We're back from San Francisco, after a lovely and refreshing weekend in the City by the Bay. Weather was nice: not too hot, not too cold. :)
Today it's back to the normal routine and I'm perusing the news and my bloglist as I eat my lunch.
The Israel/Hezbollah conflict, of course, occupies center stage on all of the news websites. The most recent article is the one about the 56 civilians killed in Qana yesterday.
The recent events have prompted me to ask some questions that I've never really addressed before. . . and consequently don't really know the answers to. Questions like, "Is the nation of Israel still God's chosen?" and "Is there a right or wrong side in this conflict?"
The problem is, most Christians and most Americans automatically side with the Israelis. The Christians do it because Israel is God's chosen (right?). Obviously God must be on their side. Americans do it -- whether they'll admit it or not -- for the same reason. Christianity and its God (thankfully!) have so permeated American culture and philosophy from the beginning that whether we're concsious of it or not, it impacts our worldview. The Muslim god Allah, on the other hand, is not the God that we know about from Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, an evangelistic ministry, or church. The God that most Americans refer to when they say the name "God" is the Hebrew God of the Bible.
More importantly, He is the one and only God, the true God.
So we wave blue and white Star of David flags, lobby for peace (on Israel's terms) and say in our e-mails and from our pulpits: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
For some reason, this unquestioning allegiance to Israel is bothering me. Since when is it okay to bomb an entire region full of civilians in retaliation for the capture of two soldiers? Not that I side with the Lebanese; to speak in first grade vernacular: "they started it." But why do we as a nation and we as Christians always seem to assume that Israel is in the right?
I understand that God made a covenant with Abraham. However, Israel as a nation rejected the promised Messiah. Though Israelis still worship Yahweh, the one true God, Israelis who reject Christ are just as lost as any Muslim.
This isn't to say that God has rejected Israel, or that they are no longer His chosen people. Many theologians much wiser than I have debated that issue for centuries and still disagree. All I know is that hatred and violence that claims innocent life is something to which all Christians should be diametrically opposed.
So humbly, I take neither side. Instead, I see the current conflict as the product of two things: 1) the centuries-old struggle between Isaac and Ishmael and 2) man's sin nature. And I pray for those daily in danger in the Middle East. May God be merciful to us, and hasten His return.
7 comments:
Okay, you've got a few of your facts wrong...first, the kidnapped soldiers are the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. For the last 50+ years, these groups have had one mission - destroy Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah have continually bombarded Israel with attacks, strapping bombs to their wives and children, sending them onto buses filled with Israelis to blow them up. They have claimed, along with the Palestinians, "...you give up this piece of land, and we can have peace." And Israel has given up the land through the years (not exactly what I would call "peace on Israel's terms" as you mentioned), and there was no peace. They evacuated Gaza and Southern Lebanon after years of negotiations, and was it enough? Was their concession enough to yield peace? No. Perhaps if they were negotiating with another sovereign country it may have been, but they are dealing with two groups whose entire mission is to wipe out Israel. As long as there is an Israeli state, as long as there are Israeli people, these groups will seek to destroy them. That is why Hamas and Hezbollah must be destroyed. It is not because America or Christians have some blind affinity toward Israel. It is because Israel is fighting for its existence against groups that historically, and recently, have made it clear that they have no intention of ever laying down their arms and having peace with Israel.
Second, yes, it is very true that it is a travesty that these civilians have been killed in this conflict, and I agree that it is a tragedy that anyone must die in this situation; I feel for the Lebanese people who are suffering because of the effects of war, especially when primarily they have done nothing to provoke it. It is difficult to see a fledgling democracy in the region made to suffer, though they directly have done nothing to Israel. That being said however, the Lebanese government has done nothing to prevent Hezbollah from taking over the southern portion of their country and continuing their acts of aggression toward Israel. Not only that, but as regrettable as the civilian casualties are, let's not be so quick to blame Israel for them. Remember that it is Hezbollah who veils themselves among the civilians, dressing as civilians, firing rockets from civilian areas. They are intentionally putting these people in harms way because they are counting on international outrage to stop the campaign against them; they know the reaction they will get from the international community - to put pressure on Israel to stop their offensive. And they will use that time to regroup and plan a new bevy of attacks on Israel. Hezbollah in the north has been using these civilians as human shields, and even worse, they have been using them as bombs for years. You never hear of a soldier of Hezbollah strapping a bomb to himself and blowing himself up on a bus; rather, we often hear that it is a woman or a child that has done this sort of thing. These people are evil, and they need to be confronted and destroyed. If Israel has the gumption to do it, let them. If Hezbollah were primarily in Canada or Mexico, and doing to America what they've been doing to Israel for years, and the Canadian or Mexican governments did nothing to prevent it, I'll bet the majority of Americans that are against this campaign would feel very differently about it.
