A DOMICIDAL WAR IN GAZA: and the blah blahs of the Christian Church
A Guardian investigation[1] has recently detailed the mass destruction of buildings and land in three neighbourhoods in Gaza. Using satellite imagery and open-source evidence, the investigation found damage to more than 250 residential buildings, 17 schools and universities, 16 mosques, three hospitals, three cemeteries and 150 agricultural greenhouses.
Entire buildings have been levelled, fields flattened and places of worship wiped off the map in the course of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, launched after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.
The destruction has not only forced 1.9 million people to leave their homes but also made it impossible for many to return. This has led some experts to describe what is happening in Gaza as “DOMICIDE”, defined as the widespread, deliberate destruction of the home to make it uninhabitable, preventing the return of displaced people.
By now, 7 months after the initial terror attacks in Israel and the subsequent carnage in Gaza, the logic assumption would have been for the global Church to have expressed a deep sense of compassion and an urgent pursuit for peace. After all, with 1 out of every three people on planet earth confessing to follow the One who proclaimed to be the Prince of Peace, peace should have been the default response of the 2,5 billion Christians globally.
Not so.
Every discussion at every service and every meeting has been overshadowed by repeated, empty and overlong arguments of who is right and who is wrong, who is to blame and who is the victim. What should have been a united quest for a Christ-centred solution became divisive discussions with arguments that disrupted the harmony that Jesus instructed His followers to pursue.
Last night, again, I listened to two self-proclaimed You-tube analysts discussing the Gaza war. The same arguments that were presented 222 days ago when the first bombs fell, were still being presented last night. The arguments remained the same, yet the suffering and the immeasurable pain of death, displacement and destruction, did not remain unchanged.
BLAH BLAH BLAH
Sadly, it seems like the only appropriate response many Christians in the West feel comfortable of offering is the blah blah blah of theological rhetoric. So, what does blah blah blah mean? It’s often used to signify repeated, empty or overlong speeches. But there is actually a similar term that came from ancient Greece: bar bar bar. It derives from the word barbarian and basically means meaningless noises. The meaningless noises of the empty and repeated opinions when Christians discuss the barbaric war in Gaza most probably describe the discourses best. Everyone has a point to prove but the discussions remain pointless, fruitless and meaningless, not changing one life for the better.
After the horrific events of 7 October and the initial shock that left the world speechless, a barrage of opinions were unleashed on humanity – like verbal diarrhoea. Everyone became an expert. This inevitably led to the quest of determining who is right and who is wrong. Especially amongst Christians. Looking at social media you soon discover that people are more concerned about being right than being kind, more focused on terminology than those who starve to death: Is Israel God’s selected people? Is it a genocide or not? Is it occupation or not? Are the number of dead children inflated or not? Is a peace treaty with Hamas possible or not? Blar blar blar – and every day another 430 people die or are injured!
If these are the questions that still occupy our discussions, our humanity is reaching a level of depravity that our generation has not witnessed before.
Quite frankly, I’ve had enough. And maybe you have too.
All the rhetoric, the pious defenders of truth, the religious righteous who defend the killings of innocent children as if it is a godly virtue, and the countless self-appointed experts are becoming offensive and irritating. Every opinion expressed in the comfort of casual conversations simply seems to regurgitate the opinions of those who have gone before. No solutions, no compassion, just opinions. Every discussion that is void of finding a solution becomes an obstacle in the pursuit of peace. Yes, there needs to be justice and yes, Hamas is to be blamed for everything. Yes, Israel has the right to defend itself, and ofcourse the war will end once the hostages are released. Right or wrong, we’ve heard it all before.
But while we defend our convictions, defenceless children are dying in the rubble of collapsed buildings and families are mourning the loss of loved ones. Every argument can be justified and every conviction proved to be true, but most arguments lack the one virtue that defines a follower of Christ: COMPASSION. We all possess the truth, or so we believe, we all believe we are right, or so we think. And when in doubt we can always take scripture, seek a verse and make our argument indisputable. All this, while countless lives are dumped into an abyss of misery.
Who cares about the dying, as long as we can decide who is right and who is wrong?
RIGHT AND WRONG: USING MORALITY AS BENCHMARK
“Right” and “wrong” can refer to the accuracy of factual claims and often depend on our interpretations. But right and wrong can also refer to morality. As Christians, our spiritual duty is to proclaim the moral implications of what is right and what is wrong, not focus on our opinionated interpretations of the factual evidence we believe to be true.
Morally, what happened on 7 October 2023 was wrong and needs to be defined as wrong in every sense of the word. The terror attacks on innocent Israeli civilians should be condemned by all and were void of any morality. Morally, it was “wrong”. But what has transpired since 7 October is equally deprived of every fibre of human morality, regardless of how you feel about Israel. Some might be able to justify it as the Biblical mandate of Israel or even the politically right of Israel, but it remains morally wrong. It is wrong for children to die, for families to be torn apart and for dignity to be stripped.
If you, as a follower of Christ, support retributive justice you are compromising your Christian witness of navigating and finding ethical solutions
So, let’s stop bar baring about the legitimacy of killing innocent people. Let’s refrain from the blah blahing of who is right and who is wrong.
What if we chose, instead, to begin in exactly the opposite way? Instead of arguing who is to blame and who is not, let us provide ourselves with moral backbone and start discussing solutions: who can be saved and who can be redeemed. Let’s start imitating the Christ we confess, the One who wept, the One who stopped and listened, the One who cared about the marginalised, the outcasts and the unwanted. Let’s engage in talking peace. Let’s pray without ceasing and let’s give without measure. Let’s stop pointing fingers and look at ourselves, created in the image of God, bearing the gospel of good news and being instruments of peace. Let’s start loving our enemies and pray for those who seek to harm us. Let’s take the compass of love and for God’s sake, let’s stop talking and start moving forward.
To get involved visit: https://dialogos.co.za/projects/ and scroll down to Project Hope Gaza
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/jan/30/how-war-destroyed-gazas-neighbourhoods-visual-investigation