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Why do Christians support Israel?

Why do some (mostly American) Christians say we should support the nation-state of Israel?

  • I understand that these people believe that God has blessed the Jews and made a covenant with them. Fine. But why do they think that god's covenant with a prehistoric ethno-religious community implies a covenant to a nation-state created out of thin air with only the same name as the tribe of people god originally blessed? It seems to me that it makes more sense to understand god's covenant as with the Jews, not the nation-state they happen to live in (especially since the idea of a nation-state didn't exist at the time the Old Testament was written). So when god in the bible says "I will curse those who curse you" to the Israelites, it seems that he is saying "I will curse those who curse the Jewish people" - not "I will curse those who curse the area in which the Jewish people live." And this seems to make more sense, because Jews do not live in one nation-state. Do the people who think Christians are obligated to support the nation-state Israel think it's acceptable not to support Jews who live in other places? And disclaimer: I am agnostic. I am no longer a Christian, but I was raised in a family and Christian church that believed Christians had an obligation to the literal nation-state called Israel rather than (or in addition to) to the Jewish people, and this always confused me. My family still believes this way, and if I ask why they just reply "Because the bible says to!" without considering that the bible might say to support the *people* called Israelites (I.e. Jewish people) rather than a nation-state created in 1948...

  • Answer:

    As a Christian (not a good one, and not American) I have no issue at all with supporting the idea of the state of Israel. I do think it a little odd that we returned land to people based on a biblical claim, but hey after WW2 the opinion of the powerful was that this long-persecuted people deserved a safe home of their own and everywhere was taken already. What I absolutely do not support, and which is expressly the opposite of the the UN agreement that created Israel, is that there continues to be no justice for the Palestinians.  If those statesmen who supported Israel's creation could see what would become of the Palestinians I feel sure they would not have supported it. (Although given the strength of the Zionist terrorists/freedom fighters at the time, political votes in NY may have been largely irrelevant anyway). Take the time to look up the UNSCOP plan for Palestine on which the resolution that created Israel was based, and the wording of the resolution.  Compare the idea with subsequent reality.  Of-course whether that exact plan could ever have survived contact with the real world anyway may reasonably be debated. But the concern in that plan for the continued survival with dignity of Palestinian Arabs was real.

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I was having a conversation with a colleague of mine everyday that addresses this very question. Some background on this man. He is a devout Catholic, been to church every sunday and monday the past 21 years. I am personally not a supporter of Israel, and acknowledge the many double standards and wrong doings which exist and have arisen in Israel rise to power. I asked him the other day as part of a philosophical exercise I said... "if it was not for the Bible, you could not possible justify supporting Israel..." his response "of course. But Israel is the land of Gods chosen people" Later that week I was telling him about the ground invasion into Gaza, the number of Palestinians dead and all the infrastructure bombed. His response "Well, I am going to support them because God has told me to" Basically even he does not agree with anything Israel does or has done but because of his fear of God supports them. This is at the heart of the question you ask.

Anonymous

The concept of the nation-state was very strong in the time and place of Old Testament Palestine. Pick up a Bible and read the book of Joshua. If one believes that the book of Joshua is true, and none of the values in it are changed by what's in the New Testament, then one has to think that the Jews should be controlling that bit of land, and should be allowed to wage any sort of war to do so.However, there are plenty of passages in the Epistles (like Galatians 3) that state that God's favour is now with everyone that lives his law, and not just those that are the children of Abraham and Sarah. There is some support for this thinking in the Gospels as well.All the scripture set post-Babylonian exile focuses on the importance of the temple on Mt Zion (in Jerusalem). According to Revelation, once the temple is rebuilt, then sacrifices can be made there, and the world will be ready to end. There's no need for a state of Israel (beyond perhaps a small Jerusalem city state like the Vatican) for that to occur. And it's hard to find an argument based on Christian scriptures to support the idea that this state should be anything but a Messianic Christian one...

Anonymous

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