One must not forget the history of the past fifty years when examining this conflict; too many are looking at things these days only rememberring yesterday's headlines, instead of the ones ten, twenty, and thirty years ago. And that is why we never have the resolve to do what needs to be done.
Sorry for the long post; I just felt you should have the facts and look at this a little bit more evenly than you have.
Dear Anonymous:
First of all, you twice complained of "wrong facts" in my post, but I can find no factual inconsistency between my post and your comment. Differences of opinion, perhaps, but not facts. I believe you may have misinterpreted many of my statements. For example, I never said that the whole conflict was based on the kidnapping of the soldiers, as you seem to imply I did. I also never said that Israel is to blame for the civilian casualties -- only that they are tragic and that I do not champion the cause of them (whether that be Israel or Hezbollah or any other group).
Second, I think it should be clear that a 30 minute lunch and blogging break is not the time or place to go into an exhaustive "50-year" history of the conflict. I do not disagree that there has been a long and bitter persecution of Israel by its enemies. I do think, however, that your comment as a whole illustrates my point rather than refutes it.
For example, you use very strong language like "Hamas and Hezbollah must be destroyed." Why are you so ardent in your passion to see the "destruction" of these groups? There are many horrible injustices in the world. Look at Darfur. Look at the abortion holocaust. Many Christians aren't nearly so passionate about those persecutions, so what is so special about this one? Based on my observations, the only difference is: the victim is Israel.
I cannot speak for your experiences, only my own. And my experiences indicate that our country as a whole and many Christians in particular blindly support Israel for convention's sake rather than because Israel is in the right.
I am not "against this campaign." What I am against is the hatred between races that are blood brothers and the utter disregard for sacred human life, whether it be Israeli, Lebanese, Iraqi or Syrian.
I have no problems with a nation under attack defending itself, which is why I still support the war on terror when many in this country ridicule it. And I am not ignoring the history, as you say. I am mourning the loss of life and condemning the pride and hatred that causes it.
There will never be peace between Isaac and Ishmael until Christ's return. (See Genesis 16:11-12.) Therefore, I refuse to entertain unrealistic expectations of peace as soon as Hamas and Hezbollah or any other group is "destroyed."
From your first post: "Since when is it okay to bomb an entire region full of civilians in retaliation for the capture of two soldiers?"
From your second post: "I never said that the whole conflict was based on the kidnapping of the soldiers, as you seem to imply I did."
You sound like John Kerry.
It seemed fairly clear (at least to me) that by questioning the ferocity of Israel's response (albeit wrongly by indicating that it was merely a response to a kidnapping), and immediately thereafter bringing up the loss of civilian life, that you were implicating Israel for the killing of civilians. If I have read too much into your writing and misinterpreted your view, then I am both sorry, and thankful that you don't hold that position. My point is that Hezbollah is more to blame in the Qana incident than is Israel. There are some who might find it morally decent to defend the actions of Hezbollah, but I cannot find a place in my heart or conscience to defend the actions of a terrorist regime.
I would urge you to look into the charters for both Hamas and Hezbollah, if you haven't already done so. After reading them, I would hope that you might agree with me that they are both terrorist organizations, which I hope we also could both agree, should be destroyed. If not, I would be interested as to how you can voice your support for the war on terror, and yet not understand the position that I hold that Hezbollah and Hamas should be destroyed.
