No, The Bible Doesn’t Command We “Stand
With Israel”
By Benjamin L. Corey (please
scroll to bottom for warnings)
When reporting or lamenting over the gross human rights
violations and genocide by the modern state of Israel against the Palestinian
people, many Christians immediately freak the heck out.
In fact, I am often told that I am “not a Christian”
because I dare criticize the state of Israel’s behavior, as if blind support of
a modern nation state were an obligation of being a True Christian.
Upon being stripped of my membership card in
Christianity, many of these “internet Bible scholars” quickly remind me: God
commands us to stand with Israel! But is that even true? I mean, for those of us
who grow up in EvangelFundamentalism we’re taught that from day one– but just
because our childhood pastor taught us this, and just because Grandma believed
it, doesn’t make it true.
I’ve long written on this topic both on a theological
and geopolitical standpoint, but wanted to quickly and concisely lay out a few
points in response to the whole, “you’re not a true Christian if you don’t stand
with Israel” nonsense.
As your Bible Explainer in Chief, let me quickly break
it down for you– because no, the Bible doesn’t command we stand with Israel.
1. The entire “stand with Israel” theology is based
on one verse, and the verse had nothing to do with any modern nation state born
a few thousand years later.
Preachers will claim God commands we stand with Israel
in order to be blessed, but that’s not what the Bible says. In Genesis 12:3 God
is reported to have told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you and curse
those who curse you.” This was a promise to Abraham- neither biblical Israel nor
modern Israel existed when this was written. It was a promise to Abraham as
part of God’s covenant with him.
2. The Bible teaches that the true descendants of
Abraham are spiritual, not ethnic.
The same preachers say, “Yes! It was a promise to
Abraham and that extends to his descendants- Israel” but that’s not the whole
story, either. The Bible actually teaches that “not all that descended from
Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:6) and that a true descendant of Abraham is
not ethnic but a matter of the heart (Romans 2:29).
Israel as a nation state is not what the Bible talks
about when it talks about Israel. The New Testament Israel is comprised of all
those who accept the King of Israel: Jesus.
3. Not even the prophets in the Bible blindly stood
with Israel– including Jesus.
The biblical prophets are the last people who would seem
“pro-Israel” because they were constantly rebuking Israel for bad behavior. And
they didn’t hold back forceful language, either– some wrote that God utterly
hated every expression of their religion because they were ignoring justice for
the poor and marginalized.
On top of the prophets, remember that Jesus was executed
as a traitor and a threat to Israel.
4. The Bible doesn’t command we blindly support
people who are committing evil acts.
This is a concept we seem to understand in day-t0-day
life, but all logic goes out the window when it comes to standing with
Israel. For example, yes– God wants one to be faithful to their family, but does
that mean you stand by and support them if they want to drive drunk? Do you
support them if they want to shoot their neighbor and steal their car? Of course
not- that’s nonsense.
Blindly supporting Israel would be like supporting a
friend or family member regardless of their behavior, and I see nothing in the
Bible or the teachings of Jesus that suggests we are supposed to support those
who do evil, as they do evil.
Israel is an apartheid state where the indigenous people
are oppressed and victims of untold daily discrimination and violence; it is a
state that offers government subsidized abortions regardless
of the reason, a place where Christians have had to petition the government so
that they can walk down the street without being spat upon, a place where
Christian places of worship are routinely attacked, where Palestinian children
are mercilessly oppressed and even slaughtered, and a nation that is
consistently rebuked by the international community for human rights violations
that would not be tolerated anywhere else in the world.
Any theology that tells you to support all that is
garbage, and you can figure it out without even having to dig deep into the
theology. Like they say, you don’t have to stick your head in a trashcan to know
that garbage smells.
The bottom line: What the world calls Israel is NOT what
the Bible calls Israel. The world is referring to a nation state that was
created just a generation ago– the Bible is talking about the people of Abraham,
which are a spiritual people who have accepted their king: Jesus. It’s not a
people group one is born into, but a people group you join by pledging your
allegiance to Jesus.
So is standing with Israel a biblical concept? No. In
fact, the stronger biblical case would be standing in opposition to Israel’s
ungodly behavior.
Warning
Benjamin L. Corey is an American Missiologist, author, blogger and speaker. He
is a prominent figure within the Emerging Church Movement, Progressive
Christianity, and radical Christianity while self-identifying as an Anabaptist.
He is the author of the book, Undiluted: Rediscovering The Radical Message of
Jesus.
What Dr. Corey has stated in this article is total truth
but I must post this warning that the Emergent Church Movement, Progressive
Christianity, and Radical Christianity are unbiblical and ungodly movements.
Do not get involved with them.
Below is just a brief summary of what these movements do and believe.
Radical Christianity has emerged as a community of people discussing the
intersection of philosophy, theology, critical theory, and revolutionary
politics.
Progressive Christianity is a "post-liberal movement" within Christianity "that
seeks to reform the faith via the insights of post-modernism and a reclaiming of
the truth beyond the verifiable historicity and factuality of the passages in
the Bible by affirming the truths within the stories that may not have actually
happened." Progressive Christianity represents a post-modern theological
approach, and is not necessarily synonymous with progressive politics. It
developed out of the Liberal Christianity of the modern-era, which was rooted in
enlightenment thinking.
The Emergent Church utilizes many New Age tactics such as walking the labyrinth, soaking prayer, emptying of the mind, rejection of the Bible, experience based which means it is a false system and not of God. It is to be avoided at all cost.