ELATION AND MOURNING – A costly exercise to free 4 hostages in Gaza
How do we as believers deal with the tension caused by the extremes of elation and anguish? How do we contextualise the celebration of freedom while seeking comfort for the innocent who suffered? How do we justify the deaths of so many people, especially 64 guiltless children, as the price of freedom for 4 hostages.
THE BOANERGES BROTHERS,ME AND HAMAS: An admirable loyalty but a deplorable devotion.
As I reflected on the story of the ‘sons of thunder’ in scripture, three questions arose:
Firstly, I wonder what Jesus might choose as a nickname for me.
Secondly, what is my “Samaritan village” that evokes a desire for fire and destruction.
Finally, whatever I do, “don’t the pagans do the same?”
A DOMICIDAL WAR IN GAZA: and the blah blahs of the Christian Church
Sadly, it seems like the only appropriate response many Christians the West feel comfortable in offering to the current conflict in Gaza is the blah blah blah of theological rhetoric. 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. Quite frankly, I’ve had enough. And maybe you have too.
CHOOSING SIDES – WHAT CURRENCY DO YOU USE?
What currency do I use when I communicate my convictions about Gaza, Israel, Hamas, Palestinians? What currency did Jesus use in communicating Kingdom values? Do they correlate or do they contradict one another?
FAMINE IN GAZA: CONNECTED EXTREMES IN A DISCONNECTED WORLD
The IPC’s global hunger monitor says Gaza has already surpassed the first two criteria that define a famine- food shortage and malnutrition – and mass death will begin “imminently” without an immediate aid surge. But the global tragedy we are witnessing is not only because of war, hatred and extremism. The challenge is our connected extremes in a disconnected world.
GAZA – A PANDEMIC OF THE MIND
There is a new pandemic sweeping the globe. I suffer from it, you, as reader, suffer from it and every other human being suffer from it. This time, unlike the 2019 COVID pandemic that affected the lungs and restricted human movement, it affects the mind and restricts human reasoning. It’s called CONFIRMATION BIAS, perhaps better described as MYSIDE BIAS.
THREE CONTRADISTINCTIVE GIFTS OF HOLY WEEK
Easter week started yesterday. During this week, before we celebrate the redemptive grace of God, we celebrate the lord’s goodness as we contemplate: The highway of disillusionment – where we acquire truth. The inner room of betrayal – where we attain servanthood. The garden of depression – where we obtain victory
PEACE IN ISRAEL HAS A PALESTINIAN FACE
If you are praying for the peace of Jerusalem, like Psalm 122 instructs, then take a moment to reconsider your prayers and realign your focus. PEACE already entered Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, on a donkey – and they crucified him. But Peace didn’t leave Jerusalem. Peace rose again and left His followers with a new instruction – this time not to PRAY for the PEACE of Jerusalem, but to WITNESS of the PEACE in Jerusalem.
So, what does peace look like in Jerusalem today?:
GAZA, THE GOOD SAMARITAN AND THE IDIOSYNCRASY OF JESUS
Today, two thousand years later, the setting of the Good Samaritan is fairly much the same as Gazans suffer beyond human understanding. Religious leaders, Christians, and politicians walk past, look at the broken bodies, quote scripture, fulfill their religious duties, shake their heads, shrug their shoulders, and carry on fulfilling the law. Ironically, their zeal for fulfilling the laws of Moses make them break the laws of Christ.
ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF: The 3 laws of a just war
Many Christians, with firm convictions that Israel is acting purely out of self-defence in Gaza, are good people acting in good faith. However, most of our thinking is often, for various reasons, warped by motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, and this leads us to replace complexity with simplicity. This is just human nature. The answer is not that simple though.