During worship while we were praying we did something so powerful that it actually made me stopped praying in order to really focus on what we were saying. The prayer said that we were asking Christ to change our world and our lives. It struck me that we pray this sometimes without fully being prepared for what the answer to that prayer might entail.
A few months ago there was a speaker in Charlotte NC addressing the situation between Palestine and Israel. This little hotbed hasn’t gotten much attention in the wake of our own financial woes and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. An interview was preceding his speaking engagement, the interview being broadcast on “Charlotte Talks.” So much of what the man said was so false, the interviewer couldn’t have possibly been expected to keep up with it all. The guy stated statistics of casualties and injured civilians, never mentioned the equal or greater number that the Israelis are also responsible for. Not to mention the American civilians that Israel has murdered. (See Racheal Corrie, a 23 year old who went to bid for peace and fairness on behalf of the Palestinians in 2003 and was crushed by a bulldozer)
He mentioned the relationship between Palestine and other Arab nations and even the Russians, and all I could think was that when an overwhelming force is opposing you, there is no where you won’t turn to protect your homeland and your freedom. I mean, the US even turned to France once upon a time. The truth of the matter is that Israel pushes the Palestinians into seeking allies wherever it can because of the level of injustice being visited on it. Israel is trying to make the other Arab countries responsible for the Palestinians so that Israel can continue to push them out of a country that was theirs to being with.
He cited a 1947 UN Agreement that established the statehood of Israel (one that was made without the input of the people that lived on the land that was being declared a state), and yet failed to mention that even though it was Harry Truman’s vote and persistence that forced the vote through, Truman was never comfortable with the idea. He is quoted as saying, "I am sorry gentlemen, but I have to answer to hundreds of thousands who are anxious for the success of Zionism. I do not have hundreds of thousands of Arabs among my constituents."
The truth is that the creation of Israel is not a Jewish practice. Nor is it a religious one. It is a political movement created with propaganda to do what men have been trying to do since the dawn of time. Establish their own greed and consolidate their power. That it comes in the guise of a holy nation should come as no surprise. Somehow they did such a good job of convincing the first world powers of their gentleness and peaceful nature we allowed them to secure nuclear missiles. As the only country in the Arab world that has them an imbalance of power was immediately created. This daggers drawn mentality does nothing for peace in an already tumultuous arena.
As I was listening to this interview a thought struck me in conjunction with our prayer from church. We don’t want peace. And we do not desire change. Our asking for Christ to change our world can only be one of two things; simple lip service, or a conditional asking that is based on our own expectation. Our actions as a country are neither Christian nor just, and in the face of these we cite that some things must be protected, must be fought for. But these things are the way of the Christian or of Christ, and no matter how we try to dress it, our actions to the contrary are in betrayal of our allegiance God.
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