{"id":672,"date":"2010-06-07T20:56:16","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T00:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faculty.bbc.edu\/mstallard\/?p=672"},"modified":"2010-06-07T20:56:16","modified_gmt":"2010-06-08T00:56:16","slug":"dispensationalism-and-the-gaza-flotilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/dispensationalism-and-the-gaza-flotilla\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispensationalism and the Gaza Flotilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Dispensational theology involves in some measure a belief in Christian Zionism (Israel has a right to its land in the Middle East).\u00a0 The converse is not always true.\u00a0 Not all Christian Zionists are dispensationalists.\u00a0 In recent times, dispensationalists have been accused of influencing American foreign policy in the Middle East in a bad direction (pro-Israel).\u00a0 Strangely, at the same time it has been claimed that dispensationalism is in serious decline within evangelicalism.\u00a0 In any case, dispensationalists are overwhelmingly pro-Israel in the Arab-Israeli conflict.<\/p>\n

That position was put to the test (as it is from time to time) in the recent controversial event of Israel\u2019s military stopping and boarding the so-called Gaza Flotilla which allegedly carried humanitarian aid to Gaza, the territory controlled by Hamas.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in the confrontation that occurred, nine people were killed.\u00a0 For those who love Israel there is an ethical dilemma.\u00a0 Was Israel wrong here as a matter of policy?\u00a0 Are the nation\u2019s leaders at fault for misreading the situation?\u00a0 Were the flotilla activists \u201cpeace activists\u201d or were they (at least partly) jihadists taking military supplies to Gaza?\u00a0 In actuality, there appeared to be little in the way of weapons found (although there were some).\u00a0 But do the past attempts at smuggling weapons into Gaza help justify the Israeli blockade and concern about these kinds of things?\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is part of a larger debate.\u00a0 There are those who see Israel as the oppressor of Arabs who do not possess freedom or access to what they need to better themselves.\u00a0 On the other side are those who see Israel as the victim of a serious anti-Semitism which wants to eliminate its very existence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the international outcry and the media blitz on this event left us with no clear picture of what really happened.\u00a0 Both sides even had their own videos to spin things in their favor.\u00a0 The anti-Israel forces were out in droves complaining of favoritism for Israel.\u00a0 The pro-Israel forces were out in large numbers insisting that Israel was being treated with a double standard among nations.\u00a0 Those who are pro-Israel could easily use this event as a reminder that 50% of U.N. Resolutions condemning nations are directed at Israel.\u00a0 It is almost like \u201ccrying wolf.\u201d\u00a0 It has happened so often, it is just assumed that the world\u2019s out of kilter bent is against Israel.\u00a0 Therefore, there is skepticism about the Arab position.<\/p>\n

How should dispensationalists and other Christians respond to all of this?\u00a0 Let me suggest three things.\u00a0 First, we should not cry out \u201cIsrael right or wrong\u201d every time something happens. We should be willing to objectively evaluate the current events on the basis of what is right and wrong as we understand Scripture.\u00a0 Arabs must be treated humanely.\u00a0 Jews in the Middle East must be treated humanely.\u00a0 Both groups should be protected by any attempt to annihilate them.\u00a0 At this level, one must be both pro-Israel and pro-Arab at the same time, although the world tries not to let you do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Second, we must be honest about the facts on the ground.\u00a0 Who has been attempting to kill whom down through the years?\u00a0 I think those evangelicals who hold to a pro-Arab position sometimes misrepresent or simply misunderstand just what has happened since 1948 (and even before).\u00a0 It is the Arab nations that have tried to wipe out Israel, not the other way around.\u00a0 Remember Munich 1972.\u00a0 Remember Entebbe 1976.\u00a0 Who attacked whom in 1948 and 1973? \u00a0Who forced Israel to do a pre-emptive strike in 1967?\u00a0 Who forced Israel’s hand in 1982 with Katusha rockets?\u00a0 Are there many Jewish suicide bombers?\u00a0 While there have been atrocities going from Jew against Arab, the historical record is much more on the side of Israel.\u00a0 We need to be honest about that record.\u00a0 In a day when the Holocaust is being denied, evangelicals have no excuse for sloppiness in looking at recent history.<\/p>\n

Third, Bible-believing Christians should go to the Bible as the source for all thought about Israel.\u00a0 If the Bible suggests that the land belongs to Israel, then the Christian should agree with that.\u00a0 If the Bible suggests that actions by the nation of Israel are ethically wrong, then Christians should criticize the action.\u00a0 In all of this, the believer must recognize that it is not the current history that is the main thing.\u00a0 The main thing is the Word of God and God\u2019s thoughts about the matter.\u00a0 Based upon that, the Jews are still the Chosen People.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dispensational theology involves in some measure a belief in Christian Zionism (Israel has a right to its land in the Middle East).\u00a0 The converse is not always true.\u00a0 Not all Christian Zionists are dispensationalists.\u00a0 In recent times, dispensationalists have been accused of influencing American foreign policy in the Middle East in a bad direction (pro-Israel).\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}