bobjots : redux

In the book of Genesis it is recorded that God gave the following promise to Abram:

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

Traditionally Abram (later Abraham) is acknowledged to be the father of the Hebrew and the Arabic nations through the lineage of Isaac and Ishmael respectively. More significantly he is also viewed as the spiritual progenitor of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths through the same lineage. One has to wonder if the blessing proclaimed can still be seen today?

There have been Christians who assumed that the participation of some of us in the COMPLETE event meant that we have taken up a position to condemn Israel (the present day nation state) exclusively and hence risking going against the will of God and subjecting ourselves to God’s curse as per the passage above. Doesn’t the exclusive condemnation of the Palestinian Arabs make itself subject to the same curse? I really don’t see how the passage above can be viewed as solely meant for the Jewish / Hebrew nation alone.

The Bible is full of references of the prophets speaking out against Israel when she was clearly in violation of God’s laws and standards. I doubt it made them less Hebrew or it meant they loved the nation of Israel less. There are, of course, equal references of such speaking out against the other nations whenever they were in violation of God’s laws and standards. In fact, I reckon I could cut out little sticky labels with the words “Israel”, “Assyria”, “Babylon”, etc, and randomly stick them in the places where the names of the nations are mentioned and probably can’t tell the difference between one judgement against another.

Add to that mix the complex task of determining the actual genetic lineage (let alone spiritual lineage) of the present day occupants of that strip of land geographically known as Palestine and politically known as both Israel and Palestine, I must then take stock of what would finally end up as a response that would be consistent to Christ’s message of reconciliation and redemption – a message that transcends politics as well as ethnicity (remember “For there is neither Jew nor Gentile …”?)

I reckon I can only speak for myself here but I cannot see myself supporting or condemning Israel just because it is Israel (and by extension Likud / Kadima / IDF / etc). Neither can I do the same with Palestine (and by extension Hamas / Fatah / etc). I can only fashion my opinion based on their actions and/or lack thereof. So I would condemn Israeli perpetration of violence the same way I’d condemn Palestinian perpetration of violence. In fact, if I were to faithful to my understanding of Israel’s role as God’s chosen people, I would apply a higher standard of accountability and morality to her.

The following piece was written by Shane Magee, an Irish Christ follower (a struggling one for that matter as many of us find ourselves in), which I feel is worth a read.

Note that it was written just prior to the ceasefire that is now in place – something, no doubt, worth being thankful about but still worth acknowledging that it doesn’t make a difference for those already killed on both sides nor does it bring about any long term solution or peace:

Gaza – The Warring Sons Of Abraham
- the fake republic

.. the Bible says that Jesus is coming back and that Israel plays some kind of vital part in that. interfering with Israel is therefore tantamount to standing in the path of God himself. God is on our side and the side of Israel.

It sounds ludicrous when put this starkly, but this is the kernel of the credo of a great many people in the west. not to sound facetious or anything, but there really are some people out there who use the Old Testament as a science text book, a horoscope and a foreign policy dictation list.

“What we do to you, we do because our God has mandated it.” To be honest, I find this line of reasoning deeply disturbing. I’ve heard it for 30 years growing up in Ireland (Bob K – referring to the conflict in Northern Ireland), I’ve heard it from the Bush regime to justify the doctrine of pre-emptive strike and from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. “Our God wants to kick your ass and obliterate the memory of you from the face of the earth.”

It’s most worrying because in being utterly devoid of reason, it is utterly irrefutable. As Voltaire said: “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ..

Personally, I am fine with folks disagreeing with me but I would really prefer that folks find out where I really stand first before making up their own presumptions and then picking a fight based on those premises.

I do not deny that there’s a lot of difficulty in interpreting what the Bible says and individual passages may sometimes come across as being totally contradictory to other individual passages. As a Christian influenced by Irenaeus, Augustine, Luther, Wesley, Wigglesworth, Moody, Nee, Sundar Singh and so many others, I try to view these from the lenses of the overarching teachings of Christ. I don’t get it right all the time but I am pretty certain that the message of Shalom, Reconciliation and Restoration seem overwhelmingly prevalent.

Pax Vorbiscum.