Cheap Seats 2023 By Rich Trzupek

Tolerance – and Not - 12/13

By Rich Trzupek
  As we continue to evaluate and act upon the claims and contradictory claims, let’s consider the story of Noah and the Great Flood. The story of a Great Flood turns up in the traditions of so many cultures and religions that it seems very likely that some kind of tremendously damaging cataclysm involving a flood did occur sometime during pre-history. In Judeo-Christian tradition, that event was Divine Retribution aimed at a world that had grown more and more wicked. There are certainly some Jews and Christians who continue to believe this is literal, historical fact. Perhaps it is. Yet, in modern times, most Jews and Christians would not dismiss the possibility that an ancient flood occurred on a scale so huge that it became part of many, many oral histories.
  On the other hand, most of us would say that it was likely a natural phenomenon that religious writers heard about and used to make a point about the relationship between God and man, not that an enraged Supreme Being turned the tap water on to “full” and allowed one family to ride out the storm with a single mating pair of every animal on earth. If nothing else, a genetic pool of “two” for all the creatures on the planet isn’t going to make for strong generations to follow.
  The Quran tells the story of Noah and the Great Flood as well, but it’s a bit of a different story. The Quran tells us that God was angry because heresy was spreading: More and more people were turning away from Islam, the one and only “true” religion. In His wrath, God sent down the flood, allowing only Noah, his family (minus one apostate son) and any other true believers to survive.
  The climax of the Noah story in the Judeo-Christian tradition occurs near its end, at Genesis 9, verse 8. The floodwaters have receded. Noah, his family and all the creatures on the ark have survived. God does not use this moment to emphasize the awesome power He possesses to crush anyone who defies Him. Instead, he reassures Noah, and through Noah all of humanity, that the days of mass punishment and Supreme Rage are over:
  I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.
  This is a story of reassurance. Having thoroughly established His primacy and power, God picks this moment to step back and establish a new, more trusting relationship with His people.
  One can interpret the Noah story in the Torah and the Bible in other ways of course, but that’s the real point here. Even if I were to disagree with Christian fanatics as looney as the congregation of the Westboro Baptist Church about the Noah story, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t issue orders to their members to murder me on sight and thus get themselves a free pass to heaven.
  The tale of Noah (or “Nuh”) is told differently in the Quran. Nuh had been preaching the truth of Islam for more than 950 years before God decides to wipe out the unbelievers by means of a tremendous flood. The unbelievers die, the believers and animals are saved after riding out the storm on the ark and then the waters recede. There is no New Covenant at the end of the Great Flood story in the Quran. Instead, one is left with the impression of a God doubling down on the value and need for His Righteousness and Wrath in a wicked world.
  The conclusion of Nuh’s story in the Quran is the mirror image of the prodigal son parable in the Bible. In the Quran, one of Nuh’s sons rejects the safety of the ark, because he does not believe in God and figures he can save himself, by himself. He is remarkably unsuccessful in that effort, drowning before he can reach high ground.
  Losing a son, even a disbeliever of a son, understandably troubles Nuh: “O my Lord!  Verily my son is of my family! And certainly your promise is true and you are the Most Just of the judges.” (Quran 11:45)
  God is not in the least sympathetic to Nuh’s complaints. A son who rejects the True God, is not a son at all He says: “Oh Noah!  Surely, he is not of your family; verily, his work is unrighteous, so ask not of Me that of which you have no knowledge!  I admonish you, lest you be one of the ignorants (sic).” (Quran 11:46)
  The parable of the prodigal son encourages Christians to exercise patience and understanding when loved ones stray from the path of righteousness and celebrates redemption should they return. The angry God who tells Nuh that his wayward son is not his son at all is neither patient nor understanding and, since this is by definition the unalterable Word of God, the story of Nuh therefore can be used to encourage Muslims to be equally intransient and brutal.
  In broad terms, the Quran initially portrays Christians and Jews fellow “peoples of the Book.” Islam acknowledges Abraham, Moses and Jesus as prophets, but rejects the idea that Jesus is Divine. Still, since those religions share a common heritage, Allah, through Gabriel initially instructs Muhammad to be somewhat tolerant of Christians and Jews. Later, when neither group gets with the program, Allah gets somewhat more pissed-off at both groups, but especially at the Jews who, at that time, occupied substantial positions of influence in the Middle East.
  This sort of culture/faith baiting and condemnation is not unusual in the context of the times. What makes Islam unique is that it is the one major religion that did not provide itself with an escape hatch. Islam is, has been, and must always be unalterable. And that’s all about how the spiritual messages were delivered.
  Christians and Jews, with a few ludicrous exceptions, don’t claim that their beliefs or their holy books emanate from Divine Fiat. The Bible and The Torah are rather viewed as Divinely-Inspired works that are necessarily subject to human error in the course of their transcriptions by fallible humans. Buddhism and Hinduism can and do find similar permissible reasons to abandon outdated ways of rigid thinking. Islam is the only major religion extant today that does not officially allow its adherents to adopt some form of doctrinaire reformation or change in belief. And that, dear friends, is at the core of the conflict between the fanatic leaders of Hamas and the state of Israel. Intolerance is at the core of the former, and defines the tolerance of the rest.
  Email: richtrzupek@gmail.com