I'm delighted to be able to report that Methodist Friends of Israel is now in business. My congratulations to those who have got the project off the ground.
I hope that support for the new grouping isn't just confined to those of us in Britain who have had the horrendous experience of recent weeks. My prayer is that Methodist Friends of Israel becomes a recognised, accepted and celebrated part of our Methodist family.
I actually had discussions with various people about setting up such a group and then found that others had exactly the same idea. God does move in mysterious ways and I was as surprised as anyone to hear of this initiative earlier today.
This story is going to run and run. Those who complacently sat and allowed this issue to fester will regret that they did not do more to stop the Methodist Church jumping onto the anti-Israel bandwagon.
There is a lot going on in the background that I am not yet at liberty to mention here. I am confident though that our Methodist movement is going to be changed forever. The days when a tiny clique can hi jack our good name and use it to ride their hobby horses will soon come to an end.
One other lesson from the last few weeks: It is quite clear that we can not longer rely on the Connexional newspaper The Methodist Recorder to faithfully represent what grass roots Methodists feel. They have made their bias clear.I know of at least one letter that was sent but never published. I have sent the Recorder letters in the past on the Connexions shameful role in supporting "responsible gambling" but protecting Racheal Lampard was more important than open discussion.
More and more Methodists are turning to the web to get am accurate picture of what is happening. In recent weeks there has been a discernible increase in direct traffic to this site. I am beginning to wonder if the days of the lone ranger "Methodist Preacher" blogger are drawing to a close. We need an online channel that is more open to ideas and people, able to allow ordinary Methodists the platform that the Recorder and Conference believe should be the preserve of the chosen few.
Once again - a big welcome to Methodist Friends of Israel.
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16 comments:
Fighting talk. I like it.
Excellent idea!
MFI still seems to me to be based on the spurious assumption that criticism of Israel is necessarily anti-Semitic. No, it isn't.
Thanks Tony, from what I have read from you I am absolutely certain that your criticism of Israel is not predicated on anti-Semitism. I'm not certain that is the case with one or two others who have commented on this story in recent weeks.
I was very interested to read this post from the Hurry Up Harry blog which shows the lengths some will go to to deny that Jews have any right to long for the return of their ancestrial lands:
http://hurryupharry.org/2010/07/23/by-the-rivers-of-babylon-denying-jewish-history/
I'm not able to post today but this item from the JC site looks interesting:
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/36108/methodists-zionism-legitimate
Hi,
I want to be a friend of Israel, but an honest and occasionally critical friend of Israel.
So when I go to the Methodist Friends of Israel website and see the 2005 removal of settlements from Gaza by the Israeli government as being listed on a par with the Warsaw Ghetto then I know it's not an organisation which is going to be wanting me as a member.
Is there any group around for those of us who:
a) view Christian Zionism as being unBiblical and would want to explain why
b) support the existence of the state of Israel as a Jewish state for secular reasons
c)want to work and pray for peace and the spread of the Gospel in the Middle East but don't want to get drawn into the pro-Palestinian vs Pro-Israel extremes that are being drawn up?
Perhaps a "Methodists for peace and truth" group is needed?
How is 'Methodist Friends of Israel' getting on? How many people have joined? I'd like to give some input from a mainstream Jewish perspective, but obviously I can't join because I'm not a Methodist (if you look at the website you see that you have to believe in the divinity of Jesus to sign up). If 'MFI' (unfortunate acronym!) is going to work, it needs to have a dialogue with Jews - and not just Messianic Jews!
'view Christian Zionism as being unBiblical and would want to explain why'
That's easy. From the beginning and for most of Christian history or tradition, Jews have not only been regarded as an ethno-national group, they have been regarded as an ethno-national group dispossessed of temple, city and land as a punishment for their rejection of Jesus and the prophets.
Oddly enough, though, the report only coyly alluded to this fact by "biblical Israel faded away", and showed a markedly different, one might say a reverse, criterion of morality and justice when it came to Palestinian and other Arab Christian and Muslim dispossession.
It would have been nice if had a affirmed an historical right of return and justice for Jews, as well as Palestinian Arab Christians and Muslims. It would have been nice if had refrained from adducing as many sins of Zionist Jews as it could, while whitewashing or erasing the history of Palestinian Arab Christian and Muslim nationalism e.g. adducing Zionist Jewish ethnic cleansing, but omitting Palestinian and other Arab Muslim (or, indeed, Christian) acts or threats of the same.
Its tendency was to make the conflict look a little like the crucifixion/colonization by alien Zionist Jews of a kind of Palestinian Arab Christian and Muslim national-victim (Christ?).
