Jonah was he the first Liberation theologian?

Jonah and the big fish

I am reading a book by the Reverend Naim Ateek - 'A Palestinian Christian cry for reconciliation"; Naim is an Anglican priest and leads an organisation 'Friends of Sabeel', a group to raise awareness of the situation of the Palestinian people living in Gaza, the West Bank and those who live in Israel.

In his book he mentions Jonah and calls him the first

'liberation theologian'.

It got me intrigued to read the 4 small chapters of this Old Testament book again.

My first thoughts took me back to my Sunday school days and the chorus that we used to sing: here are the words if like me you have forgotten. It's sung to a catchy little tune.

'Come Listen to my tale of Jonah and the whale

Way down in the middle of the ocean

How did he get there whatever did he wear

Way down in the middle of the ocean

Preaching he should be at Nineveh you see

He disobeyed a very foolish notion

But God forgave his sin

Salvation entered in

Way down in the middle of the ocean'

The other thing to note if you do decide to 'google Jonah'; it gives you lots of material for teaching this to children in the Sunday school lesson. Reading the story again I am not sure why this story is seen as suitable to teach to children- just because there is a ' big fish' this is no children's tale.

The reason for this and it's 'not mentioned' certainly in our cutesy chorus; the possible annihilation of around 120,000 people if they do not repent of their sin.

This possible killing of so many led me to think deeply about the latest conflict and killing in Gaza this summer. This tragedy was played out in splendid technicolour for all to see on our news channels, it became a consuming factor in my world over these weeks and actually to this very second my concerns continue unabated. That conflict may be over but unfortunately the situation continues relentlessly.

I wrote several blogs about this situation: the first one How many lives'?

I was shocked that I knew so little, I had always dreamed one day of going to the 'holy land'. All the familiar names: Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Hebron, Galilee, Nazareth and so on were the places I had read about in my Bible.

But in July I heard about Gaza, a place sadly I knew very little about.

At Greenbelt a Christian summer festival this year I watched a presentation of 'Bethlehem unwrapped'. Justin Butcher a Creative Director, visited Palestine and saw the wall constructed that surrounds Bethlehem (apartheid wall ) and separates, Israel and Palestine: it is 8 metres high and it obscures Bethlehem’s holy sites and historic places. It is still under construction but runs approximately 273 miles it is (62%) completed.

 

 

He asked the Reverend Lucy Winkett of St James’s Church in London if she would consider having a replica part of the wall built in the church grounds, rather than their usual nativity scene. She was brave enough to go along with this controversial structure which led to questions from the public, many positive but some feeling that it was in poor taste; possibly leading to a rise in anti-semitism.

Berlin Wall

On 9th of November it was the celebration of 25 years since the Berlin Wall fell. The reason given for building the wall in Palestine is that it is there to protect Israeli people from attack by Palestinian 'terrorists'. I have many thoughts about this but for now I want to say ultimately we will never achieve peace with walls.

What is understood is that it has had a massive humanitarian impact on the many Palestinians living near the wall.

Back to to Jonah

Jonah was told by God to go to Nineveh; "because its wickedness has come up before me."

I checked out the history of Nineveh and found it to be one of the oldest and greatest cities in antiquity, the total area of the city comprised about 7 square kilometres and fifteen great gates penetrated its walls.

It had an elaborate system of eighteen canals that brought water from the hills and several sections of a magnificently constructed aqueduct erected by Sennacherib one of the well known Kings.

It had as I have said 120,000 people twice as many inhabitants as Babylon at the time, placing it among the largest settlements. Some scholars believe that the Garden which Sennacherib built next to his palace, with its associated irrigation works, comprised the original Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

We know through preserved history that the times were brutal.

'The stone carvings in the walls include many battle scenes, impalings and scenes showing Sennacherib's men parading the spoils of war before him. He also bragged about his conquests: he wrote of Babylon

Its inhabitants, young and old, I did not spare, and with their corpses I filled the streets of the city."

Wars continue

I checked to see what countries the UK had been at war with and shockingly found that we had continuously had conflict over last 100 yrs, here are some countries we have fought against.

