Chrysostomos
New Member
So what are you suggesting? Ban the New Testament? You say you’ve met Christians who’ve never encountered a Jew in their lives but hate them because the New Testament portrays them as having crucified Christ and opposing the spread of Christianity. Fine, let’s say Luther and the Catholic Church before him perpetuated a grudge over events from 2,000 years ago. But here’s the thing: plenty of people, when they hear about the Holocaust, start hating Germans, even if they’ve never met a single living German in their life. So what now? Should we ban talking about the Holocaust too?I've personally run into Christians who never met a Jew in their entire lives, but who hated them because they are portrayed in the New Testament as having crucified Christ and opposing the spread of Christianity. Thus, Luther, and the Catholic Church before him, have perpetuated a grudge over historical events that happened 2000 years ago. Jesus's people have been complicit in that, and we damn well ought to confess it.
Why not go further and forbid everyone from hating anyone? Let’s set up a thought police to monitor what people think and who they hate. Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? People aren’t forbidden from hating—it’s their right. What’s forbidden is acting on that hatred in an illegal way. As long as someone doesn’t break the law, they can hate whoever they want, for whatever reason they want. It’s called freedom of conscience. Ever heard of it?
Yep. My neighbor across the street has a "Free Palestine! Stop the genocide" sign in her yard. Pick your genocide - the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, or the inevitable second Holocaust that's going to occur if Israel loses. As Jesus's people, we CANNOT support either genocide. We are called to be peacemakers. There's a reason the magazine plates on my 9mm pistol have Matthew 5:9 on them.
As for the bitter fruits of manipulation and imposition of an alien agenda... my country has become increasingly radicalized, with both sides feeling an alien agenda has been imposed on them by the other. The whole world is a cauldron of manipulation and agendas. Jesus never promised us that being a peacemaker was going to be easy.
Nevertheless, take Kosovo, for example, where the situation was somewhat similar, but the approach of the West, particularly the USA and NATO, was entirely different. There, you had Muslim Kosovars on one side and Orthodox Christian Serbs on the other in a brutal conflict. In 1999, the so-called "peacemakers" from NATO chose to bomb Serbia with depleted uranium bombs, effectively taking the side of the Kosovars. This didn’t just cause destruction; it led to new suffering. After the intervention, Albanian Kosovars began ethnic cleansings against Serbs: hundreds of Serbian villages were burned, Orthodox churches were destroyed, and thousands of Serbs were killed or expelled. For instance, during the "March Pogroms" of 2004, Albanians attacked Serbian communities, burned their homes, and forced thousands to flee. Yet the West portrayed this as a humanitarian mission.
On the other hand, in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the USA provides unconditional support to Israel—politically, militarily, and financially, giving billions of dollars and advanced weaponry. Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza live under a blockade, their homes are destroyed, and the death toll, including 17,000 children, keeps rising. Here, too, there is no peace, only escalation.
The peacemaking you reference in Matthew 5:9 requires not choosing one side over the other, but seeking justice for all. But when powerful players like the USA and NATO intervene, their actions often serve their own geopolitical interests rather than peace. Your pistol’s magazine plates with that verse are a reminder of a higher calling, but reality shows that even "peacemakers" can become part of the problem if their choices are biased.