Friends, I owe you a post about our latest field study to Jordan last week (which was awesome) but I wanted to put out at least a short response to the various emails I've been getting, and the news I'm sure you've heard, regarding the missiles from and attacks on the Gaza strip.
Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers and concerns. I am blessed to have so many people interested in my safety and well-being. I am well. I am safe. I am not worried or frightened. I count myself fortunate to be here at this time and be able to hear personal stories of people who live here.
Not everything on the news is accurate. You already know that. You also know that most US news (like nearly all news companies) are selling stories and tend to be biased, reactionary and overly dramatic. I think it is important to know everything that has happened recently and not just the "big stories." There is a very helpful timeline available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/who-started-the-israel-gaza-conflict/265374/
I am living on modern Mount Zion - only a few yards from the Old City wall. This means that there are numerous mosques, churches and synagogues nearby. It is a holy city for both sides and the old city is rarely, if ever, the target of attack. Can you imagine the world war three that would take place if the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall, or the Holy Sepulcher were to be damaged or destroyed? No one wants to deal with that. My particular building is built against the bedrock of the mountain (solid stone wall - it ain't budging) with four foot thick stone walls surrounding us (they are also not budging). Our school was at one point an army barracks during the Jordanian war. It is one of the safest places to live in Jerusalem.
A little information about the missiles/rockets that Hamas uses: they are cheap and have lousy aim. If they manage to hit anything at all, Hamas tries to make it appear that it was their target, but here is the problem: they can't have targets because they can't aim the stupid things. Also, the rockets do not go very far. I was in the Old City shopping on Friday when the air-raid siren went off. Everyone I was near started laughing - that is how unlikely they feel it would be if Jerusalem were to be hit by a rocket. Hamas wouldn't aim in this direction, but they also don't have the range to hit anything here. Two rockets had in fact come towards Jerusalem from Gaza (they say it was on purpose, I think it was a mistake) but they hit in open land 10 miles outside the city. They can't reach this far.
Israel has a tool that they call the Iron Dome - it intercepts rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel with a 90% interception rate. You may hear in the news that Gaza has fired 400 and some rockets and wonder why you hear very little about the destruction in Israel - it is because the vast majority are blown up midair. Also, Israel has a lot of open land and most of the rockets that have landed somewhere have landed in the desert or unoccupied farm land.
If you followed the link earlier for the timeline, you may have noticed that the number of Gazans who have died or been injured is extremely higher than that number of Israelis dead or injured: part of this is because of the previously given reason that most rockets fired from Gaza do not succeed in harming human life - another is that Gaza is a very densely populated city. It is slightly more than twice the size of Washington, D.C. and has a population of 1.6 million people. Israel is firing on it from air and ocean and is considering a ground invasion. Any shelling or shooting within Gaza will have a high civilian death toll, especially when the attacking army is indiscriminate of what they hit.
I appreciate the prayers and thoughts of people back home, but I especially ask that you turn your prayers towards the people who live here, the ones who cannot leave, the ones who are seeing their home and families torn apart because of governments and hatred that they have been taught. The psychological and emotional ramifications for both Israelis and Palestinians of being constantly insecure within their own homes and being unable to protect their family or loved ones will be felt for many years to come and is often used to fuel hatred and further violence. Both sides in this conflict believe that they merely responding to the provocation of the other side.
There is an old world thought that involves retribution that shows up in Genesis 4: when an offence took place, the victim was avenged seven times what had been done to them. But in Exodus 21:23-25 God limits the revenge that can take place: his people were no longer allowed to escalate the damage, they could only do to others the same as what had happened to them, "an eye for an eye", etc. And then Jesus came around and further limited revenge: Luke 6, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." But the world we live in doesn't operate by Jesus commands, rarely do Christians even follow them. The current situation in Israel is a perfect example, just look at that timeline. It's not even eye for an eye - an article written in 2009 described the Israel/Gaza conflict as "an eye for an eyelash". (Great article - could have been written this week, it's strange how things work in cycles. See http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/israeli-war-eye-for-an-eye-this-is-an-eye-369876 .)
