Promises

Jaime and I watched this documentary the other night. It is an amazing look at the complex issues surrounding the Palestinian/Israeli conflict from the perspective of 7 children. These kids are both Israeli and Palestinian and all live in or around Jerusalem including the camps just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank. If you haven't seen this movie you must, you really must.

As a Christian majoring in Jewish Studies, one of the first questions I get asked by conservative Christians is what I think about the conflict in the Middle East. They mention the book of Daniel and Revelation and the "prophetic" declarations of the coming Jewish state. I grew up in churches that saw the Rapture and the second coming of Christ in every news event that comes out of the Middle East. For example, the Anti-Christ moved from Kadafi to Gorbachev to Saddam Hussein and this was taught from the pulpit.

There's so much misunderstanding out there due to ignorance about the role of apocalyptic literature. The point of apocalyptic literature is not to prophesy in the sense of telling the future. The point is to show the present history of the writers in a way that emphasizes the spiritual behind the physical reality, a battle between good and evil, light and darkness. It's a reassurance that good will win even when it looks like the evil will be the victor. Lord of the Rings is a fantastic example of modern apocalyptic literature. It's an intense battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness and Tolkien had deeper meanings behind the symbols.

A biblical example occurs during the time period of the exile when the temple has been destroyed by the Babylonians and it looks as if God has abandoned them forever and there's no hope of rebuilding or going back. The book of Daniel places this earthly conflict into a cosmic reality that shows that God is in control and promises the Jews will return to Jerusalem. The Jews have never viewed the book of Daniel as prophetically predicting the future.

Jaime recently had a conversation with her mom about the documentary. Jaime was talking about how sad it was that the most religious people, people who worshiped God (whatever God that might be) were the ones least likely to seek peace, that out of the Jews in the documentary it was only the secular ones that considered reaching out to the other side. She said until someone decides to be the one to lose, to be the one to make a concession, to give up something for peace, the fighting and killing will never end. At this point Jaime's mom (who is genuinely saddened by the violence and lack of peace in Israel) said, "No, there will never be peace. Only when the Antichrist comes will there be a false peace for a time. And if America doesn't support Israel, we're done for."

This kind of thing is taught as gospel by many churches across America. Rapture, pre-tribulation, post-tribulation, etc. etc. are put into doctrinal statements like these views are cut and dry, like they matter in a person's Christian walk, like these views will impact our world. And, unfortunately they do impact our world but not for the better.

It's no secret that the American Dispensationalist Religious Right does have political influence. The conflict in Israel is one of the areas they use this influence. These people don't want peace. They want to hurry the Second Coming which in their minds means Israel will have control over not only the traditional land of Israel but all of the Middle East. In their minds the promise of possessing the land from the Nile to the Tigris must happen at all cost. Obviously no concessions on Israel's part will be supported by this group.

Christians like these support the ultra-religious Jews in their aggressive maneuvers to occupy land. Who cares if the Palestinians are oppressed or unable to make a living because prophecy must be fulfilled. And besides, any Palestinian could be a terrorist. They blame them and yet they create them. Each provocative action taken by Israel or Israeli settlers only creates more hard feelings. Each person killed creates another martyr in the cause. Each grieving family member left behind becomes the next potential terrorist because of their pain and need for revenge. And vice versa. Each suicide bomber that blows up a bus full of women and children creates an Israeli willing to do anything to suppress the Palestinians and their cause. Each bomber makes the check points more necessary. And each check point humiliates and hardens the heart of another Arab.

It's so ironic. So many Christians are being taught these false views of prophecy. They're taught that Daniel and Revelation speak directly to current events in the Middle East and so they essentially support unnecessary war. Somehow Jesus' teachings on peace, love and justice are suspended when the supposed "End Times" must be fulfilled. The irony is that the true meaning of these texts are about trusting God when others are doing violence to you. They don't teach to pick up the sword or that the end justifies the means.

Even if, and I don't believe this, even if these texts were prophetic and these crazy things were going to happen, believers are never called to act in a certain way to make them happen. It would be out of their control. Even if these texts were prophetic, Christians would still be accountable to follow what Jesus says, feeding the poor, helping the oppressed, the imprisoned, the widows and the orphans--NOT creating widows and orphans by supporting war and dissension. But somehow these people see it as their role to hurry things up, make the prophesy come to pass no matter what.

Whenever I think about all of this I'm reminded of this verse--"Woe to you who wish for the Day of the Lord! Why do you want this Day of the Lord? It shall be darkness not light."

Amos 5:18