Posted on 11/04/2023 12:04:02 PM PDT by Morgana
AMMAN, Jordan (RNS) — Yasmine Faraa, a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage, was angered when an Israeli missile hit a building belonging to St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, killing 18 and injuring 20.
Faraa, a Muslim, came up with the idea to hold a vigil outside the Orthodox Christian Church, in the Jordanian capital’s Sweifieh neighborhood, to show solidarity. The numbers that turned out for the vigil on Sunday (Oct. 22) surprised even the Jordanian police, who had initially decided that they didn’t need to block the roads leading to the church. The crowd was largely composed of middle- and upper-middle-class Jordanian families, who brought their kids and held signs denouncing the continued attack on Gaza.
After the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City — founded by Baptist missionaries in the 1880s and now run by the Anglican Episcopal Church in Jerusalem — was struck four days later, Mohammad Al-Momani, a former Jordanian deputy prime minister who is secretary general of the new Mithaq Party, quickly organized a small rally again in opposition to the war. (Israel has made claims that the hospital attack was a misfired Palestinian rocket, but this claim has not been confirmed either way according to major world media outlets.)
Christian and Muslim relations in the Mideast have a long history of cooperation, and the pan-Arab nationalist movement has always included Christian intellectuals, writers, poets, political leaders and professionals of all kinds. Faraa noted that in the 1970s her mother studied at the American University in Beirut, one of several leading institutes of higher education in the Middle East founded by Western Christian missionaries.
But these bonds have been strained in recent years by the rise of Islamic radical movements, which have sometimes attempted to create schisms within the Arab world. Radical Islamists discourage their followers from congratulating their Arab Christian neighbors celebrating Christmas or Easter. When Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli snipers in May of 2022, some cautioned devout Muslims not to call for mercy on her soul.
But Palestinians who had watched Abu Akleh on Al Jazeera for years, many of whom had no idea she was Christian, were outraged when mourners trying to carry her Palestinian flag-draped coffin to the Christian cemetery in Jerusalem’s Old City were disrupted by Israeli police.
The Israeli action in Gaza has now further cemented the bond between Arab Christians and Muslims. Arab Christians, meanwhile, feel increasingly alienated from their fellow Christians in the West, not least by the United States’ whole-hearted support of Israel from the start of the war. A statement by 12 Palestinian Christian institutions calling on Christian leaders to denounce the violence against Palestinian civilians has since garnered more than 15,600 signatures.
“We deeply mourn the death and suffering of all people because it is our firm conviction that all humans are made in God’s image. We are also profoundly troubled when the name of God is invoked to promote violence and religious national ideologies,” the statement read.
The statement concludes, “We refuse to give in, even when our siblings abandon us. We are steadfast in our hope, resilient in our witness, and continue to be committed to the gospel of faith, hope, and love, in the face of tyranny and darkness.
“In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land.”
Anyone with their head buried this deep in the sand is in no position to tell anyone anything.
Damn straight.
The Koran says that Jesus is the Messiah, but not the son of Allah.
To be a Christian, even an “ethnic Christian” in a land ruled by Muslim radicals is to live on the edge of a razor. No doubt some succumb to Stockholm Syndrome and those who don’t keep a very low profile.
When actual chrstian history is rejected something else (Biblical Israel) expands to fill the vacuum. And a good thing too!
I remember Ted Cruz gave a speech to a Christian Arab-American group. When he spoke up for Israel they started booing and shouting him down. He stood for a couple of minutes and took it, and then told them “if you will not stand with Israel I will not stand with you”. And left the stage.
That was disappointing. But spoke volumes about Arab Christians, who despite being persecuted by Muslims will still stand with them when they persecute Jews.
If the Muhammadans were self-policing, this wouldn’t be happening.
They’re virtually all in favor of exterminating the Jews, but many who are will try to convince the English-speaking press that they aren’t. But what you’ll never see them doing is speaking out against them in the Arab press, or, heaven forbid, taking active measures to make their brethren act like civilized human beings.
We could always pray that they will and do. How about having some faith in God to work miracles?
I don’t recall this at all.
The Talmud says otherwise.
And the majority of those who call themselves Jews buy into the Talmud’s blasphemous characterization of Christ.
A few may convert but not most
Those who survive to the middle of the Tribulaton could see more than a few
Beware: the False Prophet will “unite” Christianity, Islam and Judaism
This is something I’ve known for at least 25 years.
This is also, in fact, the basis for the Abraham Accords.
Which means I’m watching it happen. Fox News keeps mentioning the “Abraham Accords” because they think it’s a good thing. It is not.
Which sounds nice but is based on error and is setting the world 🌎🌍 up for the Antichrist and the False Prophet.
The world 🌎🌍 is on very dangerous ground right now and doesn’t even know it.
I am very wary of “unity” events in these Last Days.
I’m OK being in the minority on that.
Very few will understand what I’m saying right now. I already expected that.
3-1/2 years into the 7 years of ‘Peace and Security’ it will be crystal clear.
To the Tribulaton Saints.
Has it ever occurred to you that these Arab Christians may have specific gripes with the state of Israel that are separate from the historical antipathy between Jews , Muslims, and Christians?
The state of Israel (despite its pretensions) does not represent Jewry as a whole, and it’s a mistake to do otherwise.
That’s why Israel are the Dry Bones of Ezekiel 37 right now.
Ezekiel 36 sees their rebirth.
Things will change dramatically when Ezekiel 38 happens.
Which may be very soon.
Ezekiel 36:24
King James Version
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2036%3A24&version=KJV
No, m'dear, the Jews in Israel do NOT need JC. We have our own G-d, and He doesn't need a sidekick.
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