41% of Israelis believe that Palestinians want to conquer and destroy the Jewish population. 62% of Palestinians believe that Israelis want to extend their borders to cover all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River and expel all of the Arab citizens. Of course there is no peace here – both sides are afraid of the intentions of the other and live in fear and suspicion. You cannot find peace with people if you are afraid and distrustful of them. The biggest hindrance to peace in Israel is that people don't know each other, they don't know the motivations and desires of the other side and so they tell themselves that the only way to have security is to "get them before they get us".
I won't preach long, but there's some stuff on my mind that needs to be said: This land, particularly this city (as I mentioned in a previous blog) is central to the worship of three main religions. Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." Our sacrifices and worship of God are personified in our relationships and treatment of others - he wants our obedience more than he wants our worship and sacrifices (1 Samuel 15:22). Hosea 6:6 - "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.", and Proverbs 21:3, "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." Is the picture clear yet?
In Luke 10 a religious expert asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life and Jesus reminded him of what the Jewish law said, by loving God and loving his neighbor. The man asked who was his neighbor, and Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. At the end of the parable he asks, “Which of these three (the priest, the pharisee or the Samaritan) do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” and the expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
I don't want to take a side - I am sympathetic to both peoples and I am hoping and praying that they will be reconciled to each other. I want peace. I hope for an end to madness, violence, destructing, fear, hatred and spite. Out of hatred for the Other, each side is destroying itself. Both lose. Please pray that God's Will be done. Whatever that means. I trust him completely. I believe that my God's greatest desire is to see people turn from destruction to love. I believe that he wants to restore his creation to the "very good"ness of how he created it. This world is not as it should be or was meant to be and I believe that he will restore it, that he has already begun to do so. But it won't get better if his people don't care. It won't change if those who follow him are only concerned for their own safety. It won't be restored to peace if we take sides. Hold both sides accountable by all means, but hold on to mercy. I received a beautifully short letter from a friend the other day. She encouraged me to "love God and love others, let mercy lead and in every footprint leave a drop of grace." My prayer for you is the same.
Shalom and Salaam. All my love.
Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers and concerns. I am blessed to have so many people interested in my safety and well-being. I am well. I am safe. I am not worried or frightened. I count myself fortunate to be here at this time and be able to hear personal stories of people who live here.
Not everything on the news is accurate. You already know that. You also know that most US news (like nearly all news companies) are selling stories and tend to be biased, reactionary and overly dramatic. I think it is important to know everything that has happened recently and not just the "big stories." There is a very helpful timeline available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/who-started-the-israel-gaza-conflict/265374/
I am living on modern Mount Zion - only a few yards from the Old City wall. This means that there are numerous mosques, churches and synagogues nearby. It is a holy city for both sides and the old city is rarely, if ever, the target of attack. Can you imagine the world war three that would take place if the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall, or the Holy Sepulcher were to be damaged or destroyed? No one wants to deal with that. My particular building is built against the bedrock of the mountain (solid stone wall - it ain't budging) with four foot thick stone walls surrounding us (they are also not budging). Our school was at one point an army barracks during the Jordanian war. It is one of the safest places to live in Jerusalem.
A little information about the missiles/rockets that Hamas uses: they are cheap and have lousy aim. If they manage to hit anything at all, Hamas tries to make it appear that it was their target, but here is the problem: they can't have targets because they can't aim the stupid things. Also, the rockets do not go very far. I was in the Old City shopping on Friday when the air-raid siren went off. Everyone I was near started laughing - that is how unlikely they feel it would be if Jerusalem were to be hit by a rocket. Hamas wouldn't aim in this direction, but they also don't have the range to hit anything here. Two rockets had in fact come towards Jerusalem from Gaza (they say it was on purpose, I think it was a mistake) but they hit in open land 10 miles outside the city. They can't reach this far.
