With our rifles and grenades, and some help from God
Round 658 in the Battle of the Deities rolled into critical mass late last week, and besides being disproportionately depressed, I have also been very turned off to the news coverage, which, I suppose not surprisingly, has been overhwelmingly Pro-Israel.
I too, am considerably pro Israel, and I have nearly a vitriolic reaction when I run into the militant free Palestine lefties in the streets of Somerville and Cambridge. Over the weekend, a "Go to hell" nearly left my lips when I abruptly stopped myself and realized: These people are ideologues just like I used to be. These people believe in something, no matter how pie in the sky, impractical, or just plain wrong I might view it to be. And I've been called a babykiller, a terrorist sympathizer, and all those liberal names in the past, so how dare I curse them, show disgust at them, and dismiss them?
The callous answer would be because I'm right, and I certainly believe that to be the case. A fervently violent group takes over political leadership, continues targeting civilians and then physically provokes the Israeli military. Is Israel is supposed to sit on its hands?
The problem is, though, that when God is believed to be on both sides of a war, can either side be fallible? This isn't an capitalism vs. communism battle like we faced between 1945 and 1991, or an imperialism/fascism vs. rule of law battle like the ones we faced between 1914 and 1945. This is a battle between steadfast beliefs in God's will coupled with self and cultural preservation. And biblically speaking, this fight is in the family. It's a battle between brothers; one the scion of a religion and one a bastard outcast and scion of another.
If God was interventionist, this might be the time for him to finally take sides and end this sibling rivalry. But knowing God, he will simply allow Israel, the country and the people, to survive to live and fight another day, to eventually face an oppressor or an opponent even greater than the last, to keep their head above water.
I too, am considerably pro Israel, and I have nearly a vitriolic reaction when I run into the militant free Palestine lefties in the streets of Somerville and Cambridge. Over the weekend, a "Go to hell" nearly left my lips when I abruptly stopped myself and realized: These people are ideologues just like I used to be. These people believe in something, no matter how pie in the sky, impractical, or just plain wrong I might view it to be. And I've been called a babykiller, a terrorist sympathizer, and all those liberal names in the past, so how dare I curse them, show disgust at them, and dismiss them?
The callous answer would be because I'm right, and I certainly believe that to be the case. A fervently violent group takes over political leadership, continues targeting civilians and then physically provokes the Israeli military. Is Israel is supposed to sit on its hands?
The problem is, though, that when God is believed to be on both sides of a war, can either side be fallible? This isn't an capitalism vs. communism battle like we faced between 1945 and 1991, or an imperialism/fascism vs. rule of law battle like the ones we faced between 1914 and 1945. This is a battle between steadfast beliefs in God's will coupled with self and cultural preservation. And biblically speaking, this fight is in the family. It's a battle between brothers; one the scion of a religion and one a bastard outcast and scion of another.
If God was interventionist, this might be the time for him to finally take sides and end this sibling rivalry. But knowing God, he will simply allow Israel, the country and the people, to survive to live and fight another day, to eventually face an oppressor or an opponent even greater than the last, to keep their head above water.
posted by quint at 11:22 AM
2 Comments:
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