If the Torah is So Adamant, Then That Must Mean Something: Why Polytheism Really is So Awful
16/8/2017
Nowadays, it can be difficult to understand why polytheism is so bad.
Many secular Jews are attracted to Buddhism and in general, the Far East religions strongly appeal to many Westerners, many of whom claim they find inner peace, inspiration, and a much-need adjustment of perspective by visiting these places and following their practices.
Many Westerners are enchanted by the lack of materialism and the seeming contentment of the locals with their poverty. Culturally, the people of the Far East are often very nice to socialize with.
The Far East also seems to hold a treasure chest of benefits:
- martial arts
- delicious and healthier foods
- inspiring philosophies
- meditative disciplines
- fortune cookies 😉
The problem is that polytheism always leads to cruelty in the end.
These same cultures that Westerners admire so much are also rife with female infanticide, racism, violence, starvation and malnutrition, the persecution of the helpless or minorities, elitism, government and police corruption, misogyny, domestic violence, child marriage, honor killings, and more.
Even more disturbing, these cultures have suffered from the above evils for millennia. Any current improvement in these cultures has only been brought about through the intervention of those from Western culture, particularly those who come from a Christian background (which derives any of its positive values from the Torah, however much they end up misapplying those same values).
India
It was the British who stopped the infamous Hindu immolation of widows in India. It is Western organizations who seek to rescue innocent village girls tricked into coming to the cities and forced to work in places of ill repute until they die of AIDS or botched abortions.
(And most of the activists who rescue these girls are the same “white guys” who are so vilified for their race and gender in their cultures of origin.)
As a group, the Hindus do nothing to help their society.
(And the cruelty and suffering inherent in their caste system deserves a whole post of its own.)
China
In China today, North Korean refugees are imprisoned and sent back to certain torture and death in North Korea unless they are rescued and sheltered by American and Canadian activists operating near the border. (Not all of whom are white, but all of whom grew up in America or Canada.) Not to mention, China’s one-child policy and the accompanying forced abortions for those whose parents didn’t comply.
In To My Daughters with Love, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Pearl S. Buck wrote of one of her mother’s most terrifying experiences living as a Christian missionary in China.
In the Chinese town in which Buck’s parents lived, there was a terrible drought. During that night, Buck’s father left town to take care of some business, leaving his wife and small children alone.
Buck describes the natives of this town as “usually kind.”
However, the idolatrous temple priests (the same priests who everyone thinks have “achieved balance” and “attained wisdom and serenity”) said, “The gods were angry because strangers, white people, were in the city.”
This riled up the local “usually kind” Chinese until a whole mob came to the Buck home with sticks and knives, intending to stab and beat to death this lone woman and her young children.
Fortunately, with a courage that “came from despair,” Buck’s mother shocked the raging mob by throwing open the doors to her home and with fearless composure, she offered the idol-worshipers tea and refreshments.
Then everybody went home.
That same night, it suddenly rained and it kept pouring all throughout the next day.
But look at the cruelty and stupidity that “usually kind” polytheists can suddenly commit when hard times come.
Thailand and Nepal
And the above is why Thailand can be known as the “The Land of Smiles” while being equally known for a brand of tourism that is licentious, diseased, and exploitative of impoverished females.
In the earthquake that crushed Nepal, we saw people who saved their idols before their fellow human beings and who invested money in their idols rather than in the rehabilitation of the homeless and injured people surrounding them.
From Myrtle Rising, here.