I constantly find myself engaged with people who assume that being a Christian I have to be 'pro-Israel' to the point that I will excuse anything the nation state of israel does because it is Israel! The fact that I do not and will not only seeks to cause them to complain that I am therefore 'anti-Israel', an assumption that is equally incorrect.
My shelf contains a healthy section of Israel-related material ranging from Lance Lambert through to Martin Gilbert. from Zionism through to the Shoah and into the political realities, I am read and consider the middle east and the Palestine/Israel (and other) conflicts).
God has not, and will not desert his people, Isareal, but I have to say that the nation state of Israel has apparently deserted him. A Radio Four broadcast a few months back had an Israeli proudly proclaiming the fact that Israel was a progressive, secular, nation. This of course is nothing new for the 1948 declaration is a secular, not religious or spiritual determination.
The nation state of Israel, "Will be based on the principles of liberty, justice and peace as conceived by the Prophets of Israel; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of religion, race, or sex; will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, education and culture; will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and will loyally uphold the principles of the United Nations Charter".
Granted there is a reference to the prophets, keeps it kosher (so to speak) and there's a guarantee that ALL the holy places will be safeguarded, which is nice too! BUT the reality is that Israel the nation state, and Israel the people of God are two very different entities (or so it would seem).
For some Israel is merely about territory and 'possessing the land'.
For others it is about a Jewish faith than has returned and sees the restoration of people.
For some Jews, it is about faith. For the majority though, faith has little or nothing to do with it. We see a nation with a secular majority and a smaller fragment who exist in an ultra-orthodox vacuum within it. We see a nation resentful of the orthodox and their funded seminaries, their escaping military service and their oppressive views.
Outside of Israel, some see Israel as a story about a people who were disposed because of some sort of post shoah blood-guilt on the part of the Western World. Now it is Arabs who bemoan the loss of their homes and mutter, Next year in Jerusalem!"
Regardless of the history and the Bible stories and the hopes of some to rebuild the temple and return Jerusalem to some sort of prophecy fulfilling reality, the bottom line is that we need to call upon ALL nations to behave in the right way. To excuse any nation because of religious, political or historical circumstance (or history) is to permit injustice. To permit the 'people of God' to engage in such injustice is to dishonour the name of Israel and YHWH Himself.
As I understand it, Christians should pray for Israel but should never condone wrong in their support for it. There are no excuses, no compelling reasons to overlook wrongdoing, for if we do then their blood is on our hands too and we have failed to be the watchmen God has called us to be.
Pax
Postscript - A parting thought. If we support Israel as the people of God, as they await their Messiah, should we be blessing them and that or should we be seeking to make them Messianic (Christian Jews)? My studies (in a Jewish setting) brought me into relationship with many Jews who say that to evangelise Jews is to destroy Israel. A tough question to answer.
4 comments:
Hi Vic,
The whole issue of Israel and Palestine is a problematic one for Christians - on the one hand we have the "Israel is blessed by God and can do no wrong" lobby, on the other the pro-Palestinian "big, bad Israel, source of all evil in the Middle East" types (I do, of course, caricature a little here).
FWIW, after several years of thinking about these issues (including two MA modules with CJCR in Cambridge) among my tentative conclusions are the following:
(1) As Christians we are called to what Paul calls a "ministry of reconciliation." To be effective means cultivating trust and friendship across the divide, otherwise any criticism we might make of either side is simply perceived as hostile - either as typical Chirstian anti-semitism or as a return to the crusading mentality. We Christians do not have a good track record in this area, so we must tread with care. For me, the person who most embodies a good Christian approach to the issues is Canon Andrew White.
(2) We must beware of imposing a Christianised view of "what Israel should be" on the Jewish state. God works with flawed Christians, so why not flawed Jews (and flawed institutions) as well? This is not to condone injustice where it occurs, but to say that perfection is a pre-requisite for God's blessing goes against what we believe in other circumstances.
(3) Without writing a whole dissertation on the subject, I have come to believe that the absence of modern Judaism would have an enormously negative impact on (Gentile) Christianity. There would be many insights into God and the Bible which would become lost to us. I have no hesitation in saying that I value tremendously what I have learned from my Jewish friends and conversation partners over the years. I realise that, taken from one point of view, that may sound a little patronising. It is not intended to be, nor does it represent all I might have to say on the subject in other contexts. I have found that real dialogue keeps us honest.
I did CJCR too - a great experience and one that brought me some long-lasting friendships too!
Seems we read from the same notes )perhaps literally) at times.
Thanks (as ever) for the comments.
V
Vic
I am sure we did at least one module together, though I think it may have been Pastoral Theology Hermeneutics rather than a CJCR one. Does that ring any bells?
Indeed it does.
:)
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