite of mine, the Beatles animated classic, "The Yellow Submarine", a psychedelic, pun-filled journey with the animated Beatles as they transverse through various seas, and use music as a weapon against the "Blue Meanies". I started reflecting on how succinctly the film depicts the cultural conflicts of its age, and what that means for us today.

The Beatles animated film was both a product of its time and a precursor of what was to come. The Beatles were, at the time, in the midst of the maelstrom of their time, culturally, politically and spiritually. Society was at a turning point. Social forces that had, up to that time, been kept in check, were now ready to be unleashed upon society.

The film's writers, no doubt strongly influenced by the messages and themes inherent in the Beatles' songs, could not help but be aware of the powerful currents of change in society at that time. The old order was crumbling. The new order and its ascendance was unmistakably present. The question was whose side were you on? The film's message, on the surface, seems to be a children's tale of the power of love and positivism. On a deeper level, however, the Beatles themselves are caught between the two sides, embodying this cultural conflict within themselves.

The two sides, representing love and madness, are embodied by the opposite forces, the residents of Pepperland and the Blue Meanies.

The residents of Pepperland, as well as Jeremy Boob, represent the traditional culture- one that valued order, authority, intellectual and artistic pursuits. It is no accident that Old Fred is represented as playing the violin. The rulers of Pepperland are so ancient that "Young Fred" seems to be at least 70 years old. Old Fred is positively ancient. Old Fred, as well as Boob, are, unfortunately, too out of touch to respond to the forces of evil in their midst. Old Fred, when warned of imminent attack, responds with, "They wouldn't dare". Boob, the "Nowhere Man", is helpless until the very end. Only George's advice, to box the Meanie, enables him to defend himself.

The meanies represent the forces of fascism and nihilism. Hating all beauty, they shout, "A thing of beauty, destroy it forever." Likewise, they hate music above all. The word "know", representing knowledge, is replaced by "no", negativity and oppression. They seem to have much in common with the communists, with their Draconian rules and one-party system, or with Fascism. The people under the iron fist of authority (represented by the flying glove) become monochromatic and dull, as all that is beautiful is prohibited. 

The blue meanies of the arts and academia do not merely want to destroy things of beauty, then, they want to destroy the very idea of the beautiful, by erasing all memory of beauty. Snatches of beauty, heard throughout the film, are reminiscences of long-forgotten beauty, and are quickly dismantled. In the sea of monsters, we hear a strain of Bach, only to be blown up by the monster's cigar. The traditional arts, based on studying the art of the past, and building on this structure, are here represented by the old-fashioned residents of Pepperland, with their love of art, music and culture. 

The art and music scene, as well as the realm of philosophy and the humanities, was being beset by the forces of nihilism at the height of the 60's. Andy Warhol was making what could be termed "anti-art", turning art into a commodity. This was not accidental; Warhol conceived his art as an extension of mass marketing and pop culture- it was meant to be as "throwaway" as the culture it represented. John Cage did similar things with music. Both were taking "rubbish" of consumer society and transforming it into art, thereby reducing art and music to a commodity, a temporary pleasure based more on the experience of the viewer or public than the intentions of the artist. 

According to Douglas Shearer: 

"Traditionally, art expresses the noblest impulses of the specific culture that produces it.  But American art, since Andy Warhol, profanes the noble and ennobles the profane. And that's typically American: Americans distrust 'all embracing cultural ethics' because they threaten "personal choice". That thought underlies Warhol's two most famous paintings, 'Brillo box' and 'Tomato Can'." 

"Beauty is Truth, truth beauty"- the opposite of this belief is the idea that there is no truth, or that truth is relative. Similarly, then, beauty cannot be absolute. A garbage pail could, according to nihilistic philosophy, be just as beautiful as a flower. 

Nihilism can often be seen in the realm of film. Mean-spirited films, full of unlikable characters, often with downbeat endings, seek to punish the viewer into a dismal, hopeless view of life. The effects of continual demoralization can be seen everywhere. On the archetypal level, good triumphing over evil is the "default" theme, and can be seen in every culture, in folktales, art and poetry. The Blue Meanies, in their hatred of such words as "yes" or "love" and their especial hatred of music and the divine impulses that it engenders in us, would have been pleased to see our society destroyed by nihilism and the amorality that goes with it. 

The old order, which included a love of learning for its own sake, is mockingly represented in the person of Jeremy Boob, who is full of knowledge, yet lonely and foolish. Lord Mayor and even Young Fred are, at best, incompetent. It is their incompetence and unwillingness to recognize the looming danger of the Blue Meanies that spells their disaster.  

Nihilism, however, is a non-sustainable belief that contains its own destruction. It is like a virus that eventually destroys its host. The sucker monster sucks up everything in its path, including its own tail, much like the old masonic symbol of a snake eating its own tail. Similarly, the sentence, "There is no absolute truth" contradicts itself, for the sentence itself, then, cannot be true. The prohibition against absolute truths and absolute beauty must, and will, be destroyed.

The Beatles themselves straddle the two extremes. Indeed, their music, at the time, embodied both musical traditions, employing ragtime, skiffle, blues and classical influences as well as avante garde influences, such as Musique Concrete, atonality and free jazz. Similarly, their philosophy, as expressed in the film, is at times, simplistic, such as "All you need is love". At other times, Eastern philosophy, and its emphasis on the unreality of reality is expressed, by George saying, "It's all in the mind". 

Often, the Beatles give practical advice that had never occurred to the older generation, as typified by "Young Fred".  "Press a button", they tell Young Fred, starting the submarine. At one point, John must turn the hands of the clock forwards, so they will stop going backwards in time, something that did not occur to the hapless, helpless Young Fred. In a way, they are a fusion of both old and new ways of thinking, eager to experiment, but giving the residents of Pepperland new life through their music.

In Pepperland, evil is defeated by love. This is the message of the film, in a kernel - that love conquers all. This optimistic, upbeat message epitomizes the very spirit of the sixties generation, with its sense of boundless possibilities.

Unfortunately, the optimism of the 60s was soon shattered. Evil forces are not so easily won over. The first signs were the assassination of four unarmed peace protesters at Kent State University in 1970 and the government-approved murders of Dr. King, Malcolm X and Robert Kennedy. The subsequent virtual takeover of the US government by the Military Industrial Complex and the CIA proved to many that a peaceful victory over evil was virtually impossible. 


In our time, the creation of a CIA-sponsored "Islamist" movement in the Middle East (which mimics the "Pepperland" Blue Meanies by hating music and the arts), as well as a government-engineered corporation-friendly "Christian Right" movement designed to uproot and supplant the burgeoning Liberation Theology Movement, are more signs that the Blue Meanies are now in charge.