The last week or so has seen a renewed focus on Israel and Gaza. I fully respect the right of Israel as a sovereign nation to protect itself from terrorist attacks (though that is debatable, some call it self defence from the Palestinians). But people need to look beyond the the near horizon and look at what has been going on there for several years. But first look at forced resettlement and racial profiling and bias in other countries and see what has become of it. In South Africa in the 1950's the country passed laws that legalized racism and marginalized the majority of people. For years the black south Africans tried to gain equality, but with unequal resources (Gaza has been under a virtual blockade and has had energy rations for years now) and economic opportunities it was extremely difficult to do so. So the ANC resorted to "terrorist acts" that killed innocent people. That woke up the white ruling elites, and for a while they cracked down on the ANC. But the high profile of the actions gained popularity for the movement. The international community got behind the ANC and eventually in 1993 South Africa held its first bi-racial election. Now life is not perfect in SA, but it is now one of the richest and most powerful nations on the continent. Is that what Israel is afraid of? Palestine getting bigger and better than they? One nation cannot oppress another forever. Micah 6:8 says to ".......do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." That is Old testament stuff, the part of the Bible the Jews read. Now it is not in the books of Moses but I think it applies here. If America had not practiced pre-emptive war in the last 8 years Israel may not be doing this action now. If Israel had not oppressed Palestinians Hamas may not be blowing up Israeli towns right now. If humans treated each other with respect and love like we were intend to places like Darfur in Sudan, Somalia, Congo would not be having the same type of conflict right now. Why aren't American soldiers fighting in Zimbabwe Mugabe is as bad a dictator as Saddam was yet we don't seem to care about the southern Africans.
At a time in history that is seeing one of the most amazing changes in the world (a black president of the US it is still unbelievable to me I never thought I would be alive to see it). We still have nations oppressing nations, leaders screwing their countries, and many many people sitting by watching, wondering if anyone will come to their senses. It has to start with us. Me loving you and you loving the next one. I hope I can live up to the challenge.
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Good challenge, Pete. I try to live up to that daily, but fail much of the time.
I think, unfortunately, the answer to all those "why's?" you posed is the old problem of our sinful nature. It is not in our spiritual DNA to be loving and caring and selfless. Our defaults are the opposite.
Your conclusion is probably right: it starts with you and with me and every other person loving others in the radical, countercultural way that Jesus showed us.
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