Colonial Aggression Plus

Palestinians, Lebanese, Ukrainians, Haitians, Democratic Republic of Congo  population,  Tibetans, the Uighur People in China, Rohingya People, the former colonies of the Global South, Indigenous People in too many countries including in Canada, in USA, in Latin America - the list of people suffering from the aggression of the more powerful colonizing nations seems endless.  Add to that the other tragedies like climate change calamities, diseases that that damage and kill humans, etc. etc. and a crisis of faith is not out of place.

It is enough to make me, and probably many others who are still tuned into real news and more  truthful reporting, to wonder and despair about God, prayer, covenants, miracles, and the whole of faith - personal and collective. I'm old enough to remember that  radio / TV personality Gordon Sinclair became an atheist because he witnessed the suffering and desperation of the poorest in India and, what seemed to him, the world's readiness to live with this reality.  This rationalisation of "the poor you will always have with you" ended faith for Sinclair.   I've learned that it wasn't just poverty that needed to be lamented, imperialism's colonization was the meta-sin which allowed the "minor" sins to be neglected as normal.

Where is the Holy One?

Where is divine intervention to be witnessed?   Some want to attribute to the divine's capability for intervention and punishment when e.g.  disease strikes some with AIDS and gays; or when a natural disaster like a volcanic eruption kills many; or, vice versa, that abundance and success are the blessing of virtue and obedience.

It is hard to get over the idea that "in heaven" there is a person-like Deity / Judge who visits wrath upon the people we choose to regard as sinful and to favour those whom we believe to be living the "right way" or "doing the right things" (in our judgement).  But the way I can apprehend the Holy One in the midst of life has little to do with a "Divine Intervenor" -  comparable to Santa Claus, determining whose been "naughty or nice", and treating them accordingly.

That god is dead.  I'm no atheist.  The God I "apprehend," place trust in, and seek to honour in life, is  revealed for me in the person Jesus, the anointed beloved one,  who knows me and the entire one global human family endowed with gifts of the Spirit to discern and grow the Way of love and justice mercy and kindness - the  sacred Shalom, the "reign of the Divine".   All that diminishes this "reign",  this sacred Shalom, is the consequence of not cultivating these gifts of the Spirit  whose origin is the Divine. (see my blog post:  minister.ca/revisitingthegreatcommission.)

Scriptural Witness

The scriptures - of both the Tanakh and the New Testament - when read in the light of the Reign of God, afford great help to discern the Way.  For Covenant people, God is revealed and loved as the liberating God, who strengthens people to resist oppression, to seek their freedom in community and love of neighbour.   "On these two commandments the whole Law (Torah), and the Prophets as well."  (Matthew 22: 37-40; see also Deuteronomy 6:5; and Leviticus 19:18)

People of faith know themselves to be in relationship with the Holy One - a covenant relationship.    Grateful to God for their liberation from bondage of diverse kinds they commit to cultivating the embedded gifts in their whole life and way of being.   As a gracious gift, the Decalogue is provided to discern  God's ethical intentions and the Way to Shalom.

Jesus simplifies but demands more than just issue-oriented obedience to the Ten Commandments. With a text from the Tanakh he calls us to:  love God above all and neighbour as self.  And in order to underline the horizontal point "In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12),  These "laws" become the measure of our affirmation or acceptance of the Covenant.

Covenant and Commandments

No longer is the primitive tribal god sovereign.  The one who competes with powerless "other gods", with graven images, or demands of sacrifice that reveal blood and power thirst instead of the well-being of Creation and God's  human family.  "The nation state" is often such a graven image, false god,  as we have learned in the twentieth century where the German nation, the Serbian nation, the Afrikaner nation,  the Russian nation, the American nation itself and the political Zionist Israeli nation state were blasphemously accorded god-like status demanding sacrificial obedience and great cost of life to all who resisted.  These false gods, based on racial supremacy a and subordination of "lesser peoples" lead their followers to the way of death,  They contradict every one of the Commandments and therefore remove themselves from the Covenant with the Holy One.  Too often we witness the liberated oppressed becoming the oppressor of  another, weaker people.

Ten Commandments are summarized here and provide yardstick against which the failure of all these "Christian nations" can be measured:

"Then God spoke all these words, and said, "I am  the Holy One who brought you out of the land of Egypt and of the house of bondage.

1. Do not worship any gods except me!
2. Do not make for yourselves any carved image or likeness of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth, and do not bow down to them or serve them! ... I will show kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love me and heed my commandments.
3. Do not utter the my Name  to misuse it.....
4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy!....
5. Honour your mother and your father...
6. No murdering!
7. No adultery!
8. No stealing!
9. No false testimony against your neighbour!
10. No desiring your neighbour's house! ... or anything else that belongs to your neighbour."

