What About Arab Christians?
Christianity Today online has been trying to do a broad-based good job in presenting two sides of the Christian issue with respect to Israel. They have been giving news stories from inside Lebanon about the Christians who live there- a significant number, in fact.

I am impressed because such coverage will rightly raise some serious questions, I think, about American-Christian Right support for Israel.

For example, the kind of "biblically" based understandings that make the success of Israel something that is a necessity, under any circumstances is expressed in the following. It is from John Hagee, founder and national chairman of Christians United For Israel (www.cufi.org), and was an opinion peace in The Jerusalem Post Online

IT IS MY view that Christians have a biblical responsibility to support Israel in the face of this aggression, and CUFI is the organization that will allow us to express that support with one strong voice.

Does he really believe that Christians in Lebanon whose homes are currently being destroyed by Israel bombs, will get down on their knees and give the Lord a prayer of thanks that Israel is so powerful? Will they say that they are glad to die at Israeli hands because after all Israel is obviously carrying out the will of God?

I shudder at that thought.

I also shudder at the thought that there are Christians who are praying that this war in the Middle East will become The War that leads to Armageddon so once and for all the infidels heathen will be destroyed. I shudder to think that some of this may even be behind some of the "official" policies toward Israel in this war.

Let me make it clear that I have a great deal of respect for the State of Israel (we were born in the same year.) It is not all their fault by a long-shot. Many in the Arab world have fueled the hatred over there by making a no-win situation for Israel. But Israel is not always right. (Even a cursory glance at the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament will support that understanding.) And this is not the era of King David or the judges or Hezekiah. It is a much more dangerous world and one where Biblical principles can be approached in a lot of different ways.

So I hope that the Christian Fundamentalists who often have as much cultural baggage mixed up in their theology as any one else will stop and listen to Christians in the Arab countries, especially in Lebanon. Listen to the cries of Christians who want the bombing of their homes to stop as well as violence and terror taking over their lives.

And then together with them, we can pray for peace.