The Christian case for backing Israel

Michie · Aug 18, 2024

The Bible vividly portrays Israel as a central theme in God's plan for humanity. It is woven historically through the covenant of Abraham to launch a nation, maintained through the promises given to King David and his ancestors, and ultimately consummated in redemption through Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Today, millions of Protestants and Catholics find the biblical significance of Israel compelling and enduring, influencing their perspectives and steadfast support for the nation.

One of the most significant sources of controversy and division in recent times has been the debate over distinguishing between supporting Israel as a nation and supporting the Jewish people as God's chosen ones. This debate has led to considerable confusion and has attracted significant attention.

However, it's essential to recognize that the two are deeply intertwined. Our support should be approached from a spiritual perspective, not merely as a political issue.

But what does it mean to say we support Israel in today’s geo-political climate?

Continued below.

The Christian case for backing Israel

What does it mean to say we support Israel in today s geo-political climate

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Fantine · Aug 18, 2024

Would a God who weeps at abortion support an Israeli leader who engages in genocide?
Palestinians are God's children and descendants of Abraham through Ishmael.

Clare73 · Aug 18, 2024

Michie said:
The Bible vividly portrays Israel as a central theme in God's plan for humanity. It is woven historically through the covenant of Abraham to launch a nation, maintained through the promises given to King David and his ancestors, and ultimately consummated in redemption through Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Today, millions of Protestants and Catholics find the biblical significance of Israel compelling and enduring, influencing their perspectives and steadfast support for the nation.

Compelling and enduring. . .but not Biblical.

Michie said:
One of the most significant sources of controversy and division in recent times has been the debate over distinguishing between supporting Israel as a nation and supporting the Jewish people as God's chosen ones. This debate has led to considerable confusion and has attracted significant attention.
However, it's essential to recognize that the two are deeply intertwined. Our support should be approached from a spiritual perspective, not merely as a political issue.

Let's not ignore apostolic teaching authoritative to the church regarding Israel.

Israel
has been cut off the one olive tree of God's people, the church, because of unbelief,
are not God's people (the one olive tree), and
will only be God's people IF (not "when") they do not persist in unbelief (Ro 11:16-23).

Only Christian Jews are God's people.

That is the NT revelation of God, authoritative to the church.

Ignatius the Kiwi · Aug 18, 2024

Christians are not obligated to support foreign countries or peoples, period.

JimR-OCDS · Aug 18, 2024

Fantine said:
Would a God who weeps at abortion support an Israeli leader who engages in genocide?
Palestinians are God's children and descendants of Abraham through Ishmael.

So, what should Israel's response be to what happened to them on October 7, 2023?

Heck, what should the allied response have been toward Germany in 1941? Should Americans
have protested that they were for the German people, just not the Nazis?

Why are there no protests against Iran sending weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah?

War is bad, but Israel has no choice but to defeat Hamas and Hezbollah even when they set up
in schools and hospitals.

Ignatius the Kiwi · Aug 18, 2024

JimR-OCDS said:
So, what should Israel's response be to what happened to them on October 7, 2023?

Few would have faulted Israel for a proportional response. Instead they seem to have the desire to go scorched earth.

JimR-OCDS said:
Heck, what should the allied response have been toward Germany in 1941? Should Americans
have protested that they were for the German people, just not the Nazis?

Total warfare is never good
or desirable. It only results in more death and the refusal to negiotate unless one wins totally.

JimR-OCDS said:
Why are there no protests against Iran sending weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah?

Probably because Israel is supported by an even bigger state than Iran.

JimR-OCDS said:
War is bad, but Israel has no choice but to defeat Hamas and Hezbollah even when they set up
in schools and hospitals.

Do the ends justify the means?