Russia, Afghanistan, Somaliland, Cyprus, Southern and Northern Iraq, Palestine, Korea, Cameroon, Brunei, Malaysia, Kenya, China, Greece, Sudan, Aden, Eritrea, Pakistan, Suez, Falklands.

So it seems conflict war and brutality was not left behind in the ancient world. Sadly it is continued to our current crises raging across our world- RIGHT NOW.

Nineveh was brutal and also the centre of innovation and beauty. All of humanity represented there- the good and the bad and the ugly. The reality that we are all not one thing. That nations are made up of people that live and love and hate and make war: with each other, within their families, tribes and against sadly against other countries and nations.

Back to Jonah

In Jonah chapter 1 the story starts: The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."

The book of Jonah is in the Tanakh- the canon of the Hebrew Bible.

According to tradition it is read every year, in its original Hebrew and in its entirety, on Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement, this is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people.

Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services.

Jonah came from a town named Gath-hepher, near Nazareth. Unfortunately ignoring what God asked of him he boarded a ship bound for Tarshish, a city near Gibraltar in the southern part of Spain. Nineveh was located east of the Tigris River in modern-day Iraq. It was more than 500 miles east of Jonah’s hometown. Tarshish, in contrast, was west of Gath-hepher. In fact, it was more than 2,500 miles from Israel in the opposite direction of Nineveh. It was the most remote destination available to him. So clearly Jonah does not want any chance that the the Ninevites will be forgiven, certainly not from anything that he has anything to do with!

Whilst on the ship a huge storm arises and the sailors, realising this is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame, he admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease.

The sailors try to dump as much cargo as possible before giving up and throwing him into the sea, and yes instantly the sea calms.

He is saved by being swallowed by a large fish or whale as we have come to believe where he spends three days and three nights.

So there we have it Jonah swallowed by the whale and let the children's Sunday school stories begin. For me in the same way Jesus was a story teller: this comes from the Jewish culture which was one of story telling.If you want to believe it really happened it's ok, many have looked to find if it's possible and believe it is; for me I think that Jonah in his disobedience spent 3 days in the dark of despair, knowing he had disobeyed a command from God, also trying to assimilate what this means to see the enemy of his people possibly forgiven.

Whilst in the place of disobedience he prays to God in his affliction and commits to doing what has been asked of him and go to the Ninevites. The reality is that he knew he had no choice but to do what God had asked him too.

In Jewish culture there is a word Teshuva ; which is the ability to repent and be forgiven by God. It means returning to recognise Gods presence wherever it is to be found. This means to see with spiritual eyes that whatever transpires, however good or bad it appears, God is within this. God is to be found even within the depths of the greatest despair and the most destructive evil.

Jonah knows as he states in Jonah 4:2. "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

So what have Jonah and Gaza got to do with one another ?

Nineveh a city of at least 120,000 people and Jonah hated them ALL ! That includes babies and children and women - all of whom never participated in war or killing. He wanted God to destroy them let's not pretty this up.

He did his job walking the length and breadth of Nineveh telling them to repent of their wicked ways and amazingly they do.

We read that:

Jonah 3:5- 10

The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

So not only are the people going to wear sackcloth and ashes as a sign of repentance but even the animals.

This is the extent that the story goes too explain the complete turn around by the Ninevites.

Jonah is not a 'happy bunny' at this positive results: even though it was what God wanted it was obviously not on his agenda for the right outcome.

Chapter 4 tells us the story of his 'pity party'.

Jonah 4:9- 11

But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" "It is," he said. "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead." But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?" …

And that's where Jonah ends, it just sort of tails off with God explaining to him with an object lesson of a 'gourd from the Lord'

This hatred of other is something we all can easily experience let's not be hard on Jonah. We have currently in our politics the rise of UKIP a party that thrives on the fears of 'other' of scapegoating immigrants: with the scare tactics saying - 'it's these people (immigrants) who are taking our job and homes and ruining our infrastructure.'

Gaza

Gaza is an occupied territory, it is the most densely populated place on earth; a 140 square miles with approximately 1.8 million men, women and children inhabiting this space. This summer the hatred felt by both sides culminated in the 4th conflict since 2008; 2:400 men women and children were killed and many more maimed with life altering injuries. Approximately 70 Israeli citizens were also killed.

