This piece is very insightful, but way too long. Let me summarize.
When people grow up without a highly specialized society, when they are obliged to spend more of their time in hunting, gathering or agrarian pursuits, everyone has pretty much the same experiences with creatures dying so they can survive. Men grow up thinking the smell of viscera is a routine part of life. When it comes time to go to war, these men may remain the kindest and most thoughtful individuals, but think nothing of slaughtering the enemy.
But when a society prospers to the point that people specialize in all kinds of other work, the business of dealing with blood becomes a very narrow specialty very few encounter. Thus, when that society goes to war, the majority are shocked by combat. Many come home deeply wounded inside.
It’s because that specialization changes their mores, what they consider “morality”. Such a society develops a high degree of conscience about causing bloodshed. To them, the very sight of blood is somehow obscene, instead of simply the price of being able to eat and survive. They grow to question the necessity of survival in the first place. Pacifism arises, when previously it would have been exceedingly rare.
What the author does not mention is that such a society then becomes prey to internal predators. It permits the rise of gangs, terrorists, and tyrannical government. You get a government that encourages pacifism in the population so that they are easier to control, easier to oppress.
This is where America is today. You won’t find the heroic veterans of WW1 rising up to threaten thugs and oppressors today. Between the World Wars, the common man was a serious threat to oppressors. Only a tiny minority today would even consider such a thing.
It’s gotten so bad that the majority of church folks read that pacifist morality back into the Bible. Jesus didn’t censure Peter’s knife swipe at Malchus because of pacifism; it was simply the wrong place and time. Jesus had no problem cracking the whip at the corrupt Bazaar of the Sons of Annas — licensed vendors who scalped the vulnerable Diaspora Jews coming into Jerusalem for the Passover.
It’s the shepherd’s duty to defend his sheep from wolves. That’s a fundamental assumption of Hebrew thinking. Sure, pay your taxes, but don’t let the predators torment the sheep for no reason. The average Hebrew man had no moral compunction about shedding the blood of predators. I grew up around agriculture, so I don’t blanch at the sight of blood.
I have said that we face a threat of censorship from Zionists. That’s a serious problem against the mandate from God to spread His Word. You betcha I’ll resist, should the JASA bill pass Congress.
But at the same time, we see the rise of DSA (Democratic Socialists of America). Censorship would be the least of our problems. These people are an existential threat to covenant faith, among other things.
I understand why their political fortunes are rising. A growing majority of the voting public is sick of watching US money and resources slaughter the non-Jewish residents of the Levant. That doesn’t make DSA communist policies right. A majority vote to put them in power doesn’t change our faith commitments.
True shepherds know what to do. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It’s not a question of whether we could succeed, but a matter of faithfulness for the sheep God has placed in our care.
