Unfortunately, many within the Judeo-Christian community of the United States will see the current conflict in the Middle East in starkly simplistic terms, and they will wrongly assume that God is on Israel's side in their contest with Hamas. However, the same human nature which has motivated so many of the wars and conflicts before this one is on prominent display here. We are, of course, thinking of what the Apostle Paul called the works of the flesh (e.g., enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions). Both sides are motivated by things like fear, vengeance, impatience, pride, and lust. In other words, the exact opposite of the traits which are features of the Divine nature (e.g., love, kindness, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, mercy, humility, patience). We humans are preoccupied with assigning blame and picking a side in the conflict to support.
Are we truly interested in God's perspective on this war? I think that a good place to start is the fifty-ninth chapter of the book of Isaiah. We read there: "Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace." (Verses 7-8, ESV) There is a principle at play here that James applied to Christ's disciples among the Jews. He wrote: "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." (James 4:1-3)
Hence, the solution to this current conflict will NOT be found in American support for Israel, Israeli military action, improving intelligence gathering, building walls, punishing Hamas and Iran, or a host of other measures which will almost certainly be taken in the wake of this mammoth tragedy. The solution will only be found in permanently changing the nature which caused this conflict - the change that Christians believe can only come through the acceptance of Jesus Christ and his work and message. Unfortunately, when I look at the current situation in the Middle East, I don't have any confidence in the ability of the humans involved in this conflict to stop it or permanently resolve the issues which gave rise to it. For me, I look at what is happening, and it becomes crystal clear to me why Jesus Christ instructed his followers to pray "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
"Are we truly interested in God's perspective . . .?"
ReplyDeleteI laughed when I first saw this. Reads like an HWA come on. HWA would say it but it was God's perspective. In this case I think your perspective and God's match.
Good post.
The death toll is rapidly approaching 2,000 souls (and a considerable number of women and children are included in that total). May God frustrate the plans of the wicked and bless and protect the innocents!
ReplyDeleteA friend just forwarded me an article by Shadi Hamid, "In the Israeli-Palestinian Debate, you might be wrong. So be humble." My friend had highlighted this quote (which I immediately wanted to share here):
ReplyDeleteIntellectual humility is a trait and a practice that allows one to accept their own limitations. Even if we think we are right, it entails holding open the possibility that we might be wrong. But on a deeper level, humility involves the recognition that the truth itself is more complicated than it might first appear.
The search for truth, even if one finds it, should not involve rigidity. We are all a product of our environments. When it comes to Israel and Palestine in particular, we bring our own preconceptions to any debate — our own selective read of history and our own developed sense of injustice. This is not about a disagreement over facts; it’s about how to interpret them.