There is no right side in the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. What gives any government legitimacy to exist? There is no standard for answering this question in Scripture (if you find one, please email it to me at ndsnow@gmail – those who quote Rom 13 need not apply) because there is no support for the legitimacy of human governments in Scripture.
The Israeli government is secular – pagan even. It generates arbitrary laws and forces its people into military action. Scripture makes promises to the Jewish people, but not to the nation – state of Israel.
Palestine has no more right to exist, and Hamas has no more right to a monopoly on force in the Gaza strip, than anyone else does.
What this crisis again illustrates is that the world strives for control of political power. Power-over as Greg Boyd calls it. In every fight among wolves, sheep ought to stay out. Let these pagans blow each other to bits, they are filled with the demonic lust of power.
If there is a role for Christians in this tragedy it is to offer up our homes to the innocents. They can move in with me – Jew, Arab, Persian, Kurd. All of them.
The most important work Christians can be involved politically in this regard is relaxation of immigration restrictions, first for refugees, slaves, and other oppressed peoples, and then for everyone else.
Comments (2)
doesn’t any nation having its civilians being randomly attacked by rocket fire have the right to defend itself? If Mexico were lobbing missiles into Texas we would never have waited this long to retaliate!
Sure. Any nation can retaliate. And any nation can provoke! There’s no rhyme nor reason to it. There’s no justice or injustice to it. There’s just pagans acting like pagans – with very, very short time horizons.
There’s no reason Christians should choose sides in this conflict at all.
Our only obligation is to the innocents, to care for them and to invite them into our homes.
NS