Even folks who follow my writings struggle with getting a clear image in their minds: We are fallen creatures. In our present mortal form, the default divine justice is a short miserable life and a lingering painful death. That’s you and me and every human living on this planet. That some escape this is a miracle.
There are no innocent Israelis or Palestinians. Children are not born innocent; they are born with no moral development. The doctrine of Age of Accountability is a man made lie inserted into western Christian religion. We are born into this mortal world under a Curse of death.
Without any apology, I will stand with Scripture and assert that there some born Elect, and some born destined to eternity in the Lake of Fire. We cannot possibly comprehend how that came about, but it is the Word of God, and we are obliged to walk in it. Moral development does not change your eternal status. Furthermore, the same Scripture warns that some factors of our lives here are also under divine predestination. Some humans are chosen for a highly deprived existence, such as the Palestinians, some Third World nations, and people with significant disabilities. Others are granted more pleasant conditions. God chooses; you are responsible to Him for how you deal with His choices.
What moral development can change is how you deal with His choices. Within the range of what God grants to you, you can make the most of the life you have. How long you live, how prosperous you may be, and whether you are at peace with the end when it comes — relative outcomes are the variables. The Covenant of Christ is how you stake your claim in the relative blessings. The only use we have for this life is glorifying the Creator and seizing however much peace He offers us in our individual context.
Get this: While it may not be good human justice, that massive numbers of people (including children) are slaughtered is good divine justice. In just a couple of decades, most of the human race will be wiped out. It’s coming. What we face now in terms of political and economic collapse does not compare to the coming slaughter of humanity at the hands of God. Yes, it is grim and ugly, but that is our reality. God does not share our emotional reactions to the stupidity and evil we see in this world. He has His own way of looking at it, and our best hope is to seek His viewpoint.
Our best hope for dealing with the war in Israel is to stand back and let God do His work. I cannot help you turn off your emotional reactions. That’s between you and God, but I will not listen to any impassioned plea to make any activist noises in support of one thing or another. What I will do is condemn the common human response to what God has decreed and declared. You want change? Embrace Christ as the Living Law of God. Whatever change that brings is all you can possibly ask.
Now, if you really insist on doing more than your own individual redemption, then get busy organizing a covenant community. God will not sponsor your activities that take place outside of Biblical Law. You cannot claim to stand for the Lord without those boundaries. Once you have a valid covenant nation, then you can seek the Lord for various ways to protect and defend them. Neither Israel nor the Palestinians are under any valid Covenant covering. Their fates are not your concern.
Addenda: Are there Christians in Gaza? Maybe. I don’t have to accept anyone’s claim at face value. I am commanded to be discerning about that. The Parable of the Good Samaritan clarifies the issue of who is my “neighbor” — which is a Hebrew term for “covenant brother/sister”. If they act like Christians in accordance with Biblical Law, then they would pay more attention to what Jesus told His disciples to do regarding the coming Roman siege of Jerusalem. Genuine followers of Christ should have left Gaza already, or have already accepted their fate and are at peace with God. Christ flatly denied that human political considerations meant anything to His Kingdom. I will not make common cause with those who do not obey His Word.
Amen to all of this.
It’s annoying that we are insisted to pick a side by the general chatter of everything. We do pick a side: God’s, which for most people means politely stepping to one side and plugging our ears while the lightning strikes reign down.