"Palestinian hope. I will cut off the pride of Philistia. It shall be a remnant for our God--like a clan in Judah. (Zec 9:6)"
Since New Year his tweets have reappeared on my Twitter stream, despite my having stopped them previously because I was bored of his Calvinistic theology. Anyway, I don't know whether I've given him a bit more air-time again because I'm looking to be offended but I certainly found this latest tweet offensive.
It is offensive to suggest that the greatest hope for justice for the Palestinian people is for them to become a clan in Judah. I believe that this is bad theology, taking a verse out of context. The root of this bad theology seems to be a deterministic Calvinism - an attitude that looks to understand God's will and purposes from the observed facts on the ground, on the basis that everything that happens is God's will. Presumably Piper would see, in the current oppression of Palestinian rights and violent take over of their land, the outworking of God's will in returning 'his chosen people' to the land.
I can't see anything of God's will in injustice and violence. I want to say that God's will is not fully being done in Palestine. God's will is not fully done on Earth - that's why Jesus commands us to pray 'your will be done': not as a rubber stamp on the inevitable but because there is a real and ever present chance that our human choices will inhibit God's being done.
Am I entitled to say that God's will is never injustice and violence? I would say yes, where Jesus is my ultimate guide to God's will (as opposed to some prophecies taken out of their 6th century BC context.)
The real hope for Palestine will be when the world stands with them for their rights and justice - a movement that come significantly sooner if the Christian right in America start to pray for and live for God's will of love and justice to be done.
No comments:
Post a Comment