1.8 million people; let that number sink in, men, women and children.

And something is not right: here is a quote from Gideon Levy journalist for Haaretz Israeli newspaper:

"My biggest struggle," he says, "is to rehumanize the Palestinians. There’s a whole machinery of brainwashing in Israel which really accompanies each of us from early childhood, and I’m a product of this machinery as much as anyone else. [We are taught] a few narratives that it’s very hard to break. That we Israelis are the ultimate and only victims. That the Palestinians are born to kill, and their hatred is irrational. That the Palestinians are not human beings like us… So you get a society without any moral doubts, without any questions marks, with hardly public debate. To raise your voice against all this is very hard."

So Israel the nation that produced a Jonah is now faced with a huge decision: what are we going to do with this people group that for the past 70 years we have warred against?

There is an imbalance here to be sure: Israel has the occupying force must and should lead the way to resolve this terrible ongoing conflict.

Jonah came to tell the Assyrians to repent of their wicked ways.

So it seems Jonah was a somewhat reluctant 'liberation theologian'. He called on the major power of that day to come to Repentance for their wicked ways. Repentance means to turn around and stop doing what it is you have been doing. For Israel who every year at Yom Kippur read this story and speak about Teshuva, the action of repenting and being forgiven by God, I would ask, why are they not taking this teaching seriously? They have to find a better way than continued occupation and aggression against the Palestinian people. The Jews once so horrendously oppressed in the holocaust must make sure their actions are not making them culpable of the same abhorrent horrors.

The way to peace can never come through yet more aggression. The continued stealing of land by Israeli settlers agreed and facilitated by the government. The continued building of a separation wall on Palestinian land. The human right abuses at checkpoints where Palestinians people can be forced to wait for hours in the heat of the day or can be refused passage even if they need to get through urgently. And so much more.

Noam Chomsky a university academic and peace activist: also a holocaust survivor has spoken out for many years against the actions of the Israeli government said about the latest conflict over this summer.

"It’s a hideous atrocity, sadistic, vicious, murderous, totally without any credible pretext. It’s another one of the periodic Israeli exercises in what they delicately call "mowing the lawn." That means shooting fish in the pond, to make sure that the animals stay quiet in the cage that you’ve constructed for them, after which you go to a period of what’s called "ceasefire," which means that Hamas observes the ceasefire, as Israel concedes, while Israel continues to violate it. Then it’s broken by an Israeli escalation, Hamas reaction. Then you have period of "mowing the lawn." This one is, in many ways, more sadistic and vicious even than the earlier ones."

Here is a great quote from Pastor Martin Niemoller a German theologian who also narrowly escaped execution and survived imprisonment during WW2. After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis.He turned away from his earlier nationalistic beliefs.

'First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.'

This quote was altered by Michael Leunig a newspaper cartoonist

'First they came for the Palestinians and I did not speak out because I was not a Palestinian.

Then they came for more Palestinians and I did not speak out because I feared hostility and trouble.

Then they came for even more Palestinians and I did not speak out because if I did, doors would close to me, hateful mail would arrive, bitterness and spiteful condemnations would follow.

Then they came for more and more Palestinians and I did not speak out because by then I had fallen into silence to reflect upon the appalling, disgraceful and impossible aspects of human nature.'

He said - "As a cartoonist I am not interested in defending the dominant, the powerful, the well-resourced and the well-armed because such groups are usually not in need of advocacy, moral support or sympathetic understanding; they have already organised sufficient publicity for themselves and prosecute their points of view with great efficiency.

 

 

 

 

These photos are from the latest conflict over this summer, the loss of life and damage to infrastructure was overwhelming.

'Between 2,189 Gazans were killed (including 513 children) and between 10,895 and 11,100 were wounded. 66 Israeli soldiers, 5 Israeli civilians (including one child) and one Thai civilian were killed and 469 IDF soldiers and 261 Israeli civilians were injured.The Gaza Health Ministry, UN and some human rights groups reported that 69–75% of the Palestinian casualties were civilians; Israeli officials estimated that around 50% of those killed were civilians. On 5 August, OCHA stated that 520,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (approximately 30% of its population) might have been displaced, of whom 485,000 needed emergency food assistance and 273,000 were taking shelter in 90 UN-run schools.17,200 Gazan homes were totally destroyed or severely damaged, and 37,650 homes suffered damage but were still inhabitable. In Israel, an estimated 5,000 to 8,000citizens temporarily fled their homes due to the threat of rocket and mortar attacks.'

