Our Sacred Duty

 

"She was a shadow in human shape, curled in the ruins of a kitchen that no longer existed, feeding her infant an empty spoon. Over and over. “Eat,” she whispered, as if mercy could be faked long enough to save him. And the child obeyed. Because hunger makes gods of mothers, even when they have nothing left to give but lies. "

https://x.com/ezzingaza

https://x.com/ezzingaza/status/1930360856589566428

I saw a woman today. 

No. She was not a woman. 

She was a shadow in human shape, curled in the ruins of a kitchen that no longer existed, feeding her infant an empty spoon. 

 

 Over and over. 

 

“Eat,” she whispered, as if mercy could be faked long enough to save him. 

 

And the child obeyed. Because hunger makes gods of mothers, even when they have nothing left to give but lies. 

 

This is not famine. This is theology. 

This is where faith is tried like meat over flame; slowly, until it screams. 

 

In Gaza, children are not raised. They are rationed. Born between airstrikes, raised under sanctions, educated in silence. 

 

Here, death is no longer a tragedy. It is a statistic. It does not come like a thief in the night. 

It comes like the postman; regularly, predictably, professionally. 

 

 They send trucks. Not enough. Never enough. Ten thousand people chase one truck, like dogs beneath the emperor’s table. 

 

And the world says, “Why do they fight like animals?” 

Because they are starving. Because they are forgotten. Because this was always the plan. 

 

Yes, the starvation is by design. 

Not just to kill, but to unmake. 

To peel back human skin until only impulse remains. So that one day, when they eat each other, the world may say, “See? We were right all along.” 

 

But I ask you: 

 

If a child starves in the dark, while men argue over borders, and priests preach of patience, and human rights organizations hold another symposium.  

 

What is the value of that child’s life? 

Less than your comfort? 

Less than your belief in a just world? 

 

 If a single child must die for your silence, if one infant must be buried beneath rubble so that your country may have good diplomatic standing, then I say: 

 

Return your progress. 

Return your civilization. 

Return your peace. 

 

I do not want it. 

 

You say, “This is war.” 

 

No. War ends. This is eternal. 

 

This is the organized execution of hope.  And somewhere in the dust, beneath the broken mosques and blood-streaked bread lines, God is watching. 

 

But I do not know if He is weeping, or choking on His own shame.  

 

#GazaGenocide

 

Dr. Ezzideen  

 @ezzingaza

Gary Burge, Wheaton College professor, explaining why he is no longer a Christian Zionist.

"... And here is the truest thing I can say: You can’t understand a story of occupation and oppression or the violence it requires unless you’ve seen it up close -- or made friends with those who live it.

This Arab pastor told me that even though I thought I had been to the Holy Land a dozen times, I had only been there once. I had been on the “tourist trail” and never gone astray. He was right. This tourist trail kept people from seeing behind the scenes in order to protect the Israeli tourism industry. But now I had peeked behind that curtain. And there was no going back.

 

I asked to meet other pastors. And this led to a network of friendships. And more experiences in the second uprising of 2000. I wrote a book about this in 2003 (Whose Land? Whose Promise?) and while it became a best seller my momentary fame evaporated quickly: I foolishly thought my evangelical friends would like to learn what was going on. They did not. By then I was a tenured professor at evangelical Wheaton College, still taking students to “Israel/Palestine” and feeling the growing resentment of my evangelical world. Which culminated in a formal letter from the college that prohibited me from taking any of our students to a Palestinian theology conference because “it was dangerous.” It would be “upsetting.” Some might need counseling afterward. Actually, it was inconvenient for Wheaton’s constituency. 

 

I have returned to Israel/Palestine and about a half dozen Arab countries many times over the years. I have tried to read widely and thoughtfully and discovered that the views of Israel – the theological views promoted by Christian Zionism -- are ill-informed and simply not biblical (see my analysis of this in Jesus and the Land). But worse, they are dangerous. I became convinced that there was a severe moral flaw in my evangelical church’s commitments. We were promoting harm and not representing the gospel or the love and truth of Christ in this part of the world. Our zeal for prophecy, our excitement about Israel and our hope in end times had blinded us. In a word, Christian Zionism had betrayed us.” 

 

About Gary Burge: A respected authority on the context of the New Testament, Dr. Gary Burge has authored numerous books on an academic level as well as books for laypeople. His technical works generally focus on the Gospel of John as well as the Israel/Palestine conflict. Gary is Professor of New Testament and  Dean of the Faculty at  Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI (USA). His works include Life Questions Every Students Asks (edited by Gary Burge and David Lauber), Interpreting the Gospel of John, and John: the NIV Application Commentary.  

https://overthinkingchristian.com/2021/06/03/why-im-not-a-christian-zionist-by-gary-burge/

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES or quotes or watch videos IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

 

 ~

 

Gary Burge, author of  Whose Land, Whose Promise: What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians (2003, revised 2013)