Whose side is God on?
Film premiere and panel discussion explores the Israel-Palestine conflict
…while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, “Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies’?” He said, “Neither. I’m commander of God’s army.” – Joshua 5:13-14a (The Message)
There is nothing to showcase the limits of reason and rationality – and bring us face-to-face with our humanity – like an impassioned debate about a hot-button political or religious issue.
Or in this case, a political and religious issue, with the lines between the two blurred beyond comprehension.
Last Thursday night, Trinity Western University hosted the Canadian premiere of With God on our Side, a documentary about the impact of Christian Zionism on the Israeli-Palestinian situation. The screening was followed by a lively panel discussion between filmmakers and Middle East experts representing various perspectives on the issue, complete with enthusiastic – and often heated – participation from the audience.
Directed and produced by Porter Speakman Jr. – who was present on the panel along with co-writer Kevin Miller – the film challenges viewers to take a critical eye towards the unquestioned assumptions of Christian Zionism, and offers an alternative biblical viewpoint.
“We wanted to show a perspective that is not being heard in North America,” said Speakman, who lived in Israel for five years.
According to the documentary, Zionism is a political movement to recover the land of Israel for the Jewish people. Christian Zionism, which has developed a strong following in the United States under the banner of “Christians United For Israel” (CUFI), adds a Christian element to the political issue by taking the mandate of Genesis 12 to “bless Israel” at face value and applying it to the modern secular state.
With God on our Side critiques Christian Zionism and the unquestioning support of Israel’s policies by highlighting issues such as: displacement of people from their land, illegal settlement practices, the “separation barrier” or “apartheid wall,” and the plight of Palestinian Christians.
Christian Zionists commonly respond to these critiques by appealing to the Old Testament. The land was Israel’s originally; the reasoning goes, as God gave it to Abraham and his descendents. One CUFI leader, an American pastor, said in an interview: “We are standing on firm biblical soil.”
That is a solid case – if you omit the New Testament. Clearly, God gave the land to Abraham and his descendents, but who exactly are Abraham’s descendents? What exactly is the “Israel” we are to bless?
Furthermore, what does it even mean to “bless” Israel? As panelists Ron Dart of the University of the Fraser Valley and TWU’s own Middle East expert Paul Rowe point out, God blessed Israel in the Old Testament by sending prophets.
“Elijah was known by the King of Israel as the ‘troubler of Israel’,” Rowe said.
“The mark of a Hebrew prophet,” said Dart, “is they are constantly critical of both their people and other people.”
The audience – and even at times some of the panelists – suitably represented the difficulty of taking a critical stance towards all sides. Several comments were accompanied by finger-pointing or exclamations of “amen.” One audience member even heckled Palestinian panelist Samira Musleh with “and you call yourself a Christian?” which was swiftly reproached by a roomful of booing.
While the documentary itself was thought provoking, the heated discussion afterwards brought the root of the problem home. Panelist Kevin Miller pinpointed the trouble of taking a side on this issue. “You should never trust any strongly held opinion, especially your own,” he said. “When your emotions get fired up you can’t trust your own reason. There is a tendency to want to stake out a position, but Christ, when asked to take a position on an issue, would always bring it back home and make it an issue about your heart.”
So ‘how should we then live?’ The film advocates an alternative role for Christians: to be a bridge for reconciliation. Strong opinions for either side only serve to polarize the issue, and further polarization is ultimately what movements like Christian Zionism have achieved. Yet the documentary shows countless examples of what the average Palestinian or Israeli actually wants – not victory, but peace.
As one young woman in the film points out, “It’s okay to have a political opinion about something, but the moment that makes you prejudice against a people group, you lose the heart of God.”
6 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
I saw the film earlier, and found it to be a skillful piece of propaganda… appealing to Christians’ sympathy and compassion, while conveniently ignoring the mountain of facts on the “other side”. Any author or film maker who does not deal with the issue of Islamic hatred for the Jews and the unending barrage of Arab terror attacks against Israel has not even begun to be “objective”!
Spare me the whining about Arab farmers not being able to easily get to their fields because of the Security fence! It has protected countless Israelis (both Jews and Arabs, by the way) from being blown to bits by suicide bombers – and anyone who claims to care so much about human life should rejoice over that! My friends in Netanya (Yemenite Jews who were driven from their homes with just the clothes on their backs in 1948!) were terrified to even venture outside their apartment for several years in the 1990′s, because Arabs from a nearby “West Bank” village kept walking across the fields and exploding themselves & others in the nearby market! Since the Security wall was built, there have been ZERO bombings and Zero deaths! I’d say that’s pretty good record, if you care about saving lives! To those who complain about the inconvenient consequences of increased security, I say, stop being violent and stop justifying those who are, and the security won’t be needed! In the meantime, suck it up. Just like we have to, when we must undress at airports because of some crazy Islamic fanatics! And quit making movies about how “disadvantaged” they are, please!