It is doesn't make for comfortable reading: and for sure this situation needs people to take a stand and raise awareness of the ongoing atrocities.

I wonder if today we are all called to be 'liberation theologians'?

There are many groups and individuals speaking out against injustice across our world. On their own it may seem useless but I know there have been moments in history take Rosa Parks who catapulted the issue of racial segregation into the spotlight just by refusing to give up her seat.

We need to align ourselves with the oppressed and marginalised. We cannot say that we are unaware of this situation the voice of the oppressed calls out to us to remember them.

What does it look like to be a LIBERATION THEOLOGIAN?

I think it's vitally important to tell the story and not remain silent. As stated when the oppressor comes the oppressed need our voices to speak out.

What does it look like to be a PEACEMAKER?

We read in James 3:18: 'Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.' Our actions in thought and words towards others have implications. We can only be the answer we want to see happening.

My prayer is that as we read in Matthew 5:9; 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God'. We will look to be serious about this call.

 

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I am not wrong

It's 5am and I have just woken to write this piece which is burning in my heart.

I AM NOT WRONG about Gaza and the land of Palestine

I have been told by 2 people I respect that I may be wrong with my view on the situation in Gaza.

Well I have woken up and I say loudly and clearly: I AM NOT WRONG

• I AM NOT WRONG: Because if my status update is the final one seen by the Israeli government and our world as the one that stops them in their tracks from killing one more innocent life; one more child; then I tell you again: I AM NOT WRONG: It may be my status update or tweet that is the one that saves the life of that one child so I say again: I AM NOT WRONG
• I AM NOT WRONG: I never knew that my hero the great freedom fighter from oppression and injustice and murder Nelson Mandela said;

"WE KNOW TOO WELL THAT OUR FREEDOM IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT THE FREEDOM OF THE PALESTINIANS".

If Nelson Mandela knew this then I say again: I AM NOT WRONG.

• I AM NOT WRONG: 2,000 years ago in a very obscure part of Palestine a young girl was told she would give birth to a baby and she should name him Jesus: because he was coming to save His people from their sins.

Jesus was quickly taken into Egypt to escape death by the powerful ruler Herod who was fearful of the birth of a new King: seen as a threat to his throne. Joseph had been warned in a dream that his life was in danger. It seems the world has always wanted to kill children for the hope that they can bring.

So I know that: I AM NOT WRONG, even today the killing and slaughter of innocents continues unabated; if we who know this and don't stand up and raise our collective voices and say together: THIS IS WRONG then we have failed the children.

Because one day Jesus had parents bring their children to him for him to bless them but his disciple had better ideas and they tried to stop them coming: but Jesus said these words in Matthew 19 v 13-15

"Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

I will keep saying it because if I and my small insignificant voice can stop the death of one more innocent: one more child then truly it has been worth it.

I AM NOT WRONG

• WE ARE NOT WRONG: when collectively we choose to be the voice for those with no voice.
• We choose to post and keep the pressure on the Israeli government.
• We choose to take time to sign the petitions to stop the bombing.
• We choose to raise awareness of conditions in Palestine.
• We choose to march in peaceful protests.
• We choose to tell our government by how we vote that the sale of arms is wrong: but even more so when sold to a government that is using them to target innocents and children.
  

I AM NOT WRONG: I cannot bare to turn on my TV for many more nights and see the broken and mangled bodies of once healthy children.

400 deaths and rising: please let's not stop raising the awareness of the death of innocence.

Together we can help this to STOP.

For the sake of the children - how we treat one of these innocents is the mark of our humanity.

 

 

 

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We cannot forget the children of Gaza

We have just had the centenary of the First World War: August 4th 2014. The first casualty recorded death from UK was John Parr aged 17 who had lied about his age to join the army, the first but not last tragic waste of a young life.

