Chosen by Jeff Sharlet

[Joanne98]

King David as a model for present-day political power. An excerpt from The Family.


King David with the head of Goliath by Caravaggio

The Family, “the most powerful group in Washington that nobody knows,” according to Bush White House special aide David Kuo, has been pushed into the news by the public revelations of Senator John Ensign’s and Governor Mark Sanford’s adulterous affairs — both of which involved the Family’s C Street House, about which I write in my book The Family. Governor Sanford even invoked a core teaching of the Family — the use, or perhaps abuse, of the King David story as a justification for power in the present-day world. “What I find interesting,” Sanford said, explaining his decision not to resign, “is the story of David, and the way in which he fell mightily, he fell in very very significant ways. But then picked up the pieces and built from there.” Following is an excerpt from The Family in which Family leader David Coe, identified by the Las Vegas Sun as one of the men involved in the Ensign scandal, explains the Family’s view of King David to me and a group of young men being groomed for future leadership — and why his example entitles Family members to hold on to power even when they abandon their principles.

A few weeks into my stay, David Coe, Doug’s son, dropped by Ivanwald. My brothers and I assembled in the living room, where David had draped his tall frame over a burgundy leather recliner like a frat boy, one leg hanging over a padded arm.

“You guys,” David said, “are here to learn how to rule the world.” He was in his late forties, with dark, gray-flecked hair, an olive complexion, teeth like a slab of white marble, dark eyes so big they didn’t need to move to take in the room. We sat around him in a rough circle, on couches and chairs, as the afternoon light slanted through the wooden blinds onto a wall adorned with a giant tapestry of the Last Supper. Rafael, a wealthy Ecuadoran, had a hard time with English, and he didn’t understand what David had said. He stared, lips parted in puzzlement. David seemed to like that. He stared back, holding Raf’s gaze like it was a pretty thing he’d found on the ground. “You have very intense eyes,” David said.

“Thank you,” Raf mumbled.

“Hey,” David said, “let’s talk about the Old Testament.” His voice was like a river that’s smooth on the surface but swirling beneath. “Who” — he paused — “would you say are its good guys?”

“Noah,” suggested Ruggi, a shaggy-haired guy from Kentucky with a silver loop on the upper ridge of his right ear.

“Moses,” offered Josh, a lean man from Atlanta more interested in serving Jesus than his father’s small empire of shower door manufacturing.

“David,” Beau volunteered.

“King David,” David Coe said. “That’s a good one. David. Hey. What would you say made King David a good guy?” He giggled, not from nervousness but from barely containable delight.

“Faith?” Beau said. “His faith was so strong?”

“Yeah.” David nodded as if he hadn’t heard that before. “Hey, you know what’s interesting about King David?” From the blank stares of the others, I could see that they did not. Many didn’t even carry a full Bible, preferring a slim volume of New Testament Gospels and Epistles and Old Testament Psalms, respected but seldom read. Others had the whole book, but the gold gilt on the pages of the first two-thirds remained undisturbed. “King David,” David Coe went on, “liked to do really, really bad things.” He chuckled. “Here’s this guy who slept with another man’s wife — Bathsheba, right? — and then basically murdered her husband. And this guy is one of our heroes.” David shook his head. “I mean, Jimminy Christmas, God likes this guy! What,” he said, “is that all about?”

“Is it because he tried?” asked Bengt. “He wanted to do the right thing?” Bengt knew the Bible, Old Testament and New, better than any of the others, but he offered his answer with a question mark on the end. Bengt was dutiful in checking his worst sin, his fierce pride, and he frequently turned his certainties into questions.

“That’s nice, Bengt,” David said. “But it isn’t the answer. Anyone else?”

“Because he was chosen,” I said. For the first time David looked my way.

“Yes,” he said, smiling. “Chosen. Interesting set of rules, isn’t it?” He turned to Beau. “Beau, let’s say I hear you raped three little girls. And now here you are at Ivanwald. What would I think of you, Beau?”

Beau, given to bellowing Ivanwald’s daily call to sports like a bull elephant, shrank into the cushions. “Probably that I’m pretty bad?”

“No, Beau.” David’s voice was kind. “I wouldn’t.” He drew Beau back into the circle with a stare that seemed to have its own gravitational pull. Beau nodded, brow furrowed, as if in the presence of something profound. “Because,” David continued, “I’m not here to judge you. That’s not my job. I’m here for only one thing. Do you know what that is?”

Continued>>>>
http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/damnation/chosen/

Rachel maddow had JS on tonight. His new book, The Family is out. Bothe Ensign and Sanford are members.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

Check out

alibris.com for the book - I just got a brand new (remaindered) hardcover copy for a grand total of $9.98, and that's including shipping.

Use this code - POLITICS - at alibris for the $1.00 discount.

Not bad, not bad at all..................

[lindisfarne]

1. A thread on same topic was posted just an hour ago in Editorials.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x462096

[RandomThoughts]

2. So many people get that 'no judgement' wrong in my view.

It does not mean a person can do what ever they want, their can be justice without judgement. you don't have to hate someone or think of them as evil, to keep them confined where they can not hurt another person. You can love them even as you send them to a prison.

Justice is part of love, for in justice one treats his neighbor like he would want to be treated.

I know the doctrine they speak of, it is dark and ugly, it plays to a persons worst desires and temptations and tries to rationalize them as right by some claim of being special.

And I think it was the other side that chose someone to preach the doctrine in the OP. It was told to me also, God's grace helped me refuse it, it says that the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil gave the ability to know right from wrong. And in that they believe man can be better without ever thinking anyone is right or wrong. Many times it takes the form of survival of the fittest. In the evil church it is do what ever you want by claim of no after life. And in the family it is based on claiming to be chosen. In a movie about lawyers Al Pacino defended that doctrine by saying guilt is a bag of bricks just set it down. Some people say other people are subhuman. There are many variations all to break down empathy, and burn up a persons conscious.

However not all go that far, some just think they should lead, and so will do anything to hold power, because they think anyone else in power would be against God. They are the type that see monsters in other people because of the distortion of their own eyes.

I have wondered if the knowledge of good and evil is the ability to judge a person, something man is not perfect enough to do, because of our own failings of bias and selfishness, but it does not excuse all actions of that person, nor would it allow all actions. It just would not allow for hating someone for what they do.

And besides that God unchose Saul and Moses. Moses for thinking he could draw water from a rock on his own, was not allowed to enter holy land. Although there was probably some social reasons in that also. They themselves say David wanted to do right, how could they not explain Saul losing the favor of God, and not them if they claim to rule without rules... Anarchy

Anyway, it is stomach turning dark that doctrine, and it is not new, it is the thought of every horrible dictator down through the ages.

But again they may not all have thought that way, and their were Democrats and private sector people in the same group. And their are other groups that teach that doctrine also. And all can find forgiveness and redemption. But it is good that those thoughts are being shown so people can see where they lead to.