Posted on 07/19/2004 10:54:02 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
I have argued in this column that the greatest sin is committing evil in God's name. As bad as the evil committed by secularists, such as communists and Nazis, has ever been, the most grievous evil is that which is committed in the name of God. For not only do religious evils harm their victims, they also do lasting damage to God-based morality, which those of us who believe in God and religion consider the only viable antidote to evil.
That is why Islamic terror is so evil. Not only because it targets the most innocent of people for death and torture, but because it does so in the name of Allah and Islam.
Incredibly, The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) joins the list of religious groups committing evil. In the name of Jesus, it has called for the economic strangulation of Israel. They have equated the Jewish state with South Africa during apartheid and called for a universal divestment from it.
The Presbyterians are the first Christian church to do this, and, ironically, the divestment campaign came the very week that the Roman Catholic Church signed a document equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.
It takes a particularly virulent strain of moral idiocy and meanness to single out Israel, not Arafat's Palestinian Authority, or terror-supporting, death-fatwa-issuing Iran, or women-subjugating Saudi Arabia, for condemnation and economic ruin. One of the most decent societies, one of the most liberal democracies in the world, is fighting for its life against Islamic fascists who praise the Holocaust and publicly call for the annihilation of Israel -- and the Presbyterian Church calls for strangling Israel!
Apartheid state? This Goebbels-like Big Lie, concocted by the world's anti-Israel and anti-American Left and by those who want Israel destroyed, is now an official doctrine of the Presbyterian Church. Israel is a nation whose population is one-quarter non-Jewish Arab, with the same rights, including voting and its own political parties, as Jewish citizens; a nation whose second official language is Arabic, the language of those who wish to annihilate the Jewish country; a nation that occupies a tiny sliver of land known as the West Bank only because Jordan, overwhelmingly composed of Palestinians, invaded Israel in 1967 in order to destroy it and thereby lost its ownership of the West Bank.
As an American who fights to preserve Judeo-Christian values as America's primary value system and preserve Christianity as the specific American faith that embodies those values, I can only say this: the God that the 431 leaders of the Presbyterian Church worship is not my God, any more than the Allah of the Islamic fascists that Israel and America fight is my God.
The Bible that these Presbyterians read is not my Bible.
The religious values that these Presbyterians hold are not my religious values.
This is not a difference about immigration policy, affirmative action, taxation, bigger or smaller government, welfare policies, gun control, or a myriad of other moral issues over which decent, God-fearing people can disagree.
This is one of the morality-clarifying issues of our time. To single out Israel for economic strangulation while that good nation fights for its life is an act of such immorality that holding that view precludes one from the title "good" or "God-fearing," for if they are true to God, I am false to Him. If they are good, I who support Israel am bad. If their Bible teaches them to strangle Israel and support Yasser Arafat, I am guided by a different Bible.
They have drawn a line. It is now time for good people, Presbyterians specifically, Christians generally, to distance themselves vigorously and publicly from this morally sick church. And it is time, once again, for Jews to realize that the enemies of the Jews in our day are to be found on the Christian Left while their friends are far more often on the Christian Right.
Many serious Christians ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" If Jesus were here, he would probably be at Israeli hospitals comforting fellow Jews who were deliberately blinded, paralyzed and brain-damaged by Jew- and Christian-hating Palestinian terrorists. He would surely not be with the Jews' enemies, among whom are now the leaders of the Presbyterian Church, USA.
He who blesses Israel will be blessed. He who curses Israel will be cursed. I have no use for the morally sick decision of the Presbyterian Church. Israel is not the greatest source of evil in today's world.
The ELCAs first PC move was to divest in South Africa in 1988. Now they are looking at Israel too. The sheep in the pews have no idea that they are giving money to a satan controlled organization.
I wish I wrote this. This is right on the mark.
The lines continue to be drawn, with graeter and more certian clarity.
Has this been pinged to GRPL for comment? It certainly surprised/shocked me. Please say it ain't so.
I totally agree. PCUSA has gone off the deep end whether on this or ordaining homosexuals; however, we must be careful not to lump PCA churches in with PCUSA. Presbyterian Churches of America are very conservative. I would encourage any members of churches in the PCUSA to start a movement to transfer to PCA. That's my opinion anyway. And, I'm a Southern Baptist, so don't accuse me of pushing my denomination.
Amen and Bravo!
You are only scratching the surface,,,it gets uglier the more you dig.. I'll have to share more info with you....the ELCA is not the place to be.
This is a good article.
I am PCA. Presbyterians believe in Covenant Theology and they are not dispensationalists. Very simply, we believe that Jesus gave us a new covenant to replace the old one that God had with the nation of Israel. We believe that in Christ there is no "Jew nor Greek". We as Christians are co-heirs with Christ and are the new Israel.
So, if the nation of Israel were honestly doing evil things, we would condemn them and not give them our blessing because they were somehow "special".
But in this case, the PCUSA is wrong. Completely and utterly. They are not following Biblical principles of "Thou shalt not murder" which their own Westminster Confession of Faith says in part: "The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are, all taking away the life of ourselves, or of others, except in case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defence; the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life."
<< Presbyterians believe in Covenant Theology and they are not dispensationalists. >>
You needed a "some" or even "most."
I am a member of a PCA church, very enthusiastically so. I am a 4.75+-point Calvinist, a baptist, and a dispensationalist. Those last two are not in line with the church's adherence to the WC; the leadership knows it, so I won't be a church official (though I do teach and preach — just [voluntarily] not on those areas).
So, SOME PCA's do believe the whole Bible, and haven't robbed Israel of all its promises while leaving them the curses.
(c;
Dan
http://www.cybcity.com/bibchr
Extraordinarily well-written article about the difference between this Presbyterian body and the remainder of Christianity. I had not heard that the Roman Catholics had come out so strongly against anti-Semitism....even to the point of saying that anti-Zionism is anti-semitism. Good for them.
Just a reminder that there are many other really solid Presbyterian denominations and churches that do not hold with this foolishness.
That is not the reason for their anti-Christianity IMO. (as a Presbyterian)
They don't do that,,,,yet.
Sigh.....My wife and I are PCUSA members. I thought we had dodged a bullet when the gay ordination thing did not pass. This is just as bad. Maybe the PCA is where we belong.
However, there are some 1,300 Confessing Churches within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with approximately 420,000 members who are fighting tooth-and-nail against our apostate leadership. We may well lose in the end, as even I recognize that Christ doesn't need the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), it is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who needs Christ. Even so, there are times when one is called to stand in the gap and fight, even in a losing cause.
Had the 1.8 million members who fled since the late 60s also stayed to fight, we could have thrown out the liberal heretics years ago...
I should have said "appeal" instead. I don't know, I'm not of that faith, but whatever it is it isn't having a good effect.
I'm already looking at the Missouri Synod as possibly a new church.
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