Can Christians make God look good in Israel-Palestine? Will Christians help transform the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict into an inevitable Israeli-Palestinian Thrust to Trust; better yet, trust to thrust? Will Christians do something radical, be kind? Better yet, let go; let God?
Will Christians encourage the Israelis and Palestinians to reclaim their guiding principles and fundamental beliefs derived from the Sacred Texts: “love your neighbor, love the stranger, and justice, justice shalt thou pursue.” Isn’t it Christ-like to help heal the traumas and to commit to understanding each other?
I am challenging the noble and proud Palestinian Resistance to combine forces with the noble and proud Jews with conscience and deploy kindness as their stealth weapon. Friendship destroys enemies. Yes, there is an Israeli ‘underground’ consisting of Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. They, too, despise the present Israeli regime. More than anything, they want a democratically invoked regime change.
Will Christians tolerate the Palestinian Resistance and the Israeli Underground to come and work together to reach common goals? Is there another choice? And, will a Nelson Mandela type come out of the ashes? “Heaven forbid,” I hear many Christians say. Walking the tightrope requires a balancing act, dealing cautiously with tension and compromise (Chapter 5: Abraham … A Life without Borders; Sub-chapter 5.10: Reclaiming Guiding Principles and Fundamental Beliefs; Page 130; Kindle Locations 2603-2618).
Reportedly, 20 to 40 million Christians in the United States and, perhaps, 120 million Christians around the world aid and abet the 3.5 million Israeli Jews, a minority who tyrannize the majority of people in Israel-Palestine. Israelis on all sides of the Divide believe that they could have resolved the Conflict by now to an eventual Israeli-Palestinian Thrust to Trust. But, the 140 to 160 million Christians who ‘want it their way or else the highway‘ bolster and help sustain the Conflict. Many live for the day to reach a final solution, a supra-national state for Jews only, inhabited by a pure breed of Jews when Jews have never been a pure race. Even Moses married outside the faith.
Christians have been more of a liability than an asset to the cause of Christ. Are Christians still unaware that for millennia, Jews have distrusted, feared, and hated Christians? Read Evangelist Dr. Michael L. Brown Op-ed, ‘Jews Welcome Evangelical Love, Money, and Influence for Israel. But Call Our Christianity ‘Poison,’ published on 28 June 2020 by Haaretz in Israel. “It seems disingenuous that Jewish leaders now blast fervently pro-Israel evangelicals’ faith as toxic, ugly and destructive,” laments Dr. Brown.
If Christians cannot share the Good News About the Kingdom (Matthew 24: 14), get out! Leave us alone! Come back only when you understand the Word by WALKING and LIVING the TALK.
To quote Saint Pope John Paul II, in ‘Excerpts from his Apostolic Journey to Ireland, in September 1979:’
“Christianity does not command us to close our eyes to difficult human problems.
Christianity does not permit us to neglect unjust social or international situations.
Christianity forbid us to seek solutions by the ways of hatred, by the murdering of defenseless people, by the methods of terrorism.
Let me say more: Christianity understands and recognizes the noble and just struggle for justice, but Christianity is decisively opposed to inciting hatred and to promoting or provoking violence or struggle for the sake of ‘struggle.'”
The command, “Thou shalt not kill,” must be binding on the conscience of humanity to prevent the tragedy and destiny of Cain from repeating itself.“
Christ is the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9: 5-7), who reconciled us to God and each other (2 Corinthians 5: 18). God is the source of unity.
The Gospel reading tells us of Jesus as ‘the Good Shepherd’ whose one desire is to bring all together into one flock. Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself on the cross “to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11: 52). Christ “is our peace” (Ephesians 2: 11). And today and forever, he repeats to us: “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you” (John 14: 27).
The Word of God commands us to repent and to desist from hatred and violence.
Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the reality of our humanity.
Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings.
Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroys the very fabric of society.
There is another word that must be part of the vocabulary of every Christian. This Word is reconciliation.
“So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).
What is better?
A cataclysmic calamity or a catalytic thrust toward mutual trust!
Is an Israeli-Palestinian Quest to Co-Exist on the horizon?
Should terror for or against, perpetrated by either or both with the inevitable repercussions of reprisals, reign?
Blood begets more blood, triggering the warring parties to fortify their resolve to regain their dignity; and, the world is enraged, and the people of Israel are split apart as are the people of Palestine.
“Can we quietly Cross the Boundary of Life and Find New Meaning in Our Tangled Roots of Our Combined Histories,” a whisper of hope from American poet, Dario Robleto? (*Prologue: Let’s Get Radical … Be Kind! Page 15; Kindle Locations 100-106)
Are Christians prepared to reconcile with all the people of Israel-Palestine? Will Christians advocate reconciliation, preceded by restitution between the Jews and Palestinians?
Where there is a will, there is a way for sunshine to break through the dark clouds.
Read more … Excerpts Apostolic Journey to Ireland 1979
With every good wish to you, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague
Abraham A. van Kempen
Senior Editor
*‘Christian Zionism … Enraptured Around a Golden Cal” (2nd Edition)
e-book version $ 3.33
Paperback $33.30
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