(The Inclusive Bible translation, 2007.)

Maintaining Covenant?

In the past year and in the 75 years before that, and in the centuries before than one cannot say that the Judaeo-Christian peoples have carefully honoured and lived faithfully these Commandments and the summary of the Law Jesus taught in fidelity to the Covenant with God. 

Christians

Anti-Judaism and antisemitic teaching and practice abounded in Christian countries while history tells us that ironically Islamic nations were in much more peaceful relations with Jews.  The climax of this breach of the Covenant and Commandments  was the evil goal by the Nazi oppressors  and their supporters to exterminate all Jews.  The Holocaust cannot be denied, nor rationalized away by anyone in their right mind.  It persists as the worst of the genocidal crusades of too many nations.  it is a failure with  far too few prophetic voices calling for truth and  justice.

Political Zionists

The past year and the history of the last century also stands out, for me, a person of faith, as a breach of the Judaeo-Christian Covenant with the Holy One and a pattern of negating the Torah as taught in scripture.    We have seen Commandments 6, 8, 9 and 10 flagrantly broken by the political Zionist leadership of what is now the State of Israel deploying since the early 20th century its Armed Forces, powered by armaments from USA and other western nations  using any and all opportunities to intentionally and brutally drive Palestinians from their homes and lands and asserting control if not sovereignty over much of Palestine, as if this was ordained by the Holy One of the covenant.   

Nothing of the sacred is present in this annihilating quest - United Nations humanitarian personnel, refugees in tent camps, children in hospital and schools, medical personnel trying to save lives, journalists trying to report truthfully countering disinformation and lies  from political Zionist agencies, and so much more evil - all indications that the foundational  Covenant is in tatters, breached by humans with no regard for the God or neighbour.  Lies and false witness are produced by the pro-Zionist Israeli government backed lobby to cover the evil intent and practice.

Judaism vs. Zionist Colonialism

In the words of  Nurit Peled-Elthanan, Israeli  professor of Philology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author, and human rights activist, 

"Israel has reached an unimaginable peak of evil.  The only possible conclusion must be that Israeli evil has nothing to do with Judaism and that what is manifested in Israeli behavior is not Jewishness.  It is pure colonialist nationalist and chauvinistic racism and should be treated as such." (Facebook post)

The State of Israel is not alone in this sin against the Holy One, but, at this moment in time is a singularly evil illustration.    Instead of covenant fidelity,  The State of Israel has presumed to be an imperial nation using any and all means to aggrandize and expand its territorial claims and to seek cover with both money and arms as vassals of an Empire to effect these national aims.

"Israel" - another meaning

Scripture understands "Israel" differently.  "Israel is not a "natural" nation; it is, indeed, not a nation at all like the nations of the world.  It is a supernatural, ethico-spiritual community, called into being by God to serve God's eternal purposes in history.  It is community created by God's special act of covenant, first with Abraham [and Sarah & Hagar],  and then with Israel collectively at Sinai.... Apart from the covenant, Israel is as nothing and Jewish existence a mere delusion.  The covenant is at the very heart of the Jewish self-understanding of its own reality." 

(from "Jewish Existence and Survival. A Theological View" by Will Herberg, cited in Mark Lind S.J. These Stones Will Shout - A New Voice for the Old Testament. Argus Communications 1975). p. 82f.

Room for the Others!

In that nation or land  there must be room for non-Jews, who must be treated as "citizens" like all other citizens.  "You shall not oppress the alien.  The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you, You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 19:33f).  In scripture there is no "nation" which excludes the alien or stranger.  The claim to drive out the Palestinian Arab people from Palestine so that an exclusive "safe" Jewish state can be built is an assault on both the righteousness and the sovereignty of the Holy One - a negation of the Covenant and the Torah, and unmindful of God's love for the entire global human family

Jubilee Hopes

Would that  the scriptural year of Jubilee might be celebrated to allow the Palestinians to return to their land and the two peoples might learn again to live justly in shared harmony and peace (Leviticus 25:1-55). 

For both peoples this would be a challenging, but liberating event. That would be a sign not only that the Covenant with God is being honoured, but also that God is alive as the family's Spirit endowment is being made fruitful.  It would free us to sing confidently and joyfully, God has the whole world in God's hands!!!!

Let us pray, work, and wait expectantly for the end of all oppression and brutal demonization of neighbour.

May it be so, on earth as it is in heaven. 

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As part of our work in faith, please write to MPs, Leaders of the Opposition parties, and the Prime Minister to call for an end to this war on Palestinians.