The Christian & Israel

wolfsbane

Dear Friends
I'm sure all of us are grieved by the suffering we see going on in Israel and Lebanon. Many of you will be wondering about the Christian view of the situation, so I want to let you know one view, with which I concur, that comes from a highly respected pastor on the spot. It highlights the fact that even true Christians may differ in their understanding of both the facts of the case and of how God expects us to respond to them.

Christian-Zionist Support of Israel

In times like these, excitement brews in many evangelical circles in which Israel finds a solid support base: "perhaps these events will lead to Armageddon!" I cannot understand the excitement, almost glee, with which some welcome such an awful event, nor the tendency some of these brethren display to ignore the moral issues involved in a military conflict.

For the record: I am a Christian and a Zionist. But I am not a Christian-Zionist. I am a Christian first and intend to labour, God giving me grace, so that my Christian convictions qualify any of my other views, including my Zionism. I, therefore, share my people's discomfort with aspects of some Evangelical support of Israel.

ON July 28, the Wall Street Journal carried an extensive article describing the enlistment of evangelicals in support of Israel, particularly the kind represented by Rev. John Hagee. My letter to the correspondent, given below, will perhaps best summarize my concerns and thoughts on this matter:

Mr. Higgins,

As a Jew and a Christian, as a Zionist and as Pastor of one of the larger evangelical churches in Israel, in which both Jews and Arabs worship, I wish to go on record decrying the motivation, the tone and the nature of Mr. Hagee's support of my nation, while welcoming support as such – all too infrequently offered to my people over the last two millennia.

I do not believe anything –anything! – should ever be considered as capable of absolving us from our moral responsibilities as we conduct the present war. The almost total lack of moral consideration represented by Mr. Hagee's professedly Christian support of Israel is less than Christian. I am grateful for the support Mr. Hagee has sought to encourage for my nation, but do wish it were more biblically informed. The true focus in the message of Israel's prophets was always spiritual and moral; the predictive element had last place and was always subservient to the former two.

The West need to wake up! The present conflict is not between Hezbollah and Israel so much as it is between a radical, determined, world-wide Islam and the liberties accorded the West by its biblical roots. It is indeed "a clash of civilizations", in which Israel is considered by the radical Moslem world as the forefront of western civilization, to be destroyed and replaced by a Talibanized society that will harbinger the future of the world at large. When will America, when will Europe awaken from the slumber of its smug self-confidence? Will they awake before it is too late?!

Respectfully,

Baruch Maoz (Rev.)

A Personal Testimony

I wish to add a personal testimony. I have served in the Israeli army. I fought in the October 1973 war and in the Lebanese War of August 1983. I can testify from personal experience that Israel has maintained a consistent policy of respect for civilian life and property. This is not to say that there are no exceptions to the rule. War dehumanizes even the best of soldiers. But Israel has punished any such divergent behaviour and constantly educates its soldiers to maintain high moral standards. Unlike the Palestinians and Hezbollah, the Israeli army does not hide among civilians, nor intentionally attack them.

Following is a poem recently published in the Israeli press, by Zipi Shichrur:

A Soldier Wept Over the Radio
A soldier wept over the radio

"I never killed a man before"

his microphonic groans shook me

That is is why he no longer needed

To be ashamed.

Soldier,

What strength you had

To weep into the ears of unknown listeners

"I've never killed an ant", you said apologetically

Who hasn't ….. but, a human!....

I was with you then'

In that momentary, soon-forgotten broadcast

When you wept over your victim

Sandwiched between rock n 'roll and the news

When someone forgot to turn off the microphone

Can any or my readers provide a single instance of such moral remorse from Israel's determined protagonists?

I've read much about the rights and wrongs of the Israeli situation. It is evident there is much of both on either side. The danger is we just uncritically take sides and encourage our leaders to do likewise. There may be little we as individuals can do, apart from funding the basic needs of the suffering, but if we can come to an honest understanding of what is happening and what God expects of us, then we will not help perpetuate injustice.

bmoferrall

...particularly the kind represented by Rev. John Hagee

You can find a critique of Hagee's pro-Israel position here.

Hagee is a good example of the dangers of televangelism. He's a charismatic, larger-than-life, character with a persuasive and authoritative preaching/teaching style that exerts enormous influence in parts of the US. He certainly grabbed my attention the other night in respect of Israel; you can find his show on one or more of the God channels. He's a likeable man, and I'm not for one minute questioning his Christian credentials.

