Palestine Pieta (Ben Heine)
Christians in the West can't escape from the issue as they are frequently assailed by images of the conflict on Television News and other media. Inevitably, the question has to be asked: What should be the Christian position on Palestine? Should they side with the Arabs or the Israelis?
In my church both camps can be readily encountered; two years ago we studied the book of Romans chapter by chapter, verse by verse from the pulpit. Aware that there were pro-Palestinians and pro-Israeli supporters, our leadership decided to avoid conflict by skipping Chapters 9-11 altogether. I don't know what was more sad, that our leadership lacked the courage to tackle this important topic or that AFAIK no other member of the congregation complained against this kind of censorship.
Yet many of Paul's themes hinge around the content of Chapters 9-11. Chapters 9-11 deals with the relationship between Gentile believers and the ethnic Jew. Without the benefit of these chapters, Christians are always going to end up with an erroneous conclusion on the Middle Eastern Conflict.
In order make an informed opinion, the Christian needs to view the matter from a number of perspectives:
In my church both camps can be readily encountered; two years ago we studied the book of Romans chapter by chapter, verse by verse from the pulpit. Aware that there were pro-Palestinians and pro-Israeli supporters, our leadership decided to avoid conflict by skipping Chapters 9-11 altogether. I don't know what was more sad, that our leadership lacked the courage to tackle this important topic or that AFAIK no other member of the congregation complained against this kind of censorship.
Yet many of Paul's themes hinge around the content of Chapters 9-11. Chapters 9-11 deals with the relationship between Gentile believers and the ethnic Jew. Without the benefit of these chapters, Christians are always going to end up with an erroneous conclusion on the Middle Eastern Conflict.
In order make an informed opinion, the Christian needs to view the matter from a number of perspectives:
- A biblical perspective;
- An Islamic perspective; and
- An historical perspective.
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