“The ‘chosen people’ are the oppressed,” is the title of a piece in today’s Kentucky.com, which is published by the Lexington Herald-Leader. The piece is pegged to Israel lobbyists’ opposition to Chuck Hagel, and is notable for its Christian anti-Zionism. Maybe this is a trend in the heartland? Surely it indicates a change in Israel’s image in the U.S. The author is Mike Rivage-Seul, a former priest and professor, and liberation theology adherent:
Individuals like Elliott Abrams and organizations such as the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee implicitly used that criterion [unconditional support for Israel] to criticize the nominee for failing to offer such support, despite Hagel’s unblemished record of voting for Israel’s interests.
In doing so, the AIPAC and its allies were evidently hoping to find receptive ears in the conservative Christian community which typically constitutes Israel’s strongest support-group on the grounds that the Jews are God’s “chosen people.”
However, even passing acquaintance with the Bible shows that God himself never offered “unconditional support” of Israel, nor did the prophets or Jesus of Nazareth.
In fact, the Bible’s stories are largely accounts of Israel’s infidelities, of prophetic criticism of those failures, of their severe punishment by God…
In fact, it might be argued that the Jews were God’s chosen people only insofar as they made up a paradigm of the poor and oppressed when Jacob’s descendents were enslaved in Egypt and exiles in Babylon.
Given that understanding, the Palestinians today far better fit the profile of “chosen people” than do Zionist Jews.
You can’t out-chosen the chosen. Similarly, you can’t triple stamp a double stamp.
Always glad to get a new and refreshing “take” on the Bible, its promises, and the meaning of “chosen”. As I understood it, the Bible (O/T) said something like, “I’ll give you Jews [some] land to keep if you behave, but only if you behave” and the Jews always misbehaved, and “if and when it please me, I’ll send a Messiah to gather you all back to Zion, please wait until I give the word.” The Zionists didn’t wait, disobeyed, and caused a horrible mess, which we call “I/P”.
As for suffering, the world seems filled up with suffering people, mostly indigenes, but the Jews are no longer very much among them, perhaps proving that they were never (or are no longer) indigenes.
As Vonnegut said, “So it goes.”
Most likely a lone voice in the wind. Still interesting that they ran with it.
I think unless more Heartland Christians become aware of the crimes against churches too, they will not support the Palestinians because they’ve been so brainwashed.
Also, a small sidenote: Phil and the rest(Annie, Scott, Adam etc), have you guys seen the cartoon of Bibi in the London Times that ran on Sunday? It’s being smeared as anti-Semitism. What’s your take on it?
London Times cartoon:
http://www.thecommentator.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/180/content_photo-2.png
See Sunday Times of London defends anti-Semitic cartoon as ‘typically robust’
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2013/01/sunday-times-of-london-defends-anti.html
I think it’s a pretty good likeness of the Jewish Prime Minister. After all he’s responsible for permitting the IDF to shoot Palestinian teenagers in order to secure his expanded borders inside the West Bank against “unauthorized entry” or to kill anyone who dares approach the Gaza fence.