1941
Isn't all life sacred? Is 1941 the catalyst for people devaluing life, hating different people groups, cultures, or nations? We can go even further back, because 1941 wasn't the worst "evil", when we check history, Hitler killed much less people than Mao Zedong. Hitler and Stalin combined didn't come close to Mao, but do we pontificate the lives of those Mao killed like many do the Jews, or are those Mao killed a forgotten 70+ million? So we can go further back than 1941, but why this issue of Israel gets more focus is because there is a precedent based on bad exegesis going on and many people, especially American Christians, have placed a higher worth on the lives of the Israelis than other people groups or cultures. So when horror befalls the Jews, their deaths are held in higher regards then others, even though as I implied above; all life is sacred. So I say we don't stop at 1941, we go all the way back to the OT. Could the attitude of war prevalent in many cultures be the fault of the Israelites? Could they have misconstrued the words of God as "conquering their enemies and driving them out" in the context of war, instead of the way God through Christ defined "conquering", in the manner of love?
Could they have avoided all the blood shed by sharing the God of Abraham with them, driving out the spiritual darkness that deceived the members of the other lands and grafting them in? Instead of being tempted to worship false gods, guide those in other territories to worship the one true God? Alongside the Israelites committing genocide (see the recurring theme, and their belief that it is endorsed by God in their actions of today?) some times they did just that in a small scale. We see them bringing various cities and nations to believe in the God of Abraham, why not in a global scale? Isn't that just what our commission is? Aren't we as Christians taught to conquer our enemies this way? By loving them, not killing them? Think about it. We know when the apostles wanted to bring fire from the sky as Elijah did, Jesus told them they didn't know what spirit they were of.
Jesus grafting in the gentiles was not a mistake, it wasn't a "plan B", it was God's will from the beginning of time, but just maybe the Israelites were typically human in their pride and elevation of self. When even today people feel a sense of superiority and place people on a pedestal as "God's chosen people" is it a far reach to put forth a theory that they had it all wrong? That they without the Holy Spirit to guide them, without the words we know so well about renewing our mind and capturing our thoughts, not allowing our emotions to control us, took the words of the Lord to mean destruction and death, not restoration and life?
So, we can look to many actions of the past, but we can go even further in the OT to Genesis. War and death came into the earth through satan, so war regardless of the reasoning, justification, or excuses behind it will always be a product and consequence of darkness, not the Light. In Him there is no evil. Jesus came to show God's character, and Jesus did not commit to war, He did not endorse war. I think sometimes the church forgets that's one of the main reasons He was in fact killed. He claimed to be the Messiah, but He walked in peace as a sacrificial Lamb, NOT as a conquering lion.
Revelation 5:5-14 (GW)
Then one of the leaders said to me, “Stop crying! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won the victory. He can open the scroll and the seven seals on it.” I saw a lamb standing in the center near the throne with the four living creatures and the leaders. The lamb looked like he had been slaughtered. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent all over the world. He took the scroll from the right hand of the one who sits on the throne. When the lamb had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 leaders bowed in front of him. Each held a harp and a gold bowl full of incense, the prayers of God’s holy people. Then they sang a new song,
“You deserve to take the scroll and open the seals on it, because you were slaughtered. You bought people with your blood to be God’s own.
They are from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God. They will rule as kings on the earth.”
Then I heard the voices of many angels, the four living creatures, and the leaders surrounding the throne. They numbered ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands times thousands. In a loud voice they were singing,
“The lamb who was slain deserves to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise.”
I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and on the sea. Every creature in those places was singing,
“To the one who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise, honor, glory, and power forever and ever.”
The four living creatures said, “Amen!” Then the leaders bowed and worshiped.
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