Scripturally, the Jews are no longer God's special people. I am not denying they were such, but they have fulfilled their role. Now, as Paul says, there is "neither Jew not Greek for all are one in Christ Jesus". No doubt many will disagree and claim the Jews still retain special status. Well, we can debate that as long we appeal to the Scriptures.
I've not asked you to listen to me. I've only said what Jesus said; love your enemies. Oh, I also pointed out that it's fraudulent to claim to be a follower of Jesus but then deliberately disregard his teachings.
Yeah, I do make that claim.
Yeah, but my point is even simpler than that; regardless of who you are, if you claim to follow Jesus, it is anti-Jesus to cheer on the killing of enemies.
You have made many claims, not one of them with any evidence that you have .... and so
Maybe. Regardless of what God does, we know what we are to do. And that is to love our enemies. So let God do what he will. Were the Hamas attacks indefensible? Of course. Does Israel have a "right" to avenge? Well, not from a Christian perspective - I think it would be extremely hard to defend the position that Christians should participate in any sense in acts of vengeance, whether directly or cheering from the sidelines. I want to stress that I draw a distinction between the motivation of vengeance and a motivation of taking action to eliminate a material threat. I would say that Israel certainly has that right.
I think the “pray for your enemies” thing was more of a metaphysical admonition than a practical one; given, it was spake at a time when the “enemy” was the Roman Empire (which, as ruthless as it was) didn’t put up with “local disputes” but would rather crush any “rebellion” tout-de-suite.