Comment by Betty Loewen — March 5, 2010 @ 11:23 PM
There are three types of “peace-niks”. There are 1.0 peacefakers. These people will seek to make peace with the enemy at any cost. They resemble Faust, or the Haitians, who sold their very spirit, soul, body and land, for peace. Then there are 2.0 peacebreakers. These are men and women who take sides and divide the brethren. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 16, notes “Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth. They have no intention of living for our Lord. They are only in this for what they can get out of it, and aren’t above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting innocents.” Last, there are 3.0 peacemakers. These are those of whom the Hebrew Saviour for the gentiles noted that they would be “blessed”, for they are the sons of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They work with the brethren towards reconciliation with God, and then reconciliation between the brethren.
Christians who adhere to Replacement Theology, publically always act as “peacebreakers” for they follow a legalistic religiosity the gentile Saviour condemned as “…every tree that wasn’t planted by [the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob] will be pulled up by its roots…” (see Matthew 15). There is no such thing as the Islamic teachings of abrogation in the christian scriptures theology; thus, the Christian scriptures (the New Testament) do not supercede the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament). It is error to teach anything other than that the Judeo-Christian Bible is seamless. Whatever scriptures you read, if it’s not in Torah, it is not the Word of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For that Word Who became flesh and dwelt amongst us, as noted in the Christian scripture writings of John,was present from Creation through to dwelling amongst us.
The God of Abraham,, Isaac and Jacob noted in Malachi 3:6, “For I am the Lord, I change not.” And again, the writer of the book to the Hebrews 13:8, notes [for the Hebrew Redeemer & the Saviour of the pagan gentiles] “[I am] … the same yesterday, today and forever.”
As for the repudiation of the word “Zion”, it originated as a word bef. 1000BCE; < Heb sīyyōn; r. ME, OE Sion < LL (Vulgate) Siōn < Gk (Septuagint) Seiṓn; and it occurs 153 times in 153 verses in the KJV of the 66 books of the complete bible, both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.
Comment by Moll — March 6, 2010 @ 11:11 AM
Read these scriptural declarations from both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, and tremble.
Psalm 118:22 “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone”.
Luke 20:18: “Whoever falls on that stone will be broken (read Isaiah 8:14ff) for on whomever it falls, it will grind that person to powder” (read Daniel 2:34, 35).
For the christians who teach/preach replacement theology are coming up against the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and up against His children of Israel whom He chose to be “salt and light” to pagan gentiles such as you. You are coming up against the City of Jerusalem (ZION), upon which the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob inscribed His Name. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob noted in Genesis 12:3, that He would “bless those who bless [Israel} and curse them that curse [Israel}. What you are publically saying sounds like “cursing” the jews and their jewish State of Israel. Wise people would get themselves onto the “blessings” side of this declaration in a hurry, lest you watch yourselves be ground into powder by this boulder/rock/stone. The gentiles cannot “win” a war against the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for He is the defender of the children of Israel.
Abraham bought the Cave of the Machpelah, for 400 shekels “the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was therein and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the border thereof, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that were in at the gate of his city (read about it in Genesis 23:2ff).”
Further, scriptural evidence exists that Jacob bought the land at Nablus, where Joseph’s Tomb sits today (read about it in Genesis 33:18); and King David bought the land upon which the Temple was built in Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount (read about it in I Chronicles 21:22ff). These were legal, money-exchange transactions for land.
For that matter, who is occupying whose land? Who is displacing whom? Whose heritage are the holy sites of Israel, including Judea and Samaria?
The nonstate, tribal arabs, whether Christian or muslem, are squatting on land that has never been their ancestral land, not 3,000 years ago, not 62 years ago, and definitely not in the 21st Century. The ishmaelites (descendants of the egyptian Hagar’s son Ishmael); the edomites (descendants of Esau), the canaanites (descendants of Noah’s accursed grandson, Canaan), the amalakites (the descendants of Amalak) AND etc., these are all nonstate, tribal arabs usurping, occupying, “squatting” on land given in perpetuity by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by blood covenant, to the seed of Abraham, through Isaac and Israel. Not to the seed of Abraham, through Ishmael. Nor is the pagan moon-god allah of the ishmaelites comparable with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the children of Israel.