It doesn't take a genius or psychoanalyst to figure out way the report's "history" so much resembles that paradigm. The ancient term for it is "recapitulation", but this time the crucifixion narrative is recapitulated in nationalist terms.
(that archeology student from Manchester was funny: the conflict wasn't one sided, he began, and then ended on saying it was)
It was both amusing and sad to see Nichola Jones proclaim how not racist her God is. She sounded like a Christian tribalist to me.
* figure out wHy
Anyone else see this?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7914408/Oxford-University-lecturer-discriminated-against-after-converting-to-Christianity.html
Will MFI be a critical friend of Israel? Or will it be the case of "Israel right or wrong"? I ask because hostility to Christians within Israel is fairly high. (Not that I am comparing it to the rest of the Middle East where Christianity can be met with death).
Sorry... a more relevant link might be:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/christians-in-jerusalem-want-jews-to-stop-spitting-on-them-1.137099
Also the Barnabas Foundation have noted discrimination against Christians in Israel. Will MFI support them?
'Will MFI be a critical friend of Israel? Or will it be the case of "Israel right or wrong"?'
Will you who profess to be "friends of Israel" acknowledge any legitimacy to Jewish nationalism or Zionism at all?
That the whole process whereby Jews came to be other than a tiny minority, highly discriminated against historically, by both Palestinian Christians and Muslims, has any legitimacy or justice?
The Methodist report accords Palestinian Arab Christians and Muslims a right of return, as a matter of justice or need. Will you have ever accord Jews such a right, historically?
It's perfectly true that Arab Christians and Muslims face inequalities in Israel. But they have more rights than pretty much any Jew, anywhere in the Arab or Islamic world.
They have more rights than Palestinian Arab Christians or Muslims ever accorded Jews, especially with regard to access and religious sovereignty over their holy sites.
And are you ever going to acknowledge that perhaps Palestinian Christians have ever behaved with less than perfect justice to Palestinian, Israeli or indeed, other Jews?
John,
a) that is British case. Why import it into the I-P conflict?
b) 'Dr Ariel said that in March 2009 he received a letter from Dr Argov’s solicitors claiming for the first time that she had been discriminated against because she was a Christian.
“Frankly, I was astonished to read these allegations and also confused as to why the claimant had left it till now to make them. This was the first time I became aware of her religious beliefs.”
The hearing continues.'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7916520/Head-of-Oxford-Jewish-centre-astonished-by-Christians-discrimination-claim.html
If you read the Who We Are post on MFI website you will see we say that Israel is an unrighteous nation that sometimes gets things wrong, just the same as every other nation of the world.
In no way do I see Israel through rose coloured specs thinking everything she do is right, but Israel is both God's land and His people, the apple of His eye. Real friends will stand with you even if they find it necessary to tell you you've got something wrong- they won't walk away just because they don't agree with you.
One misconception many folk have is that to be pro Israel is to be anti the Palestinians. This is simply not the case. The majority, I would like to think all, who are pro Israel want the very best for the Palestinians. Again in the Who We Are post I point out that the proposed boycott will harm the very people it is supposed to help. I have no desire to see the Palestinians out of work and thus having no income!
To have peace in the land would be wonderful but, when the P leaders say one thing in English and the exact opposite in their own language, when missiles continue to rain down on Israel and even the children's TV programmes teach hatred and killing of Jews, it is very hard to see that peace will be achieved.
The website has been amended to allow folk to be a part of it even if they cannot sign the statement of faith. It was brought home to me that there are many Jews who want to be associated with us who were prevented because of the condition the web designer had put in. I have spoken to him and it has now been changed.
My hope is that MFI will grow and become a useful part of the church, helping folk to see what God says about Israel and His relationship with her and encouraging folk to seek out the Jewish roots of the faith as that opens the scriptures in a wonderfully vibrant way.
Pam
Thanks for your comment, Pam, and thanks for creating the very worthy Methodist Friends of Israel. I'm so pleased you printed Gerald Oberman's salutory letter. However I feel that in all conscience I can't join MFI because, although the introduction says 'or you are a non-Christian who wishes to express support for our work' the 'Sign Up Now' button is right below the Statement of Faith, like a signature. You need a second button saying something like 'Sign up as a non-Christian Member'.
You might think this is a semantic quibble. If you do, try looking up 'Kiddush HaShem'.
Thanks Richard. Have contacted guy who is handling website and asked for further alteration to be made. I appreciate your correspondence as I have so much to learn- I would still, inadvertently, have been excluding folk such as yourself if you hadn't pointed it out.
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