***I originally wrote this four years ago, and have now revised it a bit. If you find this post, along with the next few posts, to be challenging and thought-provoking, please share them on Twitter and Facebook. Or at the very least, hit the “like” button!
Having grown up in Wheaton, Illinois, I obviously inherited a certain Evangelical worldview. Now this worldview was comprised of a number of moving parts: Republican, anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, Hal Lindsey’s dispensationalism, and, of course, pro-Israel:
- Why should Christians be Republicans? Because the GOP is anti-abortion.
- Why should Christians oppose abortion? Because it is murder and the taking of human life.
- Why should Christians be against homosexuality? Because it’s unnatural; the Bible calls it sin.
- Why should Christians buy into dispensationalism? Because no one else seems to understand the book of Revelation, and Hal Lindsey seems so sure of what he’s saying
- Why should Christians be “pro-Israel”? Because the Jews are God’s people…and that’s kind of an essential part of Hal Lindsey’s (and Tim LaHaye’s) dispensationalism.
A Little Background on My Views
Now that I’m 45, my views have matured and changed a bit. That being said, I still tend to side with the GOP, but mostly because I consider myself more fiscally conservative, and I simply think that the Republican economic philosophy has a been chance of getting our national budget balanced. Still, I have largely become disappointed with the juvenile antics of both parties.
I still am against abortion, but have a somewhat altered view as well. I still think human life is sacred, but the reality is that we are not living in a Christian society, and there is simply no way to an all abortions. The best Christians can do is to convince society to restrict abortions as much as possible, not unilaterally and forcibly do it. Personally, I think with available contraceptives and even the “morning after pill,” it can be argued that the surgical procedure of abortion is wholly unnecessary. The only time it should be necessary is in cases of emergency, when the mother’s life is at stake. I even can understand the argument for allowing it in cases of rape or incest.
I also believe that certain sexual practices, be it adultery, promiscuity, or homosexual acts are clearly bad things to do. Part of the Church’s witness to this fallen world is to try to guide people in healthy behavior. As far as the “gay marriage” debate is concerned, I’m with C.S. Lewis in thinking that there should be two separate marriage certificates: one from the State, and one from the Church. Consequently, the State can set up the rules for legal benefits however it wants—in my mind, the State marriage license isn’t a Christian marriage; it’s a civil union, regardless of who gets it.
As far as the dispensationalist view of the “end times” and the book of Revelation, I discarded those long ago. No one within the first 1,850 years of Church history ever believed that view. It is a modern (and in my opinion, heretical) view that displays a gross ignorance of the Old Testament, what apocalyptic literature is, and what the New Testament’s view of “the end times” really is. Unfortunately, most Christians who have this view just believe it because that’s what they’ve been told, and they really don’t understand it—it is something that just is rattling around in the attics of their brains.
Now, what about the state of Israel? I don’t think I ever was a blind “pro-Israel at all costs” type of John Hagee Christian. As a Christian and a biblical scholar, I simply do not see the modern state of Israel as “God’s chosen people.” The New Testament is pretty clear on this one: the chosen people of God are those who have put their faith in Christ. That is the true people of God; that is the true Church. As Paul says, “In Christ, there is no Jew or Gentile.” The Church has its roots in Israel, but in Christ, Gentiles who put their faith in him are grafted in, and Jews who reject him are cut off. Therefore, “ethnic Israel” is just another people—they need salvation in Christ, just like everyone else.
This is precisely the problem with dispensationalist theology: it thinks that Christians are God’s people through faith in Christ, but Jews are also God’s people by keeping the Torah. In essence, they believe there are TWO peoples of God. Furthermore, they believe that by supporting the state of Israel, they are taking part in the End-Times scenario that says the clock is counting down—there MUST be a rebuilding of the Temple, so that the anti-Christ can walk into it, declare himself God, and unleash hell on the Jews (the Christians will have been raptured, of course) for seven years. Then Jesus will return, save anyone who turns to him during those seven years, and destroy the anti-Christ and all evil—then, at that time, the Jews will finally turn to Jesus.
That is the essence of dispensationalist theology, and that is completely unbiblical. Evangelicals will do well to finally abandon the theology of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye.