Wikipedia states 'The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was over 37 million. There were over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.'

It was supposed to be the war to end all wars; tragically this has not been true.

The most recent catastrophe is the war in Gaza, it's received lots of headlines, lots of outrage (rightly so), lots of disputed information from both sides and cries of propaganda bias again from both sides.

Social media and the news at our fingertips has opened up what is happening in any conflict to almost immediate reporting. That was not the world I grew up in, certainly not the world that WW1 was a part of.

My information when I was younger came from those who I thought knew more than I did. From parents, to friends, school, higher education, generally most news channels and the daily newspapers. And finally for me the most important place was the church, the pastor, elder, youth leaders. They all in some way shaped my thinking especially my thinking about God and theology and ultimately how I was to assimilate information, which often meant through the bias of the teaching that I had received.

Fast forward to today and the way we receive our news and information via Facebook, Twitter, emails, news on line, often as it is happening, is a whole other world.

I say all this because I believe there is no excuse for not knowing certain things. Now I am aware of mis- information and propaganda, as I have said the news is full of 'biased reporting'. It is quite clear that whatever side you lean towards that thinking will be reinforced by what you watch and read.

I have been very vocal on my Facebook and twitter timelines raising awareness of the conflict in Gaza. I am pleased that collectively this has lead to a worldwide outrage at the actions of the Israeli army under instructions from their government.

Unfortunately this was not soon enough for the 1,800 dead and 10,000 terribly injured and maimed; plus a decimated and ruined infrastructure in this already occupied territory.

Over this time I have been acutely aware for the most part, of no condemnation of Israel from many in the Christian community at the indiscriminate killing of civilians; mostly women and children.

It's not that there has been nothing at all but most of my discourse has been with those who for some reason saw my raising the atrocity as anti-Israel.

I must confess to feeling increasingly frustrated with this unquestioning loyalty. If we are going to question anything I am not sure how standing up for peace can be questioned as the problem in this conflict.

From the conversations I have had online, I have received no satisfying answer about the children who are being killed daily and why we should not be raising our collective voices to let Israel know they have gone too far and need to stop this abhorrent action.

To combat the above I have read and heard on the news reports; 'Israeli people love their children more than Palestinians'- we know this because they use them as human shields. So goes this mantra.

Golda Meir said- 'Peace will come to the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us'. I have seen this on quite a few Christians status updates.

Of the 1,800 plus deaths- 400 were children and 80 % of these approximately said to be civilians. Many more terribly injured, children orphaned, whole family groups dead. I have seen so many photos and news stories of abject and utter misery that it is very clear this is just not true.

But what does it take to make your change your mind?

After all if your construct relies heavily on Israel being only ever for peace, this must be very difficult to equate with what you are seeing.

I can only assume for many they have chosen not to look at the information from another perspective or to dismiss any they have read.

If this information is available are we not beholden to read and search wider to see what it may mean, after all this is life and death for those involved.

The three monkeys of 'see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil': show that we cannot and should not look away, we must watch and listen wider than just our own selected group who only affirm what we want to see, speak and hear.

unfortunately evil still scurries around doing what it will. Our ignorance is no excuse, after all the information is there to view and read. Choosing to ignore the breadth of information is surely choosing to stay limited.

I stand dumbfounded with continued reading and 'you tube' links like this one by Dennis Prager- described as right wing conservative, saying that the conflict is very easy to understand ('one people- the Arabs, wants the other people, the Jews - dead) appearing with a very biased pro-Israel view on timelines of people who I know to be extremely warm and loving people. This story is a lot more complicated than he would suggest and to name this group of people Arabs is to take away their personhood as those who are Palestinian and had a land once that was forcefully taken away from them.

There are many independent organisation UNWRA, UNICEF, RED CROSS, OXFAM, who have spoken out against the disproportionate actions of the Israeli army. Only tonight on the news on Channel 4 at 7pm; a doctor with the Red Cross taking a child over the borders for urgent heart surgery, when asked the question about the targeting of hospitals and medical staff, answered a clear, YES.

