← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · albion
Thread ID: 20947 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2005-11-08
2005-11-08 12:07 | User Profile
Playing with Fire: The Centrality of Israel to Christian Fundamentalists. All this dovetails neatly with yet another powerful strand of right-wing ideology, that of Christian Zionism. According to Stephen Sizer, the author of Christian Zionism (2003), modern Christian fundamentalism is largely defined by a notion of dispensationalism, the idea that humanity will go through seven periods of Divine testing, culminating in Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. In this eschatology, the Jews and the modern state of Israel play such a key role that fundamentalism, dispensationalism and Christian Zionism are virtually interchangeable. As explained by Sizer, Christian Zionism claims not only that every act taken by Israel is orchestrated by God, and should be condoned, supported, and even praised by everyone else, but that the Jews will lead the process since, in the fundamentalist view, this will lead to blessing for the entire world as nations recognise and respond to what God is seen to be doing in and through Israel.
[SIZE=2]Sizer defines Christian Zionism by seven tenets:[/SIZE] [INDENT][SIZE=2]1. A literalist hermeneutic 2. The Jews remain God's chosen people 3. The Jews have a divine right to the land of the Middle East 4. Jerusalem is their exclusive capital 5. The Jewish temple must be rebuilt 6. The Arabs are the enemies of God's people 7. The world will end soon in the great battle of Armageddon but Christians who support Israel will escape.[/SIZE] [/INDENT][SIZE=2]This religious movement has its roots in the Protestant Reformation, where the Bible was taught within a contemporary historical context and given a plain literal sense. Puritan eschatology, which became dominant in European and American Protestantism as early as the late 17th century (think of Jonathan Edwards and Cotton Mathers) took on a postmillennial character, teaching that the conversion of the Jews would lead to future blessing for the entire world.[/SIZE]
In Britain, where dispensationalism matured, Christian Zionism spawned such influential figures as Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Arthur Balfour and Lloyd George (Queen Victoria herself took on the title: Protectress of the Jews). Balfour worked closely with Zionist leader Haim Weizmann (later the first President of Israel) to produce what came to be known as the Balfour Declaration. Considered the first major statement of support for Zionism by a world power, it states somewhat disingenuously that "His Majesty's Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of that object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done, which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish Communities in Palestine" Already at that early period the Christian Zionists privileged the rights of the Jews over those of the Palestinians indeed, were ignoring the rights of the "natives" altogether. In an extraordinarily candid letter written in 1919, Balfour articulated for the first time the deceitful nature of Western foreign policy towards the Palestinians that has characterized it for the past century: "For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country," he wrote. [T]he Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires or prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land....[I]n short, so far as Palestine is concerned, the Powers have made no statement of fact which is not admittedly wrong, and no declaration of policy which, at least in the letter, they have not always intended to violate."
While Christian Zionism also has pockets of strength elsewhere -- in Holland and Scandinavia, for example, as well as among many fundamentalists in the developing world its center is certainly the United States, where it was brought from England in the middle 19th century by John Nelson Darby, whom Sizer describes as "the father of Dispensationalism," for whom a revived Israel became a cornerstone of his apocalyptic theology. Darby, says Sizer, "has probably had a greater influence on end-time thinking than anyone else in the last two centuries [though rivalled by Hal Lindsey Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" series, influenced by him]. In the absence of a strong Jewish Zionist movement, American Christian Zionism arose from the confluence of these complex associations, evangelical, premillennial, dispensational, millenarian, and proto-fundamentalist.No longer were Christian Zionists expecting Jewish national repentance to precede restoration; it could wait until after Jesus returned during the millennium." Darby preached that God has two distinct and separate peoples: the Church, his heavenly people, and the Jews, his earthly people. While they function as one unit indeed, as mentioned, the Jews even take a leading role via Israel -- dispensationalists nevertheless see two very different "dispensations" at the End of Time. While Christians enjoy the Second Coming and the salvation of the Millennium, Jews, their supposed allies, suffer a much different fate: at Armageddon two-thirds of the Jews die and the final third convert to Christianity, a precondition of the Second Coming. Dispensalism is hardly a Jewish-friendly theology. The three major types of dispensationalism, however -- Apocalyptic (preoccupied with the End of Tome; Messianic (busy evangelising Jews for Jesus); and Political (using political means to defend and bless' Israel share the same basic tenets: a commitment to biblical literalism; a futurist eschatology; and the restoration of the Jews to Palestine.
Several Dispensationalists have played an elemental role in shaping modern Christian Zionism. William E. Blackstone, who preached that that the Jews had a biblical right to Palestine and would soon be restored there, supported Darby financially and worked very closely with Louis Brandeis, the Jewish member of the Supreme Court and early American Zionist leader who once proclaimed: "You [Blackstone] you are the Father of Zionism as your work antedates Herzl.' Cyrus Scofield, whose Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1918, has been described as "the Bible of American Fundamentalism," played a key role in founding the Dallas Theological Seminary, the main academic arm of dispensationalism (where Lindsay hails from). Israel's independence in 1948 and its stunning victory in the 1967 "Six Day War" foreshadowing Armageddon -- galvanized Christian Zionists, but was only with the election in 1976 of President Jimmy Carter, a "born again" Christian, which coincided with Menachem Begin's 1977 election as Prime Minister of Israel, did they truly began coalescing as an organized political force within American politics a trend consolidated by the subsequent election of Reagan and the emergence of Jerry Falwell's "Moral Majority." Not only did the Zionist Jewish lobby in the US have a champion in the White House, but Christian Zionists including Attorney General Ed Meese, Secretary of Defence Casper , Secretary of the Interior James Watt and, indeed, Reagan himself achieved political power for the first time. Lindsay, Pat Robertson and Falwell, who in 1982 was invited by Reagan to give a briefing to the National Security Council, gained formal access to American political leaders and policy-makers.