The History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
When it comes to the current state of Israel, a brief history is in order. Since the Holocaust was so horrible, the United Nations felt so bad for the Jewish people that they decided to let them have a homeland. Britain, who controlled Palestine, simply gave part of the land to the Jews—they held it, so they had a right to do that. In fact, Britain and the UN originally planned for a “two-state solution”—a nation of Israel living side by side a nation of Palestine—but from the very beginning the Palestinians were against it. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (the Muslim leader for Palestinian Muslims) was close allies with Hitler and even commanded a Panzer division.
Furthermore, when Israel was declared a state in 1948, not only did all the surrounding Muslim countries forcibly expel their entire Jewish populations, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel all teamed up and attacked Israel, vowing to annihilate Israel as soon as it was founded. The Grand Mufti, along with his nephew Yasser Arafat, told the Palestinians to flee from their homes and let the Arab nations come through and kill the Jews; then, afterwards, they could come back to their homes and live in a Palestinian State.
As it turned out, Israel held its ground and survived. Given the number of expelled Jews from Arab countries that came to Israel, and given the fact that may Palestinians fled their homes, the Israeli government ended up giving those Palestinian homes to immigrating Jews, and then proceeded to build Israeli settlements to accommodate the Jewish population.
Then in 1967, on the eve of another Arab attack with the purpose of annihilation of Israel, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack and was victorious again—taking control of the entire Sinai peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. Since then, the surrounding Arab countries refused to admit the Palestinians refugees into their own countries, and Israel has regulated the Palestinians to the Gaza Strip refugee camps or the West Bank—the Palestinians are a homeless people.
But the fault, as I have thought for the longest time, is primarily with the Arab countries and the terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. For every time there has been a peace settlement, Israel has given up land for peace, and immediately, groups like Hamas and Hezbollah have proceeded to launch attacks against Israel. Even in 2000, when Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat 98% of what he wanted, he rejected it—why? Because he never wanted real peace—he, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, etc. have always been single-minded in their determination to annihilate Israel from the map. That being said, the history of the conflict has also shown that Israel has bloody hands as well. Many of their prime ministers had originally been “Jewish terrorists” against the Palestinians during the 30’s and 40’s.
That was my view and position…and I still hold to much of it. I don’t think Hamas, Hezbollah, or Iran has ever nor will ever accept the notion of a Jewish state—they are bent on violence, period.
From the Holy Mountain…
That being said, though, I want to relate (and recommend) a book I read a few years back: From the Holy Mountain: A Journey Among the Christians of the Middle East, by William Darymple. He decided to retrace the journey of a 6th Century Byzantine monk named John Moschos, from the holy mountain of Athos, down through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and ending up in Egypt. On his journey he visited ancient Christian sites and connected with the Orthodox Christian remnant community that still lived in the Middle East.
The entire book is fascinating, but the one part that challenged me the most Darymple’s account of his travels through the Israeli-Palestinian territories and his “up close and personal” glimpse at the sad fate of Palestinian Christians living in the land since the formation of Israel in 1948. For a full account of Darymple’s book, it is best to read the book. For now, I will just highlight what impacted me most.
At the risk of being over-simplistic, the state of the Palestinians before the formation of Israel in 1948 was remarkably good. Even under the Ottoman Empire, Palestinian Christians lived in a “semi-state” of peace with their Muslim neighbors. Armenian Christians living in Palestine were very well off, well-educated, and prosperous. Christian monasteries often welcomed surrounding Muslims who would visit the monks and ask them to pray for them (for a variety of needs). Now, this should not blind us to the grim realities of the Turks’ massacre of Armenian Christians in the early 1900’s or the Turks systematic expulsion of Greek Orthodox Christians from Turkey in the first half of the 20th Century. Christians under Muslim rule have often suffered hardship, and sometimes brutality. There is no question to this. Nevertheless, the Palestinians—both Muslim and Christian—lived in a fair amount of harmony before 1948.
It was after the formation of the modern state of Israel that has been the reason for all the conflict we have seen over the past 70 years. More on that tomorrow….
