Should Christians Support the State of Israel?
Jun.22, 2009 in
Podcast Episodes
This week, Ray and Steve take up part 2 of the audio comment from John over at Jesus Geek. In this part of his audio comment, John asks a very pointed question about support (financial and otherwise) of the current state of Israel.
This episode ties in with the most recent episode about eschatology. For many people, their view of the end times forces them into a view of Israel that produces difficulties as outlined in this episode.
You also don’t want to miss an appearance in this episode by a particularly strangely-dressed 70’s/80’s band. 😉
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June 23rd, 2009 at 9:30 am
I really do enjoy your shows , they make me really take a step back and look at my faith. I agree with your view on WE ARE RESIDENT ALIENS IN A STRANGE LAND. or Stranger in a strange land ” Heinlein” I am one of those concerned about my country and I guess I shouldn’t be but it is hard to turn your back on something you love and at one time swore a Oath to defend and protect. I think a lot of Veterans/ Christians feel the same. I still dont agree with the not being able to defend your self belief but I will cross that bridge if the time comes and will always pray for guidence. Keep up the great shows and I will keep listening and feeling my faith tested and make me search ever more for truth.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:34 am
Stan, I really appreciate your attitude. As we continue to say on our podcast, we don’t have all the answers, and we’re just “thinking out loud” about many of these things. So differing opinions are not only accepted, but expected!
Thanks for listening graciously, even when you don’t agree, and thanks for being open to being stretched in some areas. I have a hunch that most of our listeners are very similar to you in attitude and perspective. We appreciate that so much!
blessings,
steve 🙂
June 24th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Enjoyed the podcast guys. I too struggle with this one and sometimes wonder if Jacob/Israel family-ized/nationalized God’s promise to Abraham (to make him the father of many nations) presuming the promise was to just one family/nation (i.e. Israel).
I think that Paul makes it clear that the sons of Abraham are spiritual ones when he says in Galatians 3:
“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”
I also wonder how this kind of nationalized religion would interpret and possibly skew God’s voice.
August 3rd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
First, full-disclosure: I have been working for the Israeli Defense Force for the past five years, and have spent a total of just over a year (in bits and pieces) living here in Israel over that time.
That said … I’m not sure I follow the logic in singling Israel out to question whether or not Christian’s should support the country. Without getting into the “Christian pacifism” argument, then the list of countries whose support could be questioned seems to be fairly long. For instance, we should not support America for attacking Germany – and there were *many* more Christians in Germany at that time then there are in Gaza or Lebanon now.
So my question is why single out Israel? Certainly Israel occupies what would seem to be a special place in Biblical tradition, but this is a secular question – not a religious one.
Following the general argument that we, as Christians, should not support a country which defends itself against outside aggressors, and even less so an aggressor country, what does that really mean? Should we withdraw from the society in question altogether, or at least to the extent legally possible, like the Hutterites or other such groups? I’m not sure where we would, or should, take this.
Keep up the good work!
August 6th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Jim, thanks for listening and commenting. I appreciate your thoughts.
Actually, you kind of answered your own question. The reason we talked about Israel is because it is a country that many Christians talk about. While I agree with you that it should be a secular issue, it is made into a religious one by many. Hence our treatment of the topic.
With regard to the rest of your comment, I do not think that supporting or withdrawing entirely are the only the two options. But I do think that each person should be guided by their own conscience in this matter. In my particular case, the views I expressed about Israel would extend to any particular government. I personally do not voluntarily support (financially, philosophically, or otherwise) military action by any group. I don’t don’t think I have to withdraw from society in order to hold that position.
You’re more than welcome to disagree with me on that, though! 🙂 I’m open to rebuttal if you want to offer such.
December 4th, 2013 at 1:34 pm
I never thought with this title that it would be one of my favorite podcasts! Great job guys, you brought things up I never thought of before .