2023-10-09 19:54:29
Two of the greatest experts on Israel in the evangelical world, pastors and professors Franklin Ferreira and Luiz Sayão published a publication on the war resulting from Hamas attacks against Israel and explained why Christians should support Israel.
The surprise attack on Saturday, at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, led Israel to declare war for the first time in 50 years. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began a mobilization with the call-up of 300,000 reservists, a record number, to fulfill the promise of revenge made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Among evangelicals, it is common to have divergent positions on the role of Israel in the context of the New Testament. Among Pentecostals, the idea of a people chosen by God who will receive treatment remains, while among Reformed theology the view prevails that the chosen people are made up of those who follow Christ and that Israel today is just another nation on the planet.
However, Luiz Sayão presented arguments that defend the approach that Christians must support Israel in the present time: “The Jews massacred in the Holocaust genocide in Europe two generations ago have no safe place in the world where they can take refuge. The question is one of moral debt after the six million Jews murdered (one third of the people) [pelos nacional-socialistas alemães]”.
“The Jews are, for the most part, willing to negotiate with Arabs for a peaceful solution in the Middle East, as we have seen. The land of Israel has the most important places of the monotheistic faith. Under the State of Israel, these places have been respected and open to everyone, without discrimination”, he pondered.
Another factor is that Israel opposes the tyranny of Middle Eastern theocracies, offering “democracy, with freedom for Jews, Muslim Arabs, Christian minorities (Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, etc.), Caucasians, Druze and African refugees”.
Sayão emphasizes that Israel invests in “education, science, progress and development” that benefit the entire world: “There are 12 Nobel Prize winners in 75 years of existence. Israel’s values are my values: respect, law, diversity, freedom, tolerance, democracy. I identify with these values”, added the professor.
“There is a gulf between Israel and its neighbors in terms of individual freedoms, respect for women and human rights. This must be considered. No authoritarianism can be supported. Jihadist terrorism [árabe muçulmano] must be repudiated by the international community. There is an irrational, senseless, incomprehensible hatred against Israel and Jews in general. Does not make sense. They are human beings, like Americans, Germans, Brazilians, Arabs. They deserve respect, survival and have the right to defense [contra os ataques de seus inimigos externos]”, he concluded, condemning the anti-Semitic demonstrations that have become common again.
Ferreira, at the end of the Publicationrecalled that “Christians are taught in Holy Scripture that Israel is the chosen people of the Most High and their land was given to them by the only God for a perpetual inheritance”, citing the letter of the apostle Paul to Romans 11:
“Did God reject his people? Not at all! […] Today it survives [em Israel] a remnant according to the election of grace. And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise, grace is no longer grace. […] All Israel will be saved. [… Pois] regarding the election, [os de Israel são] loved because of the patriarchs; for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (verses 1,5,6,26).
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