Your point was that Christians and Americans blindly support Israel, but I believe I have demonstrated quite clearly that there is nothing blind about my support for Israel in this particular case. I have summarized greatly, but tried to demonstrate that the historical pattern of concessions and ceasefires for the sake of "peace" to which Israel has submitted itself for decades has not worked, and now they must seek to destroy these terrorist organizations (which consequently are now armed with Iranian weaponry) before they themselves are iradicated.
Your assumption that Christians and Americans who support Israel -
(1) do so blindly;
(2) do so only for theological reasons; and
(3) are somehow less thoughtful and sensitive toward the loss of innocent lives than you -
is somewhat arrogant on your part, as is your statement that Christians don't care about what is going on in Darfur, or the abortion holocaust as much as they care about Israel. I would contend that there are many Christians in this country and abroad who are more devoted and more passionate about those issues than either of us.
Just some more food for thought...
"You sound like John Kerry."
*grin* I think I may say with some certainty that is the first time anyone has ever accused me of that.
If my initial post came across as arrogant, I heartily apologize. That certainly was not my intent. It is my goal, whenever I discuss "controversial issues" on my blog (which I do very infrequently), to do so as humbly as possible. However, please remember that this is, after all, a blog, otherwise known generally as a forum for the author's opinions -- which may occasionally be expressed without necessarily anticipating those of my readers.
I believe that if we sat down together, you and I, we would find there is surprisingly little we actually disagree on and that most of this discourse may be chalked up to semantics, or perhaps to a too narrow (or too broad) interpretation of my statements. That appears unlikely to happen however, since you have not identified yourself and I, to be perfectly honest, have enough work currently to keep me busy for about a decade. :)
I have appreciated and enjoyed your input though, and I'll have to read those Hamas and Hezbollah charters sometime -- not because I need any convincing that they are both terrorist organizations, but simply because I think it would be fascinating reading. Maybe after that jury trial we have at the end of the month. . . :)
I 'spect Angel is right ... if you were able to sit down together and cut through the semantics, I think you would pretty much harmonize.
But ....
Angel as John Kerry ...
Now THAT is a STRETCH
~FD
way to stir the hornet's nest with a thought provoking post
Seems to me the truest (most true?) statement is “most Christians and most Americans automatically side…” People are horrible for picking a side and pretending to be an expert on the subject, while doing a nominal amount of homework to back their staunchly held ideals. I think you ask some great questions, which deserve time to ponder their answers and their consequences.
In all of that I would add, the Bible seems clear when it says “Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the LORD, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the LORD. For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces.” For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, “Peace be within you.” Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good.” I do not read that as a suggestion but rather than a commandment. And like many of the commandments it is backed with a promise.
I suspect that many will argue that peace will look differently to a Israeli than a Palestinian. I guess it comes back to ideology and personally I lean more towards Israel’s right to exist, over the Hezbollah’s desire to eradicate the Jewish problem…
"Since when is it okay to bomb an entire region full of civilians in retaliation for the capture of two soldiers? Not that I side with the Lebanese; to speak in first grade vernacular: "they started it." But why do we as a nation and we as Christians always seem to assume that Israel is in the right?"
Biblical answer: since the book of Joshua.
2006 answer: it's not a matter of who started it, it's a matter of a threat that sooner or later will loom too large to handle and has perhaps already done so. That threat exists right now in the form of Hizballah, shooting from among civilians, hiding weapons and explosives (not to mention drugs) among civilians, caring nothing about hurling death at civilians.
Israel wants peace, the other side wants all jews, and eventually the rest of us, dead.
What's a mother to do?
I've thought a great deal about this and at bottom it is very black and white. It's only in the implementation, the dirty details, that things get gray and muddied up. Israel is not right in everything she does. It's run by fallible humans. But her right to exist is undeniable. It is that right that her enemies want to overturn.
Anonymous is right in his recounting of recent struggle between Hamas and Israel. He is wrong in believing that Hamas & Hizballah and other such groups will be destroyed by Israel. They will be destroyed when our Lord returns.
Finally, I dislike the use of the word 'travesty', preferring to use 'tragedy'. Travesty implies a miscarriage of justice and permits recourse. Tragedy is just plain sad.
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