Hagee is a vocal advocate of the 'dual covenant' theory, stemming from his somewhat maverick interpretation of Romans 9-11. Essentially, this says that all jews continue to be saved under the old convenant and have no need to embrace Christ as their messiah, thus making proselytising of jews pointless. It's clearly an unsupportable view from a biblical perspective and breaks down quickly when you logically follow through its consequences (e.g. why did the Apostles, as jews, bother evangelising amongst their own brethren). Like many others he is quick to make definite links between particular current events and biblical prophecy, leading to some embarassing predictions over the years. Such folk, it seems, champ at the bit for any signs of turbulence in the middle east.

This is the other extreme to anti-semitism. For me, the right place for the Christian is some way off Hagee's position. As a self-confessed devout catholic Mel Gibson's views are unfortunate and have a distasteful resonance with unsavourary episodes from that church's past. I have no doubt that events surrounding the jewish nation continue to be at the forefront of God's unfolding plan. According to the bible, Israel as a nation will be saved at the end of the gentile dispensation, and the second coming; no Christian can ignore this fact, nor can a Christian gloss over the Judaic roots of Christianity.

I have great symptathy with Israel and its precarious position in the middle east, beset as it is on all sides by nations that want to destroy it and its people. At the same time, one has to condemn their, at times, disproportionate and indiscriminate response to provocation. However, I see great hypocrisy in the West's blanket condemnation of Israel and seemingly unquestioning support for the other side; apart from the brilliant propagandising of Arafat et al over the years, one must presume that this also stems from a (post 9/11) fear of retaliation from islamic extremists, should they be seen to have favoured Israel.

robindch

> I can testify from personal experience that Israel has maintained a
> consistent policy of respect for civilian life and property.

The 37 children of Qana blown to pieces last weekend by the IDF would beg to differ, not to mention the other nine hundred-odd lebanese civilians killed since the Israelis invaded to recapture their own two kidnapped soldiers. Also, I see that he was in Lebanon in the Israeli army 11 months after the Sabra and Shatila massacre, carried out just south of Beirut by a local militia while the IDF looked on. I don't think that the televangelist Hagee's comments reflect any reality that I'm aware of!

> There may be little we as individuals can do, apart from funding the basic
> needs of the suffering

That's a good start, but why not go further and encourage our own leaders to demand that the shelling of civilian areas stops on both sides? It's been going on for weeks and there're been a thunderous silence from the White House.

> if we can come to an honest understanding of what is happening and
> what God expects of us, then we will not help perpetuate injustice.

So, what do you believe that god expects to be done?

robindch

> I have great symptathy with Israel and its precarious position in the middle
> east, beset as it is on all sides by nations that want to destroy it and its
> people.

A lot of that frustration was, and still is being, caused by the policies of Israel itself. If it didn't react with such prodigous belligerance, or if the USA stopped supporting them so uncritically (at the behest of the rather sinister AIPAC), then perhaps things would improve. No sign of either of these things happening any time soon, though.

wolfsbane

robindch said:

The 37 children of Qana blown to pieces last weekend by the IDF would beg to differ, not to mention the other nine hundred-odd lebanese civilians killed since the Israelis invaded to recapture their own two kidnapped soldiers. Also, I see that he was in Lebanon in the Israeli army 11 months after the Sabra and Shatila massacre, carried out just south of Beirut by a local militia while the IDF looked on. I don't think that the televangelist Hagee's comments reflect any reality that I'm aware of!

Depends if they were targeted as civilians or were civilians hit in the course of destroying a military target. But war is clouded, and I would not be surprised if incidents of deliberate targeting of civilians did arise, even where the policy and general practice was against it.
I agree with your comment on Hagee. Bmoferral posts a good assessment. Hagee in fact is preaching a false gospel regarding the Jews.

That's a good start, but why not go further and encourage our own leaders to demand that the shelling of civilian areas stops on both sides? It's been going on for weeks and there're been a thunderous silence from the White House.

The key weakness to this decent suggestion is both sides. It seems to be the nature of terrorist groups to regard enemy civilians as legitimate targets. I can't see them changing their minds on that.

I can only see terrorists giving up this practice when the cost to them is too great: when they are losing too many fighters, too many supporters, too much finance. Same applies to the state against whom they fight. But as you rightly point out, both need to be brought to that point at the same time if it is to work.

So, what do you believe that god expects to be done?

I believe God wants us to seek for a compromise position that gives a state to both the Jews and Palestinians. That will not fulfil all the desires of either side, but it will give them enough to live and prosper. They can look to their God/god to work the rest out.

I do not believe God wants us to support the driving out of the Palestinians/Egyptians/Jordanians/Syrians from the historic Israelite territority - from the Nile to the Euphrates - nor do I beieve we should support the driving out of the Jews from Israel/Palestine.

Any suggestions yourself?