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.
THE PALESTINIAN CRY: Through Lebanese Lenses
When observing the Gaza conflict, it, therefore, becomes an absolute necessity to listen to those who are directly affected, to those for whom the war is not a news broadcast but a deep reality – to those with skin in the game. It’s important to consider this context when discussing the conflict in GAZA.
COUNT YOUR WORDS – because heaven does!
Every word I speak will be accounted for – every word – by God himself. How we address the needs of those in Gaza, how we speak about our enemies, how we speak about our leaders, how we gossip about fellow believers, how we complain about load-shedding, and the list goes on. EVERY empty word we speak will either acquit us or condemn us. Pause for a moment and think about that!
A LIFE IN GAZA: great value BUT little dignity.
On 7 October 2023, when Hamas crossed the southern borders of Israel and killed 1,139 people, a moral question arose that sadly escaped the lips of many believers: What is the value of a human life? On that fateful day, value and dignity collided – and, sadly, value won.
GAZA: A lost generation
The British political campaign group ‘Led By Donkeys’ laid out 11,500 sets of Children’s clothing representing one set of clothes for every child killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023. The line is 5km long. The magnitude of the loss of young innocent lives in Gaza is heartbreaking