HOW ABOUT "EVERYBODY FOR EVERYBODY"?

Saturday April 17, 2004


Announcement from the "Christians For Israel" website: Remember Israel Rally on May 6th
By Dr. James Hutchens

May 6th, The National Day of Prayer, Christians for Israel will hold a rally from 12noon till 4pm in front of the Capitol building with the theme, "Terror, A one way ticket". At the rally we will bring bombed out Israeli bus no. 19 and place it on display in front Capitol, where it will be shown during much of the month of May.

You know what bugs me about this?
I'm a Christian and nobody asked me if I am or am not for Israel. They just looped me into a generic body that IS for Israel. Don't you think there ought to be a policy against that kind of presumptive labeling? I mean, if somebody doesn't like ....fruit....they could start hanging around with other people who don't like fruit. And those people could even be a club, you know? They could even be the "West Rochester Fruit Haters" if they want because that would be a good representation of who they are (so long as they live in West Rochester).
But they should not decide to call themselves "Americans Against Fruit" until they poll every American and are sure that we all are...against fruit.
They could be called "Some of the Americans Against Fruit."
And that would be a lot more honest than calling themselves "Some of the Americans For Vegetables."
You see, when we decide to label ourselves by what/whom we're FOR....we're usually setting out what/whom we are NOT FOR.
If I am a Christian for Israel....then the chances are pretty good that I consider Palestine my enemy.
And you know Jesus said about that...we should LOVE OUR ENEMIES.
So maybe the better and more Christian name of this group might be: "Some of the Christian People of America Who Are Trying To Understand And Love Palestine While We Also Love Israel."
Maybe while they're having their "Remember Israel" rally on May 6 they could have a "Let's Pray For Palestine" rally, too. Maybe they could bring caskets containing the remains of young Palestinians who were shot by Israelis or deeds to Palestinian homes that were taken away from families with no compensation during the reoccupation.
And they could set all that up next to their blown up bus and put a big sign in front that says, "Why can't we all just get along????"
Why can't we be for everybody?
God is.

P.S. Just in case you're letting any of that Biblical stuff about Israel being God's chosen people get crazy in your head right now, I suggest you go back and read the Prophets and when you're finished with that go back and read the words of Jesus and when that's done, check out the Epistle of Paul to the Romans.