Israel has a tool that they call the Iron Dome - it intercepts rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel with a 90% interception rate. You may hear in the news that Gaza has fired 400 and some rockets and wonder why you hear very little about the destruction in Israel - it is because the vast majority are blown up midair. Also, Israel has a lot of open land and most of the rockets that have landed somewhere have landed in the desert or unoccupied farm land.
If you followed the link earlier for the timeline, you may have noticed that the number of Gazans who have died or been injured is extremely higher than that number of Israelis dead or injured: part of this is because of the previously given reason that most rockets fired from Gaza do not succeed in harming human life - another is that Gaza is a very densely populated city. It is slightly more than twice the size of Washington, D.C. and has a population of 1.6 million people. Israel is firing on it from air and ocean and is considering a ground invasion. Any shelling or shooting within Gaza will have a high civilian death toll, especially when the attacking army is indiscriminate of what they hit.
I appreciate the prayers and thoughts of people back home, but I especially ask that you turn your prayers towards the people who live here, the ones who cannot leave, the ones who are seeing their home and families torn apart because of governments and hatred that they have been taught. The psychological and emotional ramifications for both Israelis and Palestinians of being constantly insecure within their own homes and being unable to protect their family or loved ones will be felt for many years to come and is often used to fuel hatred and further violence. Both sides in this conflict believe that they merely responding to the provocation of the other side.
There is an old world thought that involves retribution that shows up in Genesis 4: when an offence took place, the victim was avenged seven times what had been done to them. But in Exodus 21:23-25 God limits the revenge that can take place: his people were no longer allowed to escalate the damage, they could only do to others the same as what had happened to them, "an eye for an eye", etc. And then Jesus came around and further limited revenge: Luke 6, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." But the world we live in doesn't operate by Jesus commands, rarely do Christians even follow them. The current situation in Israel is a perfect example, just look at that timeline. It's not even eye for an eye - an article written in 2009 described the Israel/Gaza conflict as "an eye for an eyelash". (Great article - could have been written this week, it's strange how things work in cycles. See http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/israeli-war-eye-for-an-eye-this-is-an-eye-369876 .)
41% of Israelis believe that Palestinians want to conquer and destroy the Jewish population. 62% of Palestinians believe that Israelis want to extend their borders to cover all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River and expel all of the Arab citizens. Of course there is no peace here – both sides are afraid of the intentions of the other and live in fear and suspicion. You cannot find peace with people if you are afraid and distrustful of them. The biggest hindrance to peace in Israel is that people don't know each other, they don't know the motivations and desires of the other side and so they tell themselves that the only way to have security is to "get them before they get us".
I won't preach long, but there's some stuff on my mind that needs to be said: This land, particularly this city (as I mentioned in a previous blog) is central to the worship of three main religions. Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." Our sacrifices and worship of God are personified in our relationships and treatment of others - he wants our obedience more than he wants our worship and sacrifices (1 Samuel 15:22). Hosea 6:6 - "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.", and Proverbs 21:3, "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." Is the picture clear yet?
In Luke 10 a religious expert asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life and Jesus reminded him of what the Jewish law said, by loving God and loving his neighbor. The man asked who was his neighbor, and Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. At the end of the parable he asks, “Which of these three (the priest, the pharisee or the Samaritan) do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” and the expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
I don't want to take a side - I am sympathetic to both peoples and I am hoping and praying that they will be reconciled to each other. I want peace. I hope for an end to madness, violence, destructing, fear, hatred and spite. Out of hatred for the Other, each side is destroying itself. Both lose. Please pray that God's Will be done. Whatever that means. I trust him completely. I believe that my God's greatest desire is to see people turn from destruction to love. I believe that he wants to restore his creation to the "very good"ness of how he created it. This world is not as it should be or was meant to be and I believe that he will restore it, that he has already begun to do so. But it won't get better if his people don't care. It won't change if those who follow him are only concerned for their own safety. It won't be restored to peace if we take sides. Hold both sides accountable by all means, but hold on to mercy. I received a beautifully short letter from a friend the other day. She encouraged me to "love God and love others, let mercy lead and in every footprint leave a drop of grace." My prayer for you is the same.
Shalom and Salaam. All my love.
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