And all who come against this “cornerstone” will be crushed by this cornerstone.
Comment by Moll — March 6, 2010 @ 12:49 PM
This media piece is so insidiously bad that it may qualify for “hate” under the Criminal Code of Canada or at least Human Rights legislation. The underlying spirit about it, is raw evil, which any Christian should be able to easily discern when they just get a whiff of it. No God fearing Christian could defend such a work, (Matt 7:20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them) It does however reveal why there is so much trouble around Israel. The reviewers approach must be like looking at historical Nazi propaganda films that were used to politically sway the German population in 1938-40 which helps us retrospectively now to comprehend the spirit of what was to come upon the world. The media piece in question must be viewed in the same manner of revealing how slick is the modern face of evil. One of its several goals is to de-legitimize the state of Israel.
Comment by Paul Forseth — March 6, 2010 @ 1:32 PM
This was not an un biased documentary film! A documentary should tell the Whole story ,from ALL sides,in a TRUTHFUL manner.There were very few Bible References used! No Israeli or Messianic Jews were inter viewed! Only a secular Jew was interviewed as he was trying to say that legally, Israel had no right to occupy palestinian territory! Why were the “panel members ” stacked 6-1 in favor of pro Palestinian versus the only Christian Zionist, Doug Kooy?(who is to be commended for beingin that position and keeping his cool}.I was the one who piped up”and you call yourself a Christian?”,because I heard the elderly Palestinian women say something to the effect”and I would kill those Jews too”.(please tell the whole story}.When she mentioned the “Jenin Massacre”,Ipiped up that 50 Palestinians were killed mostly soldiers! That is NOT a massacre!!Palestinian suicide bombers have killed and maimed as many Israeli’s at one time! Palestinian Christians have left the West Bank not because of Israeli oppression as was stated in the film, but because of persecution by their Muslim neighbors! Unfortunetly in Islam one is allowed to lie,cheat,steal and kill if it for the sake or cause of Allah and therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE to negotiate with the Muslims!!!
Comment by John de Kleer — March 8, 2010 @ 12:48 PM
The Israeli Jews accepted the UN Partition plan of 1947. The Arabs rejected it and instead 5 Arab armies invaded and were pushed back by Israel,and this was repeated in’67 and’73.In all of history has there ever been a country who was attacked by others,gained landand had to give it back? I’m not aware of it!!! So why the double standard when it comes to Israel? Besides God gave HIS LAND (the onlyland God says was His with very specific borders)as an EVERLASTING INHERITANCEto ISRAEL (forever)!!!(Gen.17:7-8.) Joel 3:1-3 says ;”For behold in those bays and at that time when I(GOD) bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem.I will also gather ALL nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat(battle of Armegeddon) and I (GOD) will enter into judgement with them there ,on accountof MY PEOPLE MY HERITAGE Israel,whom they have scattered among the nations.They have alsodivided up MY LAND and they have cast lots for MY PEOPLE.” According to this scripture the land is not to divided,and those who try will be judged by GOD for it ,including the EU,UN,USA and Russia who are pushing for this. Humanly speaking we that if the Arabs ,Muslims and palestinians would lay down their weapons there would be “Peace ” in the middle east.If Israel were to lay down their arms there would be no Israel tomorrow!(unless God intervened) That is the Fudmentalist ,Jihadist Islam that was not mentioned in this film,as the root cause of not only the Israeli/Palestinian conflict but every other armed conflict around the world! This is not a politically correct thing to say but it is the TRUTH!!! The same evilone who inspired Hitler is inspiringthese fanatical muslims to hate Israel and the Jews,which is the spirit of anti semitism that has been raging throughout history and will come to end only at the 2nd coming of the Messiah Jesus Christ! 1 Sam.12:22 says”For the Lord will not forsake His people (Israel) for His great name’s sake,becauseit has pleased the Lord to make you(Israel) His people.” Sorry God chose Abel not Cain ,Isaac not Ishmael,and Jacob(Israel) not Esau etc. God chose Israel not the Palestinian Arabs to give His Land to.The Bible clearly states that those non jews should be allowed to livein peace with them .If you talk to any Israeli Arab They will tell you they do not want to move,because they have it better in Israel thanany Arab in neighbouring countries!
Comment by John de Kleer — March 8, 2010 @ 3:47 PM