Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Arab Baptist Professor Asks American Evangelicals to be Open-Minded
With all the oxygen that Señor Macaca sucked out of the news lately, Howling Latina has been remiss in writing about other stories of possible interest.
For instance, the Associated Baptist Press reports that an Arab Baptist professor from the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut was stranded in the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict crossfire in the United States.
And as the war in the Middle East unfolded and he witnessed America's reaction to events, he had a few chosen words for his American brethren, writing "a series of guest editorials for the online version of Christianity Today magazine."
In his opinion pieces, Accad challenged American evangelicals to at minimum "question their often-uncritical support for Israel's actions."
Accad [also] criticized "the murderous aggression of Israeli armed forces." But he also rebuked "self-centered Hezbollah, which has done the inadmissible of taking a unilateral war decision without consulting the Lebanese government of which it is part, never giving a second thought to the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of Lebanese who will perish as a result of its selfish decision."The good professor pointed out in his writing what many progressives have tried to say many, many times before but were silenced and then branded as anti-Semitic, unpatriotic, heretics, evil and so on.
Folks, it's not all black and white; it's more nuanced. And playing the radicals' lethal game of apocalypse must be countered by moderate forces within the body of Christ."I think that some pseudo-biblically motivated Christians with decision power, who believe 'that apocalyptic destruction is a precursor to global salvation,' are presently working toward provoking a Middle Eastern conflict of regional significance in order finally to settle accounts with Hezbollah- and Hamas-supporting Syria, Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine, who have committed the crime, as Gushee put it, of making their hatred for Israel 'crystal clear.'"
Lead and the flock will follow. Educated and open-minded Christian leaders have the added responsibility and weight of their calling; the world needs their temperance and wisdom, as guided by the spirit of Truth.
// posted by Howling Latina @ 10:09 PM 
