Healing the division between Jews and Christians - the Savile Connection

The recent scandal surrounding Jimmy Savile raises some questions about the relationship between Jews and Christians, but not in obvious ways as I shall explain. Savile was apparently an avowed Roman Catholic, but he was also a strong supporter of the State of Israel according to the Jewish Chronicle, (he didn't believe Israel should have given back land after the Six Day war), as well as a fundraiser for a number of Jewish charities, and Christian ones too - rather shockingly his intent may have been to get close to children of all colours and creeds, and this naturally raises concerns for both Jewish and Christian parents. The Catholic Church has of course had its fair share of abuse scandals, and Savile now has added to the sorrow of ordinary catholics. He received a papal knighthood for instance, although now it may be revoked. However, dig a little deeper and another aspect arises.

The Jewish Chronicle reports that a memorial to Savile has now been removed from the Leeds Jewish Welfare Board (LJWB) building.

http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/86121/jimmy-savile-plaque-removed-jewish-welfare-service This shows that he was close to the Jewish community and Savile claimed to be the 'most Jewish Catholic you will ever meet.' http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/87004/jimmy-savile-admitted-he-was-crooked-interview-his-death
This made me wonder whether there is a link between Savile's name and the city of Seville - a centre of Marano catholics and a place of persecution for Jews through the Spanish Inquisition. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10388-marano Seville had incidentally grown wealthy through trade with the new world. These catholics were however forced converts from Judaism, some embraced the faith, others secretly kept their Jewish ways and traditions. Of course it is not necessary to refer to one's ethnic identity in this matter and even if Savile was a Marano Jew it would not be relevant to the case against him. Other Jews, such as Esther Rantzen, have also acted strongly in support of child protection. In the question of child abuse both perpetrators and victims are from all areas of society, some will be Jews, but many are Gentiles too, so ethnicity is not the issue here.

But the point I want to raise here is the tragedy of the Inquisition, that having failed to convert Jews through love and faith, the Catholic Church abused its power base by trying to force Jews to convert through fear [although according to this BBC Radio 4 programme the Spanish Christians were good at converting Jews to Christ through love prior to their forced conversion http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nk276]. Whereas Paul wished to make Jews jealous to win them to Christ through the Christian community living out a godly, blessed life, a Church that had lost its way and faith thought it could win through force and intimidation. This is an ongoing tragedy that needs to be remembered.

Israel - a secular State that does not follow the Mosaic Law

Jacob Prasch posts a news item about a Messianic fellowship in Israel that has been found guilty in an Israeli court for failing to marry a lesbian couple. Messianic Hotel Moshav fined heavily for refusing to host lesbian marriage. A letter from the group reads as follows.

"The judge ruled against us, claiming that our refusal to allow gay marriage in the Yad Hashmona guest-house is against the law. we were fined 80,000 shekels and together with our expenses in this case, its very heavy on us.

This is a quote from the ruling:

““Every person who opens a public business in Israel should know that they must serve the whole public equally, without discrimination… which covers sexual orientation as well. As soon as the defendants opened their doors to all, they cannot close them for those who they believe do not meet the requirements found in the Bible or New Testament.”

Needless to say, we do not close our doors to anyone who comes to Yad Hashmona, on the contrary, we are a living testimony of good news of the Messiah to many Israelis that pass through us, this is what I am here for. to be a testimony. But to hold a marriage ceremony of a lesbian couple in Yad Hashmona is to violate God’s requirement over this place that we claim to be a Messianic village, and we could not do that."

This should be a wake up call to those Christian Zionists who think that the modern State of Israel is somehow fulfilling a divine calling when it so openly defies the Mosaic Law, or even a Messianic interpretation of the Law, preferring instead a state of being a law-unto-itself. Of course this should lead us to pray even more for Israel, but let us not be naive. Palestinians too have suffered as a result of the State of Israel's disregard for Mosaic requirements about treating other nationalities with respect.

Israel's Choice - War or Peace?

The time for Israeli action against Iran seems to be drawing closer, according to a Daily Telegraph news item, as an international armada gathers to protect the Strait of Hormuz Armada of international naval power massing in the Gulf as Israel prepares an Iran strike. Is this for real, or is it just growing, but groundless fear? Vague chatter on the web is that Yom Kippur may be the date for an attack 25/26 September 2012 - we shall see.

Of course the majority of Israelis would prefer peace, but they may not get a say. Israel's choice now is to pursue peace through submission to the UN, or to go it alone and face the danger of Iranian retalliation.

Jeremiah (as we read in chapter 38) was thrown into a pit because of his prophecies. But he was brought out and said to King Zedekiah that the king and city of Jerusalem would be saved if he submitted to Babylon, but if not then the city and king would destroyed and the people carried into exile. For us today the UN is the closest thing to Babylon - yes it may be ruled by the worldy system, but God raises up even the wordly systems to train the righteous towards godliness for those who accept the wooden yoke. For those who rebel and resist there is the iron yoke. Jeremiah 28:13-14 says this. “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. 14 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him."

