Israel and Hamas

Much time has been spent on news reports concerning how Hamas won such a strong victory in recent Palestinian elections. I can see only 2 big reasons, each of which is very troubling for all concerned. The first is the rampant corruption among the previous Palestinian leadership. They did nothing to help the common Palestinians. They also made a pretention of conducting a peace process with Israel. But it is becoming apparent that even talk of negotiating with Israel is enough for these people to view the Palestinian Authority as suspect. Let's face it Jihad by violent, cultural and demographic means is underway and most liberal westerners don't have a clue about the historical and religious background of what's happening.

The pretense is gone now, Hamas has already said what they think about Israel, about Jews and about the Holocaust. They reject it all as western propoganda. They say the struggle will continue, that is well known under the label of jihad. Now Israel must make a choice, they can not live with this kind of threatening posture and activity in their midst. Of course they don't have many options in the international arena, so they are in a bind. If they continue to live in denial of plain statements about violence and annihilation and keep giving away land in some pretended one sided peace process they may end up in the predicament prophesied by Zechariah in which hald the city is taken. At least 2 Israeli political parties want to make it even easier by giving it away. What a shame. This is appeasement that in the end will not work, even from a purely secular standpoint. Dhimmitude is threatening not just Israel but the whole of the western secular & Christian worlds. Thank G_d that there will be another option shown to the world in future times. Jerusalem will be the capitol of the world someday soon and it will be Jewish.

Israeli trends January 19, 2006

Well, it looks like Israeli politicians are lined up against their own people who've been settling in the west bank. It's inconceivable that Judea will be made Judenrein. As a non-Jew I am having a hard time seeing how the government of Israel can be specifically planning to not only evacuate all settlements in Judea and Samaria, but are even making plans to allow the pal's in Jerusalem to exercise voting rights as if that's the next step towards partitioning of Jerusalem.

The leaders of Israel need to take a stand for their own rights. They are trying to please and appease everybody in sight. Only thing is they forget their own people in a suicidal purge of their own citizens. The Arab and pal side has been consistent and they are winning the war of threats and violence and convincing even themselves that they have no right to the land. This generation of Israeli leadership is a shame to the modern and ancient history of Israel. They have to look to the God of Israel or else continue their slide into the abyss of world hatred and self inflicted genocide. This is truly the time of Jacob's trouble, Jeremiah 30.

Fate of the Jews

There are numerous Christians who are very supportive of the Jewish people and the modern state of Israel. I share that position. The afterlife and fate of the Jewish people is another issue that must be thought through to achieve a fully consistent theology. I advocate a position that the Jewish people are saved as Jews under the provision of the Abrahamic and Law covenants. As Moses and Daniel spoke of the book of life, it is a standard Jewish position that each of the righteous will have a place in the world to come. Christian eschatological exclusivism destroys this hope.

The largest community of Bible believing Christians who support Israel in this life also have a model of salvation that excludes Israel in the afterlife. The concept of explicit salvation in this life is a cornerstone of evangelical belief, i.e. that each human being has to personally accept the offer of life in Jesus Christ. If that isn't done then the person is usually considered lost, fates being eternally fixed at the moment of death. This is an inconsistency that needs to be corrected if Christian support for the Jews is to have any weight.

More directly the problem is even rooted in the dispensationalist prophetic scenario held by many evangelicals. The expectation is that Jewish conversion is needed for a successful restoration process. That is clearly evident by looking at the history of early prophetic interpretations of the Puritans and later of 19th and 20th century missionary movements to the Jews. This expectation continues today. Typically the tribulation scenario of the dispensationalists holds that 144000 Jews will be saved, I suppose the rest are lost in this view. The antichrist expectation is also linked to Jewish obedience/disobedience. In this approach is the constant threat of eternal punishment to Jews and all other non Christians. I recommend reading Sandeen's The Roots of Fundamentalism in this regard.

I believe that the Israelite covenant continues to operate on behalf of the Jews. It includes provisions for right living in the present life and it's prophetic statements extend hope that the God of Israel will save all of that nation in the age to come under Messiah. Christian hopes in Jesus Christ are complementary to this hope in light of the universal coverage of the Noahic and Abrahamic covenants which include the whole earth and all nations of the earth. Christians have not superceded Israel either in this life or the life to come. There will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust, God will deal righteously with all people and teach them the part to life in his earthly kingdom.

Abraham's Sons and Heirs

Abrahamic "roots" are being claimed by everybody these days. That Israel descends from Abraham to Isaac and Jacob is clear. From that it's easy to trace descendants in the history of Israel. What's not easy is to trace the other sons of Abraham, like Ishmael. There is reason to think that a number of peoples living in the mid east can trace a descendancy to Abraham as well, but the Biblical record does not select them specially, the "seed" comes through Isaac.

Christians claim a shared ancestry to Abraham, but it's based on actions and beliefs that are derived from Judaism. I think that commonality is good as long as Christians don't then claim a higher level of descent based on supersecession, substitution of the first by the second. The good aspect to this is how our common beliefs and religious behavior can work well together. The bad aspect is that many Christians (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and some protestant) will alternatively claim priority in their heritage as a argument against Jews and Israel.

Islam however claims a different heritage, the Qur'an has changed the lineage by erasing Isaal in favor of Ishmael. They also claim that Abraham was a Muslim, a clear move of supersession. To me the only clear motive with this approach is to destroy Jewish history, religion and land claims in present day Israel.

Christians have lately picked up the Islamic claims and incorporated them into a political and relgiously ecumenical move to smooth over the present day claims between the 3 monotheisms. I don't buy into that notion, it compromises the claims and history of both Jews and Christians. Clearly the Jews have priority in all of this. It doesn't promote understanding, it only trys to make peace based on false histories and claims.

Recently I read several of the books by Bat Ye'or on Islam. These really clear up a lot of the historical events and present days claims like the Abrahamic "roots" discussion. I recommend these books, they are extremely well documented and presented. Titles include "The Decline of Eastern Christianity", "Islam and Dhimmitude" and "Eurabia".