Today, Jerry Falwell, who calls America's "Bible Belt" Israel's "safety belt," estimates that there are 70 million Christian Zionists 80,000 fundamentalist pastors, their views disseminated by 1,000 Christian radio stations as well as 100 Christian TV stations. They are clearly a dominant part of the Republican Party, representing a quarter of Bush's voters.
more: [url]http://www.counterpunch.org/halper11072005.html[/url]
2005-11-08 23:20 | User Profile
Today, Jerry Falwell, who calls America's "Bible Belt" Israel's "safety belt," estimates that there are 70 million Christian Zionists 80,000 fundamentalist pastors, their views disseminated by 1,000 Christian radio stations as well as 100 Christian TV stations. They are clearly a dominant part of the Republican Party, representing a quarter of Bush's voters.
And everyone of them is a blasphemer believing in a heresy.
2005-11-09 00:24 | User Profile
[quote=albion]
[SIZE=2]Sizer defines Christian Zionism by seven tenets:[/SIZE] [INDENT][SIZE=2]1. A literalist hermeneutic 2. The Jews remain God's chosen people 3. The Jews have a divine right to the land of the Middle East 4. Jerusalem is their exclusive capital 5. The Jewish temple must be rebuilt 6. The Arabs are the enemies of God's people 7. The world will end soon in the great battle of Armageddon but Christians who support Israel will escape.[/SIZE]
Biblically, Zion in the New testament refers to the Church, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22), not physical Jerusalem or a Jewish state. Jews have worked for centuries to confuse and negate the NT revelation that it is the followers of Jesus Christ (their rejected Messiah) who are the true seed of Abraham. - Gal 3:29. Those who follow the CZ error try to include Israel in the promise of God without their acceptance of the Messiah. Such teaching is foreign to the both New and Old Testaments.
Sizer's points:
All fundamentalists, by definition, use a literal interpretaion of the Scripture. The first rule of biblical interpretation is that if a passage can be taken literally, it must. The CZs do not error by taking the bible literally, they error by taking it SELECTIVELY. For instance, they ignore above cited Galatians passage. Further in Galatians, it says that the children of the bondwoman (Israel after the flesh) shall not share the inheritance of the sons of the free woman. (spiritual Israel -the church) - Gal 4:24-31.
Chosen for the task of bringing in the covenant is not the same as keeping that covenant. True followers of Moses do have a destiny to fulfill. But in order to receive the blessings of the Kingdom of God, they must recognize and accept Jesus as Messiah. Otherwise, as Jesus told the Jews, they will die in their sins. - John 8:24.
They DID at one time. Then they were judged and dispossessed. The Lord said that they would be brought back to the physical land, - Ezek 36:22-28, but for the purpose of repentence and inclusion in the Messiah. Otherwise there will be more judgment - Rev 11.
Exclusive? I don't know where they get that, but who cares? Gal 4 says that physical Jerusalem is in slavery along with her children and is not part of the afore said heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22).
Yes. But it will not contain its [I]sine qua non, [/I]the ark of the covenant. Which Jeremiah 3:16 says will not be remade. But the abomination of desolation, the Antichrist declaring himself to be God, will happen there. - Matt 24:15, Dan 7:13.
No. Some of them [B]are[/B] God's people. It is estimated that up to 15% of the indigenous Palestinians are christian. Lesser percentages for most of the surrounding Arabic nations, but up to 40% in Lebanon.
Soon is a relative term in biblical language. A day is as a thousand years to God and a thousand years as a day. But when Jesus returns, it is for those who submit to Him, not to those who support the Jews.
In fact as far as supporting the Jews: Jesus does not even acknowledge that those who call themselves Jews [B]are [/B]Jews. Rev 2:9, 3:9 He says they lie. And 2 John says that anyone who does not acknowledge that Jesus CHRIST has come, is a deceiver and an antichrist and anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.
[/INDENT]
2005-11-09 01:01 | User Profile
[QUOTE=YertleTurtle]And everyone of them is a blasphemer believing in a heresy.[/QUOTE]
Yertle, we both know that this is a very strong accusation for a Christian to make.
We know that these guys are severely deluded, but can we actually say that they are guilty of [B]blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?[/B] And if so, in exactly what point?
I am asking about this seriously. I myself sort of tried to figure out on this thread: [I] "At what point can we say that Israel-worshipping dispensationalism has officially entered the realm of heresy?
I mean seriously, mere sentimental philo-Semitism is [B]not[/B] a heresy. At what point does it turn into Galatian-like "another gospel"?"[/I]
[url]http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20569&highlight=galatians[/url]
Petr
2005-11-09 07:12 | User Profile
[quote=Petr]Yertle, we both know that this is a very strong accusation for a Christian to make.
We know that these guys are severely deluded, but can we actually say that they are guilty of [B]blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?[/B] And if so, in exactly what point?
I don't think one has to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (the unpardonable sin) in order to be a simple blasphemer.
I am asking about this seriously. I myself sort of tried to figure out on this thread:
[I]"At what point can we say that Israel-worshipping dispensationalism has officially entered the realm of heresy?[/I]
Look at your own statement: Israel-worshipping - if indeed they are, then they [I]are[/I].
[I]I mean seriously, mere sentimental philo-Semitism is [B]not[/B] a heresy. At what point does it turn into Galatian-like "another gospel"?"[/I]
At the point where it rejects Jesus Christ. And substitutes another means of salvation: Law, works, forms of worship, in-group affiliation, etc.