This evening my husband Alan wrote of the biased reporting of the BBC coverage that showed nothing of the destruction in Gaza, but only the demonstration by pro- Hamas party. A comment on his update from a senior UK pastor " Wow saying BBC, yet to me they are completely anti- Semitic. And I have no drum to bang".

Really 'no drum to bang'? This is driven absolutely by a view that Israel are bring treated unfairly, and I would suggest to that Pastor at least be honest about your bias.

I raise this for my own personal reflection, I say to my shame I knew nothing of the last war in 2009 in Gaza. But this time I do; I have looked and read and studied the history of this region: and I will continue to do so.

I have seen with my own eyes the atrocity, the statistics of dead and injured speak for themselves.

This battle thousands of miles away brought into my life by the technology I use. I cannot now, not know, it matters that I act to raise awareness and to continue to speak out for peace to have the final word. Check out this link from American journalist Alison Weir on You Tube speaking about her time in Gaza in 2008 if you want to hear another side to this story.

For you, like me when you have heard and seen, the same rule applies. You cannot, not know, this information.

I would also ask my fellow Christians to think wisely before they post links that are obviously 'Anti-Muslim' I have seen some that I feel are more to insight violence and an 'us and them' mentality: than to bring peace. Please check the source for your links. I have seen one a photo of a middle aged man supposedly proclaiming his marriage to a very young girl. I checked out the source and it was an 'anti-Muslim' group who wanted ALL Muslims dead.

I know there is a battle waging in Iraq and Syria, it seems most have found it easier to defend the lives of their fellow Christians facing persecution. I know this because many have changed their photo on Facebook to this: a ن, the Arabic letter for N, which jihadists have been spray-painting on the homes of Christians in Mosul, thus identifying the families as "Nazarene" (the word for Christian in the Koran).

We have to be so careful to not place every peace loving Muslim in with the extremist groups waging civil war in these countries. If we are 'Christ followers' then let these words of Jesus guide us today:

Matthew 25:34-36

"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me ."

And Jesus when speaking to the crowds said 'blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called, the children of God'.

Today I choose peace, following Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

In the past we have put our hope in a war to end all wars maybe now we now need to find a way to bring peace; ALL PEACE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bombs - we are all culpable

Today a photograph appeared on my Facebook timeline. It shows an object ominously hovering in the sky. There is a man on a scooter and a man casually walking along. It's a frozen moment that belies the chaos that is about to unfold.

That object is a bomb; that bomb is about wreak havoc and possibly kill many caught in its vicinity.

I spoke about this photo with my husband who has worked in electronics and we chatted about the manufacturers that make these weapons.

Honestly I had never thought about this before, never imagined a place where brilliant minds invented and developed technology to kill people.

I then had this scenario playing out in my mind about the person/people working on that bomb hanging there in the sky that day.

I know they are just people like you and I. They have family, children, lives. They have names like Bev, Al, Tracy, Daniel and so on (insert names from your country in here). After all weapons are manufactured all over our globe.

Today is august Saturday 2nd of August 2014 the death toll in Gaza is 1,500. Bombs made by people just like you and I landed on their homes, in their neighbourhoods on their loved ones on them. They are now dead and others are terribly maimed. Some are now orphaned or childless. Their lives don't look like they did a mere few hours earlier. Their lives are now irrevocably changed.

Tomorrow all over all world people will get up and go to work in the multi-billion dollar arms industry: there are lots of different kinds of weapons that can cause terrible devastation to our very frail human bodies. Some genius worked out ways to be able that we could be more deadly and devastating in our capabilities to injure and kill.

They might not know if it was the bomb that they made that is caught in this particular picture: it could have come from any factory.

I don't want to lay the blame at the feet of the people who work in these factories. We are all culpable. The need for arms is created because we are all capable of waging war with each other. We can all find it easy to blame one another for the problems in our world. We hear it all the time on the news, in our newspapers. Whatever the problems it's 'their' fault. The 'their' are those who typically don't look like us or vote like us, or share our beliefs.

Look around the world is at war: many blame religion, and I understand why, but honestly I think more often than not we really are fighting 'for a cause that is long forgotten'.

The commonwealth games are on at the moment and what we could so easily forget is this group of nations exists because at one time or another the 'British' conquered each of these places.

