The scripture says Abraham was a foreigner in the land he walked. You say he wasn’t. Well there you have it.
And yet, the children who inherited the promise of occupying the land, did indeed come and take possession of it. That's the Biblical view, that's the Jewish view, that's the Christian view.
The idea that Abraham will, someday in the future, return and take a personal and full possession of the whole land simply isn't in the Bible, and that is not a view which the two religions which have inherited the Abrahamic tradition via the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh/Old Testament). Now, the latter does not seem to concern you, but it should. For the reasons I expressed already in prior posts.
You are building your theological foundation upon the presupposition of your own personal certainty and infallibility--you read the text, and you are convinced that you have the right understanding; you don't care about what others say--what other believing Christians say, what Christian theologians, biblical scholars, exegetes, and devoted students of Scripture have understood and reached the same consensuses over--you are asserting your own personal authority over the whole Christian Church.
I realize that isn't what you are trying to say, that is not your intent; it's not even what you consciously believe--but stepping back, critically examining your own thought processes--at least as you present them here--that is the conclusion. "I am right, because I am right--everyone else is wrong". That is a reflection of a particular set of ideas (and ideals) which are present within the culture of American Evangelicalism, at least modern American Evangelicalism, which has tended toward hyper-individualistic, anti-ecclesiastical, anti-communitarian, and Enthusiastic perceptions of being a Christian. The individual, not the community, is the source of Christian dogma; which is also why we can see how when two strong personalities in a church are unable to be reconciled together, the one who does not keep control of the established community goes and begins a new one. The rise in so-called "non-denominationalism" wherein clergy are not held to rigorous structures of accountability--not only ethical accountability, but also doctrinal accountability, and even educational accountability--results in a slew of every churches which frequently are structured as cults of personality.
Now, if you tell me, "I don't subscribe to any teacher", perhaps you might attempt to quote 1 John 2:27 as a way to disavow the very idea of heeding teachers, pastors, or theologians; then that is still the same situation--only you are at that point asserting yourself as the teacher and everyone else should be the student. Perhaps you don't demand that I, or anyone, simply agree--but you do end up in a place where you refuse to be teachable or correctable. No man, you might say, can teach or correct, because you simply have the Bible to read and the Holy Spirit lives in you. And yet, Scripture itself says otherwise, for St. Paul was able to not only teach and correct, but even rebuke St. Peter himself--even Peter could be corrected and rebuked by another human being. Indeed, when St. Paul writes his pastoral guidance to St. Timothy, Paul explicitly teaches that the responsibility of handling the word of God falls upon him, as a pastor,
"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:14-17
God has, indeed, given for us teachers and pastors, people to handle and instruct and offer guidance in matters of faith, doctrine, etc. That we should not be lifted up into the air and blown around by every wind of doctrine--but rest secure in that which has been given from the beginning.
Therefore when you, or I, or anyone, finds ourselves in a place where we are saying, "I'm right, and everyone else is wrong" we should consider that a red flag--there's a problem. We've done something wrong, our way of thinking and our spiritual disposition is out of alignment, something in us needs realigning, readjustment. We are lacking the humility to consider we could be wrong, and therefore render our hearts humble and our minds receptive to hear and receive the word of God in truth. The pride of our own self-assurance is not a place we ought to be.
So when I say "this isn't what others have ever believed" it is not, "blindly conform to what is popular", it is, "consider, and weigh carefully, the fact that there are generations of faithful believing Christians who have reached, time and again, an un-forced consensus. This is not about some human authority on the top, putting their shoes on the back of your neck and threatening being burned at the stake or being beheaded; but rather that there is a nearly-democratic level of agreement on matters of faith because men and women, in their freedom, study and learn and are engaged with the voices and thoughts of their fellow believers in Jesus in a communion and community of Christians that stretches back to the time of the Apostles until the present. We should humbly enter into the two thousand year old conversation of Christianity.
Do we always agree, no. Do we have to agree on literally everything? Probably not. But when it comes to issues of life and death, such as what is happening in Gaza right now, it may serve us well to not allow ourselves to be guided by prevailing political doctrines of our times, and truly consider the border-less, millennia-old institutions of the Christian religion.
If what we are saying is out of concert with these; then we ought to reflect on that. We ought not find ourselves "wise in our own eyes" as the Scriptures warn.
We are not rogue protagonists, but the members of a corporate body--the Church of Jesus Christ; it is His Body, as He is the Head. We are arms, hands, feet; we are subject to Christ and to one another, the member to the whole. We are all, all of us, sojourners, foreigners in this present and fallen age looking forward to the future day of days, when all shall be as it ought, where death is destroyed and God makes all things new. And we therefore have not only the moral responsibility to regard each and every person in this world as the object of our service and love; but we have the commandment of God written in our hearts, a spiritual responsibility to bear witness to the Christ who came, who suffered, who died, who rose, who ascended, and who is coming again. We bear a Name that is above all names; we bear the weight of a cross to be His disciple. We are duty-bound, as the slaves of Jesus Christ, to assert His way above all other ways.
Hyper-Zionism is popular, because it is politically advantageous, but it is not the way of Christ. When we behold our neighbor beaten and left for dead at the side of the road we do not pass on by, we bandage the wounds and bring him to the innkeeper. It does not matter what our neighbor calls him or herself--Palestinian, Muslim, Jew, Israeli, brown, white, black--when our neighbor suffers, we are the representative of the Good Physician. And it is not enough that we only maintain this as a paper theory; but that it actually is the core of who and what we are--that our very minds, how we think and how we feel, is changed, transformed--sanctified. "Be holy, for I am holy" Holiness is not found in proclaiming it to others, or to ourselves, no amount of times we stand in front of the mirror and tell ourselves that we are holy will make us holy. Not all who say "Lord, Lord" are of the Lord. Holiness comes in the form of the Suffering Servant, the Son of Man who came not to be served, but to serve, and to ransom His life for many. He who bears the cross in weakness and pain, but says "I love you and forgive you". Holiness is a pursuit, a goal, one we will never truly attain in this life; but is nevertheless the work which we are called as we cooperate with God in His mercy, possible only by the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.
Desire holiness; not fake or pretend holiness which the Pharisees wielded like a bludgeon against the people as hypocrites. But holiness as the death of the old man, and the renewal of the new man in Christ--day by day, step by step, moment by moment; taking up the cross, following Him, and dying. Die daily, die every day, live a crucified life.
-CryptoLutheran