Fantine · Aug 18, 2024

In a great tragedy, 1300 Israelis were brutally murdered and 200 taken hostage.
Since then, Netanyahu has brutally murdered over 30,000 Palestinians, bombed and leveled buildings through the whole country, left 3 million (half of whom are children) starving, dehydrated, sick and in a tiny space by the Egyptian border which is closed to them.
So heartbreaking were the cries of the Holy Land's 21st century holy innocents Pres. Biden built a pier so our ships could deliver food that Israel couldn't (or wouldn't) deliver.
Proportionality is one of the pillars of just war theory. How can Americans support this horror?
Help the people yes, but the orchestrator of these atrocities never!

Ignatius the Kiwi · Aug 18, 2024

Fantine said:
In a great tragedy, 1300 Israelis were brutally murdered and 200 taken hostage.
Since then, Netanyahu has brutally murdered over 30,000 Palestinians, bombed and leveled buildings through the whole country, left 3 million (half of whom are children) starving, dehydrated, sick and in a tiny space by the Egyptian border which is closed to them.

I'm confused. The democrats support Israel. Why don't you Fantine?

Ivan Hlavanda · Aug 18, 2024

Fantine said:
Palestinians are God's children and descendants of Abraham through Ishmael

No, that's Arabs, not Palestinians.
And God's children are only those who are in Christ, both OT and NT believers

Fantine · Aug 18, 2024

I am grateful to believe in one of the thankfully many faiths who would disagree with that statement.

Ivan Hlavanda · Aug 18, 2024

Fantine said:
I am grateful to believe in one of the thankfully many faiths who would disagree with that statement.

Disagree with what, that not all are children of God?

Many are children of the devil, as we see in John 8 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

Being children of God means we have been born into God’s family. We become God’s children through faith in Jesus Christ, which results in spiritual rebirth: “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God” John 1:12-13

Palestinians are not descendants of Ishmael. The Arabs, who are descendants of Ishmael, don't want to have anything to do with them. Either way, the Holy Land was promised to descendants of Isaac, not Ishmael.

Oompa Loompa · Aug 19, 2024

Ivan Hlavanda said:
No, that's Arabs, not Palestinians.
And God's children are only those who are in Christ, both OT and NT believers

Fantine said:
I am grateful to believe in one of the thankfully many faiths who would disagree with that statement.

I think both are partially correct. Not everyone is a child of God, including Jews. Romans 11:11-31 states that gentiles, including Palestinians, can become grafted into the family of Christ and become children of God. But they must have been born again as a new creation. Likewise, Jews who have rejected Christ were cut off from the family tree. So nationality does not determine who is a child of God, only if they are in Christ.

Maria Billingsley · Aug 19, 2024

Fantine said:
In a great tragedy, 1300 Israelis were brutally murdered and 200 taken hostage.
Since then, Netanyahu has brutally murdered over 30,000 Palestinians, bombed and leveled buildings through the whole country, left 3 million (half of whom are children) starving, dehydrated, sick and in a tiny space by the Egyptian border which is closed to them.
So heartbreaking were the cries of the Holy Land's 21st century holy innocents Pres. Biden built a pier so our ships could deliver food that Israel couldn't (or wouldn't) deliver.
Proportionality is one of the pillars of just war theory. How can Americans support this horror?
Help the people yes, but the orchestrator of these atrocities never!

Correction 40,000 are now dead. Most are women and children.

Maria Billingsley · Aug 19, 2024

Ivan Hlavanda said:
No, that's Arabs, not Palestinians.
And God's children are only those who are in Christ, both OT and NT believers

And what of the harvest? Additionally, there are Palestinian Christians.

JimR-OCDS · Aug 19, 2024

Fantine said:
In a great tragedy, 1300 Israelis were brutally murdered and 200 taken hostage.
Since then, Netanyahu has brutally murdered over 30,000 Palestinians, bombed and leveled buildings through the whole country, left 3 million (half of whom are children) starving, dehydrated, sick and in a tiny space by the Egyptian border which is closed to them.
So heartbreaking were the cries of the Holy Land's 21st century holy innocents Pres. Biden built a pier so our ships could deliver food that Israel couldn't (or wouldn't) deliver.
Proportionality is one of the pillars of just war theory. How can Americans support this horror?
Help the people yes, but the orchestrator of these atrocities never!