The French, Portuguese, Spanish and so on, all conquered various corners of our world and made their mark one way or another to this day.

There are many conflicts at the moment: 39 areas are categorised as having conflict and many more smaller internal battles. Coming from the West our biggest culpability is not only the manufacturing of these arms but that we sell them to all of these countries we may be in conflict with right now - how insane is that???

Alan wrote a great blog about how those with most power are the ones who are those with the greatest responsibility to create peace: in reality we are the ones who tend to sell and buy most of the arms.

I think our so called advanced society still has much to learn. When I look at this photo and I think of the so called lesson after the Second World War 'The war to end all wars', I am filled with sadness that this has not been true. In fact the decision by most western nations was to keep producing these weapons and bombs and for some bizarre reason selling them to anyone who could pay. Even if those nations could one day use said weapons on them. It truly makes no sense to me, the madness of all this.

For the people in this photo, frozen for this moment, it is worse than madness, it's is life and death. If we could ask them what would they like for our world right then, I think their answers would be different than a few seconds earlier. Because at that moment when your life is going to be snuffed out by a bomb whose last screw was put in by a worker called Beverley at the factory in the UK or elsewhere in the world, the wastefulness of your destruction and your absolute desire to live out your life in peace would seem the most sensible option.

I pray, rather than waiting, we would all be those who strive, and call, and march, and protest: whatever it takes to stop war.

There are no winners not even for those who manufacturer these weapons. After all one day you may be the one caught in a photograph with a bomb that you invented or made hovering over the place where you are; ready to cause mayhem and destruction in your life and the ones of those you love.

Praying for all involved in conflict across our world

Bev x

 

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The hunger games

I once had a conversation with an old Polish gentleman he spoke about his time in a Russian concentration camp during the Second World War. There were 1000's of prisoners and very few guards. He said that they kept us subdued by starving. 'When all you can think about is bread, you have nothing in you to fight', I remember feeling so moved that in his younger years he had seen such atrocity and had lived through such dreadful times.

Hunger must be a terrible thing.

The ongoing conflict in Palestine between the Israeli people and the Palestinians has simmered and ignited several times over the last 70 years. The recent assault on Gaza by the Israeli government has led to well over a 1000 dead and many 1000's injured and maimed.

It still continues.

I learned when reading about this long conflict that Gaza is basically an open prison where 1.8 million people live in a land approximately 149 in size. The most densely populated area of land on earth.

Israel control the borders of this country including the coastal waters. They are effectively locked in an open air jail.

Their water, electricity and communication is under the control of the Israeli government.

What shocked me (and believe me so much has shocked and astounded me about the life of these people and their treatment) is that the food sent into Gaza from Israel is rationed.

Rationed - just think about that for a moment. One people group had decided what another 1.8 million people need to eat.

Their is a trilogy of books written by novelist Suzanne Collins named the 'Hunger Games'. When asked where she found the idea for the book she states "One night, I was lying in bed, and I was channel surfing between reality TV programs and actual war coverage. On one channel, there’s a group of young people competing for I don’t even know; and on the next, there’s a group of young people fighting in an actual war. I was really tired, and the lines between these stories started to blur in a very unsettling way.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic North America, it is a country that consists of a wealthy Capitol region surrounded by 12 poorer districts. Early in its history, a rebellion led by a 13th district against the Capitol resulted in its destruction and the creation of an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games.

To punish the people in each district, and as a reminder of their power, Capitol make each district yield one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery system to participate in the games. The 'tributes' are chosen during the annual Reaping and are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory. The games are broadcast through the Capitol and to the twelve districts to entertain and intimidate the population.

One of their tools to repress is through keeping the people hungry.

The hunger games.

Is that how you subdue a nation? You place a limit on what they can have to eat?

Because I have to say I am not sure how a whole people group should feel if treated this way?

During this conflict there has been TV footage of some Israeli people sat on settees overlooking the landscape of Palestine watching the bombing and the shocking thing to see was they were cheering.

Cheering.

Sometimes the lines between reality and fiction become so blurred.

I am not sure how this current conflict will end.

I pray it will end with a real peace coming to this ancient land.