Many of us have called for a peace settlement with the Palestinians and Arab neighbours through the UN, and we do not wish to see the Israeli people face the coming threat as some of their leaders wish. There is still time for Israel to go to the UN and seek a settlement that brings peace to the State of Israel, let us pray that the leadership takes the wiser choice.

Israeli rhetoric on Iran - harder to back down

The Israeli government has for a while been upping the rhetoric on attacking Iran. The trouble is the more one gives out, the harder it is to back down. Netanyahu and Barak may have backed themselves into a corner where they have no choice, but to launch an attack. Many Jews in Israel are though fearful of the outcome and fall out and they need our prayers at this time. Consider this news report from Israel National News which suggests next 50 days will be decisive. Hanegbi comments that "We now stand, in my opinion, before the 50 most fateful days in Israel's history, since perhaps the Yom Kippur War, in which there were also several dozen fateful days."

Three Christian Zionist Arguments in Support of Israel

I would suggest we can categorise three theological arguments that Christian Zionists makes in support of Israel. Now, it is acknowledged that not all proponents of Zionism will agree with all of this, and there is internal division, but I believe this list forms a broad basis for discussion.

1. The first is something we might all broadly agree with whether Zionist or not; that is that Christians should love Jews and support their peaceful existence and co-existence where ever they live, in the Holy Land or elsewhere. And because Jews have suffered through history they need a homeland, so why not the Holy Land? Furthermore, God has allowed Jews to live in the Holy Land and establish a state, at least in part of it by his permissive will, and we should not oppose that.

2. The second is a positive theological argument towards the divine right of Jews to live in the Holy Land. This position seeks to justify the expansion of land controlled by Jews because it is held that God has given it to them by Old Testament promises - from the Nile to the Euphrates. In extreme cases it assumes that Jews can do no wrong in defence of this right. This position is however debated sharply because it involves biblical interpretation concerning land and application of promises, and it is a position challenged by Christian supporters of Palestinians.

3. The third is a negative theology towards the Church that seeks to undermine the claim of Christendom to Old Testament Abrahamic promises. The traditional Pauline - Augustinian claim involves the doctrine that the Church is the legitimate continuity of Israel because it was formed by the Messiah-King Jesus and by Jewish disciples and fulfills Old Testament promises. The negative theological challenge to this is promoted by misrepresenting the Reformed Augustinian theology so that it is taught by Zionist proponents that the Reformed theology holds that God replaced Israel with the Church. It potentially sets up a false dichotomy through use of straw-man arguments by over emphasising replacement theology. Yes, supercessionism does exist in popular form, and it needs to be challenged, but the true nature of the Augustinian doctrine focuses instead upon the continuity of the City of God from Old to New Testaments; i.e. the Jerusalem that is free, eternal and above is being established on the Earth through the Christian mission as an extension of Israel’s mission. One may ask however whether the negative Zionist doctrine effectively undermines the strength of evangelical Christian faith because it encourages Christians to look upon the Church as a sort of social-club-for-Gentiles devoid of its inheritance in Jesus as the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham through Israel.

There are other questions that arise with these three positions as well.

Does position two effectively undermine position one because it increases tension in the Middle East by giving theological justification to take land belonging to others? Even many Jews in Palestine are worried about position two, and would exchange land for peace.

Does position three effectively provide support amongst Christians for position two?

Are positions two and three really necessary in order to support position one? Most Christians support position one without encouragement because of Christian duty. I would suggest that positions two and three are unnecessary and unhelpful in seeking to uphold position one.

Israel - Stepping Up Pressure on Iran

Israel is reported to be preparing with even greater urgency for an attack on Iran according to the Telegraph. Citizens will apparently be getting text messages once the fall-out begins and Iran responds with its own barrage of missiles. Those of us who are sceptical of Zionism are not the ones who wish such level of destruction upon the Jewish people - the biggest threat to Jews is coming from within Israel, and many Jews are rightly concerned about the direction of their own government's policy.

Bunker Buster Ready for use Against Iran

According to the Telegraph - US bunker-buster bomb 'ready to go' - The US Air Force's massive 30,000lb bunker-buster bomb critical for striking heavily fortified Iranian nuclear facilities is "ready to go"

Someday politicians will wake up and understand that you can't bring peace, justice and reconciliation to the Middle East by use of larger and larger weapons. If used against Iran, there will sadly be a great deal of retaliation in terms of missiles raining down on Israel. But the Israelis believe on balance it will be safer to stop Iran from getting hold of the bomb. High stakes for a small country surrounded by enemies. Christians need to pray for peace in Palestine-Israel.