We hit near the end of 2023….so, they canceled Christmas in Bethlehem this year….
Just when you thought that the world was trying to get past the COVID pandemic, all sorts of other craziness breaks loose and gets worse. The Ukraine/Russia conflict drags on into its second year, and in recent months, the Israel/Palestinian crisis just explodes.
The horribly inhumane October 7 attacks by Hamas upon Israeli civilians shock us, while Israel’s efforts to eradicate Hamas from Gaza has led to thousands of deaths of Palestinian non-combatants. Has Israel really done enough to avoid civilian casualties? Has there not been some better way to protect children and hospitals? How should we respond to the reports of abuse of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails? What about attacks from Israelis against Palestinians who continue to build illegal settlements? Even the minority of Christians in Gaza have been targeted, caught in the crossfire, or at least confused with being Hamas. When we learn that 19 of the remaining 1,000 Christians in Gaza have been killed since the beginning of the war, it can not be good.
On the other hand, what do we make of the pro-Palestinian protests chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free?” Do people really understand what that even means? Are there really that many people who seriously want the complete destruction of Israel? Has anti-semitism all of a sudden shot off the scale?
Maybe so. A December article in the Economist shows the upsetting results of a recent poll: one in five young Americans (between the ages of 18 and 29) believe that the Jewish holocaust in World War II was a myth. Almost no one in my age group or older dismisses the Holocaust as a non-event, but apparently nearly a quarter of American young people today believe that “the Holocaust has been exaggerated.” Seriously ??! Simply mind-blowingly sad how we are raising a generation of youth today who have no adequate comprehension about basic historical facts. Look at the Economist survey for yourself.
We apparently live in very crazy times.
In the background behind these political debates stands the complex history of the land in the Ukraine, and in the Middle East, and how people read the Bible. I spent approximately two years (2014-2016) blogging about the Israel/Palestine situation, and I walked away from that with some changes to my thinking (BONUS LINK: Read about the history of how the name “Palestine” got attached to this Middle Eastern land area).
However, I have no real “silver bullet” solution to something like the current Gaza crisis. But this should not be used as a excuse to stick one’s head into the sand. It is frankly impossible to understand anything about the Israeli/Gaza crisis without digging deep into the Bible. Part of my passion in writing on the Veracity blog is to prod myself to better learn about history and think more deeply about the Bible, in hopes that others might do so as well.
2023 Book of the Year: Andrew Wilson’s Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West.
Veracity 