The names on our TV all so familiar to me from my faith as a Christian.

The name of Israel such a special name many believing that this land was meant to be the home for the Jewish nation, theirs by right.

I have had lots of debate with many on social networking who refuse to hear anything negative said about what is currently happening.

Only in the last few years have I become aware of the real history of this land.

A land called Palestine stolen from a nation who had lived there for the previous 2,000 years.

I cannot blame the Jewish people they were dispersed throughout the world often terribly treated in the nations they lived.

A people group who at the hands of the German Nazi party in WW11 were subjected to unmentionable horrors in the holocaust.

The likes of the USA and UK felt the guilt of having let this people group down terribly.

So their gift was another's nation.

It does seem unbelievable that this could happen but then add to that the Christians who believed this land had been prophetically meant to be their home.

I have just watched Schindlers List, the story of Oscar Schindler a black market entrepreneur in Nazi Germany who found ways to rescue Jews from the concentration camps.

These camps dehumanised everyone and one of the main tool of subjugation was to keep the prisoners hungry.

Hunger so raw that the prisoners although they outnumbered their captors by the thousands could not fight back.

They were led to the gas chambers in their thousands.

6 million dead.

Hunger in Gaza

1.8 million people and they are rationed and I am sure at times hungry. But now most of the routes for foods are cut off after the bombing.

And that hunger must be growing.

I wonder how this conflict will end but I think I know how.

If you are hungry maybe the battle is already over for you?

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How many lives ?

I sit here in my beautiful garden the sun is shining down and life feels good.

But reading and hearing the news that is unfolding in the Middle East where yet again the conflict that simmers quietly all the time as erupted again to be in the national news. This commenced after the death of 3 young Israeli boys tragically kidnapped and murdered supposedly by the Palestinian group Hamas.

The tragedy of such loss cannot be underplayed, but now we see the increasing tragedy is that of increased retaliation by Israel.

So the question is How many dead Palestinians will make up for the loss of 3 teenagers?

I don't fully understand the complexities of the Middle East ( brief history here) to hopefully help. I have just had a discussion on social media with a friend from my youth who is staunchly pro-Israel and then continued on with some of his friends who live there.

They speak of the fear of listening to the incoming rockets and fleeing into bomb shelters, I can't even imagine this sat where I am today the only sound is that of the wind in the trees and the occasionally car passing by.

They speak with a bias we all have when we defend our own truth, or tell our own story. They are living it what do I know ?

But this war this conflict started many years ago with 2 peoples claiming ownership of a piece of land not much bigger than the country of Wales here in UK. ( to note here most living there were Palestinians the land was known as Palestine) there was also some Jews still living in the land.

It is extremely hard to unravel the truth of this the propaganda machine is high on both sides, just google the conflict.

What I do know for sure is that if you check this map, Palestine only a few decades ago was the nation who held most of the territory although like all colonialism was ruled by Great Britain who in 1948 in discussion with other nations, gave the territory to the decimated and cruelly treated Jewish people, many who were recovering from their time under Nazi rule in concentration camps.

This people group so sorely treated by many nations before, during and after World War Two had seen great atrocities and were recognised as a nation for the first time in many years in fact 100's of years.

And so the conflict began and we now sit here in the West in 2014 and our news tells us that the Israeli army have now gone in to Gaza a strip of land 139 miles wide to subdue the firing of rockets into Israel, which I must stress again I do not condone.

Here though is what I do know

As it stands 159 Palestinians are dead 23 children possibly more in this number.

Over 1000 casualties

Israel 3 (the teenagers that inflamed the latest conflict) and 0 casualties

So I ask again how many Palestinians dead will be enough pay back for the murdered 3 Israeli teenagers?

So I sit here today pro- peace this situation needs to be resolved but tanks and planes and rockets only decimate and destroy.

As this conflict reaches it 60th decade here is a prayer I found today on the internet.

God of all the centuries

We long to see an end to the lines that divide:

The lines that scar families,

The line that deface religions,

The lines that embattle nations.

May you, O God,

Who crossed the line between heaven and earth,

Work a miracle in the hearts of humans and in the destinies of our countries enduring war.

Amen

 

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