Netanyahu has to destroy Hamas. If not, Hamas has a mission to kill every Jew and abolish the Israeli state.

If Netanyahu does not destroy Hamas, there will be many more October 7ths, and Hamas made the promise to do so.

JimR-OCDS · Aug 19, 2024

If you think the State of Israel has no right to exist, just say so.

If you think it does have the right to exist, how do you propose
that they stop Hamas and Hezbollah?

Why not demand that Iran stop arming them?

I hate war too, but war came to Israel. They did not bring war to Hamas until the attack October 7th.

Fantine · Aug 19, 2024

JimR-OCDS said:
If you think the State of Israel has no right to exist, just say so.

If you think it does have the right to exist, how do you propose
that they stop Hamas and Hezbollah?

Why not demand that Iran stop arming them?

I hate war too, but war came to Israel. They did not bring war to Hamas until the attack October 7th.

Netanyahu persecuted Palestinians, committing rampant human rights violations for years before October 7. I know a young man who worked with Israelis and Palestinians to improve conditions and who talked to me quite a bit about it. Many Israelis oppose Netanyahu.

Pope Francis, the UN, the International Court of the Hague oppose the genocide in Gaza.
Just War theory demands that innocent civilians be protected as much as humanly possible.
Our tax dollars are supporting genocide, and we stand alone in condemning not Israel or its people but its brutal barbaric leader.

Ivan Hlavanda · Aug 19, 2024

Maria Billingsley said:
Correction 40,000 are now dead. Most are women and children

The number of terrorists that the IDF reports on since the beginning of the war is about 15,000 terrorists who were definitely eliminated (that is, terrorists whose bodies the forces saw with their own eyes, and counted them one by one). The IDF estimates that in addition to those terrorists whose bodies were counted, there are many more whose bodies could not be seen and counted - such as terrorists who were killed in airstrikes on buildings, who were buried among the rubble, as well as terrorists who were killed in underground tunnels. In a rough estimate, it can be estimated that there are still several thousand of them since the beginning of the war. Hamas does not officially publish the number of terrorists killed in its ranks, and the numbers cited by the Gaza Ministry of Health are numbers that include both terrorists and civilians without distinction.

That is, the ratio between the number of terrorists killed and the number of civilians killed in Gaza is probably quite close to 1:1 (a civilian killed for every terrorist killed).
This is a ratio that is considered very good compared to other conflicts and wars in the world in recent decades.

It is common to compare the war in Gaza to other battles, in which Western armies (or those supported by the West) fought against terrorist organizations in a civilian and urban environment. According to data published around the world, while in the Gaza war, about 50% of the dead are civilians, in the Iraq war - 67% civilians, and in the Gulf War - 88%. In Mosul in Iraq - between 9,000-11,000 civilians were killed, compared to 3,000-5,000 ISIS terrorists. In Raqqa in Syria, about 4,100 civilians were killed, compared to about 1,900 from ISIS terrorists.

Let's also remember that many civilians participated in the October 7th Massacre, and many more Palestinians support it.

Fantine · Aug 19, 2024

Does IDF stand for Israeli Defense Fund?
I challenge their stats.
Hamas was estimated to have 30,000 members...and IDF says Israel killed twenty million of the 30,000?
As I said, they are 21st century holy innocents.

Ivan Hlavanda · Aug 19, 2024

Fantine said:
Does IDF stand for Israeli Defense Fund?
I challenge their stats.
Hamas was estimated to have 30,000 members...and IDF says Israel killed twenty million of the 30,000?
As I said, they are 21st century holy innocents.

What nonsense are you talking about? IDF said they killed 15,000 Hamas terrorists.

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