Occasionally this past week or two when I'm sipping my coffee or laughing at a friend's joke, I think of what is happening in the Gaza strip and I feel sick to my stomach.
I find the whole situation very confusing and I often feel ignorant. In my effort to learn about the conflict, I have read a little and asked some friends their thoughts, but I find it is so difficult to know what information is accurate. The media is such a mess and I don't have the skills or time to determine what is truth and what is rubbish. On top of it all, I am frustrated by the zionist attitude of American Evangelicalism that I know exists--believing that this could be somehow a part of God's plan to bring everything into fruition so Christ can return. I haven't actually talked with anyone since the escalating conflict who believes this, but I imagine it is likely an undercurrent of the beliefs of many people I know. I too have read the Old Testament, which is ridden with passages of people groups being wiped out. I have also read the New Testament and when I put them both together, I come to believe that God is all powerful, much larger than anything I can grasp, a lover of a justice unlike anything we know, and a God of peace. If all the laws are summed up in loving your neighbor as yourself and loving God with all your soul, mind, heart and strength--then I am totally confused why any person who studies the Bible or claims to follow Jesus would think it is ok for us to support bombing civilians and ending their lives (which is why I have trouble with the Iraq war).
I just don't understand it...
I've been reading the blog of a woman from Gaza, currently living in North Carolina. Her parents are still in Gaza and she has been corresponding with them daily. She was interviewed on CNN recently.
http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com
1 comment:
Laila is a childhood friend of mine...her story hits too close to home for me. I share the same confused sentiment.
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