Should Christians Support Israel Or Palestine?

 

            Israel and Palestine are in conflict again.

            This is when some Christians wonder whether to support Israel or not.

            We cannot decide whether to support Israel without considering this theological conundrum: Is the modern state of Israel God’s chosen nation or has the Christian Church superseded / replaced the modern state of Israel?

            If the modern state of Israel is still God’s chosen nation, then Christians are more or less obligated to support the nation of Israel.

            First things first, this is not an essential doctrine of the Historic Christianity.

            This doctrine plays no role, whatsoever, in determining a Christian’s salvation. In other words, Christians can arrive at their own conclusion based on their objective study of this subject.

            Significantly, this doctrine should not cause bitterness between existing friendships/relationships among Christians and the Christian churches.

            I believe in the distinction between the modern state of Israel and the Christian Church. Hence, I would be categorized as a Dispensationalist (Dispensationalism). Those who believe that the Christian church has replaced / superseded Israel as the people of God would be categorized as Supersessionists.

            But my support for Israel is not blind or unconditional support. I do not condone any unjust deeds perpetrated by Israel or the Palestinian authorities / people.

            How should lay Christians decide whether to support Israel or Palestine?

            The best option would be to study the subjects of Replacement theology (the Christian Church has replaced Israel), Covenant theology (Israel was God’s people; the church is an expansion of Israel through the addition of Gentiles) and Dispensationalism (the Christian Church is totally distinct from Israel).

            Here’s a friendly caution: Your hermeneutics could strongly motivate your decision. As I wrote in a previous blog entitled Is the Israeli Claim for Homeland, Reasonable, and War Beneficial?, “The dispensationalists adopt literal hermeneutics and the covenant theologians allegorize the prophetic passages. Thus, we sense a complex web where one leads to another – literal hermeneutics leads to Dispensationalism, which leads to supporting Israel unequivocally.”¹ 

            We could also consider this sensitive subject from the perspective of legitimizing Israel’s claim to a homeland. In that very blog, I deduced: ²

Although the Jews were exiled to different parts of the world, they began to immigrate into their homeland during the Ottoman rule. In 1909, Tel Aviv – an all-Jewish city - was founded.

Given these facts, one can deduce that:

1. The Jews are a race with a homeland from as early as the 13th – 12th century BC/BCE. The Jewish race survives to this day, maintaining its national identity. (Israel was rechristened to Palestine in 5 BC.²)

2. The Jews were exiled to various parts of the world due to foreign conquests, but they             returned in parts even before the UN legitimized Israel’s homeland in 1948. 

3. Therefore, the Jewish claim to Palestine is not utterly outrageous as some Christians propose, but vastly reasonable and legitimate. The decision of the United Nations, to grant Israelis the land, was reasonable and credible.

“If the Arabs put down their weapons there would be no more conflict, but if Israelis put down their weapons down there would be no more Israel.” ³ If this quote is valid, we concede Israel’s right to defend herself against any aggression.

            Finally, as Christians, you could support Palestine or Israel. That’s totally fine.

            Let us allow our study of the Bible to lead us into becoming a Covenant/Reformed theologian or a Supersessionist or a Dispensationalist. But remember; a Covenant theologian and a Dispensationalist could remain in the same church, worshipping the Triune God. A Christian with a Covenant persuasion can very well shower brotherly love upon another Christian who is a Dispensationalist.

            Let not our disagreement on these fringe doctrines induce any form of animosity between the Christian Churches and among individual Christians in the Church of Jesus Christ.   

 

Endnotes:

¹https://rajkumarrichard.blogspot.com/2013/10/is-israeli-claim-for-homeland.html

²Ibid.

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