What are the Values of Your "GOD"?

Since the terrorist attacks in France last week, I keep waiting for" the other shoe to drop." I'm waiting for the backlash against Muslims. In fact, last Sunday the Dallas Morning News had an article called, "Muslims Wait and Worry." Mosques across France have been hit by bullets or small explosive devices. Many have been defaced by racist graffiti. Fire bombings and marches against the Islamization of Europe. Muslim individuals report daily insults and attacks in the streets. The news is also filled with stories of all the violence which Muslims are perpetrating upon one another. 

Does "Allah" Value murder, rape, kidnapping, using 10 year old children as suicide bombers? Probably not! The Muslim community needs to separate themselves from these actions. Hassen Farsadu, the president of the Union of Muslim Associations in France said, "The terrorist attacks were a despicable, criminal act, which we condemn utterly. But it's the rest of us who are paying the bill and we fear it will be a problem in the future. The Muslim community is very afraid."

Oliver Roy, an expert on Political Islam and a professor at the European University Institute said, "What needs to happen is that the Muslim elites who are representative of the broader Muslim population in all its diversity must speak out." If acts of violence, terror and injustice are not the "values" you hold, then show the world, show the Muslim world! Don't only condemn these actions, do everything you can to prevent them. Otherwise violence will follow violence in a vicious never ending cycle. I understand that there must be many Muslim communities that are literally living in fear of reprisals for speaking out and acting against extremist actions, but silence is agreement and consent! And you know that for every violent act committed, there will be violent consequences and reactions.

The concepts of TOV and RA are given in Genesis 2. In that account, the contextual meaning of RA, the Hebrew word for “evil” means, “Thoughts, Words and Acts which Destroy Life, Threaten Life, Make Life Less Functional and Decrease the Quality of Life.” TOV, the Hebrew word for Good, in Genesis 1, is contextually defined as “Thoughts, Words and Acts which Protect Life, Preserve Life, Make Life More Functional and Increase the Quality of Life.” The TOV appears 7 times in Genesis 1 and any Hebrew word that appears seven times in a context means the author thought it was a very important word. TOV is the Creator’s Standard – He used it to measure His actions.

What would happen if everyone began using the TOV Standard instead of the very subjective words “good” and “evil”? There would be no doubt that acts like those done by radical Muslims in France would measure RA because they destroyed life. There is nothing subjective about what they did!

Of course, tobacco corporations targeting kids for their deadly products or fast food corporations intentionally creating foods that are addictive and harmful to human health would also measure RA by the Creator’s TOV Standard – and there is nothing subjective about that either!

What is the highest value and top priority of the Creator in the Torah? The answer is -- Life!

What are your "God’s Values?”

Do TOV, Choose Life, and use the TOV Standard!

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor

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