The current conflict between Israel and the United States is a really odd one. For the Israelis, the whole thing is a matter of life and death, a serious conflict. On the Obama/Kerry side of things, their behavior more closely resembles a one-sided junior high girls’ slap fight. But before getting into all that, a …
Preliminary Thoughts on Envy and the Jews
As many of you know, I am currently engaged in preaching through the book of Romans. After an Advent hiatus, I will resume my place in chapter 11, and so I am coming up on the Pauline doctrine of the conversion of the Jews. The driving engine of that conversion — jealousy — has been …
Laugh Like a Developmentally-Challenged Hyena
One of the things a lot of people need to learn how to do is make political determinations, whenever possible, based on the undisputed out-in-the-open facts. This is possible a lot more than is pretended otherwise. The alternative is to try to make determinations based on the contested behind-the-scenes-facts, and this is an invitation to …
A Topping Suitable
The discussion horses for my Israel and Hamas post are galloping down the road, reins dragging on the road behind them. So let me get a few band aids on my fingers and then say just a few more things here. Might calm everybody right down, or we might get to see another set of …
Israel and Hamas
Before I say what I am going to say about Israel and Hamas, let me start with a few preliminaries. First, I am a Christian and this means that I believe that Jesus Christ is the only hope of every nation, and this includes Israel. This means that Muslims and Israelis both are summoned by …
Armchair Globo-Politicians
As I write, Israeli troops are massed on the border of Gaza, and they are about to go in to topple Hamas. They are doing this in response to a steady stream of rocket/mortar attacks from Gaza. Hamas is trying to provoke just such an invasion, in an attempt at a rope-a-dope strategy. Israel has …