Have to get this off my chest:

Since I was a Jewish Studies major and am now getting my masters in Hebrew, the first question out of every Christian (a gross generalization, sorry) I meet is, "What do you think about what's going on in Israel?" The frequency of this question has obviously increased over the past month, and there is a direct correlation to my frustration and the frequency of these questions.

Why you ask? Because I think Israel really screwed up on this one. Are the hundreds of civilians that have been killed in the bombings on both sides really worth the lives of the two soldiers taken by Hezbolah? I don't think so. It also doesn't help that I'm a pacifist and find any form of violence appalling. So then I inevitably get into a debate about violence and pacifism and the teachings of Jesus, defending so called "just wars," which I don't think exist.

Then the conversation invariably (unless of course I manage to duck out before it gets that far) goes to an end times/rapture/dispensation argument. I have to point out that prophecy doesn't really foretell the future, as much as warn about likely scenarios. That apocalyptic literature really has nothing to do with our times as much as it has to do with the political maneuvering of the time of the writer. It usually comes out that I don't believe in the rapture, that humanity is supposed to build the kingdom of God and we've done a piss poor job of it because we keep responding to violence with violence. If people would just understand that violence does nothing other than beget more violence, and that turning the other cheek and loving our enemies could have amazing political implications the world would be amazing.

Really, that teaching is one of the main reasons I'm a Christian. Out of all of the monotheistic religions, Christianity is the only one that (at least originally) teaches non-violence at all costs. It doesn't teach retaliation, it doesn't teach justification of war via spiritual means. Instead, Jesus teaches to love your enemies, to bless those who curse you and not drop bombs on them.