Shalom Yerushalayim

I think we're all losing the war in Israel.

900 Palestinians and 13 Israelis killed so far. Some of them civilians, some of them children.

In Iran, the Ayatollah has promised heavenly rewards to anyone killed fighting on the Palestinian side. They've also started burning effigies of Obama before he even takes office. Many Iranians blame the United States for not intervening. But if you're going to blame the cops for not protecting you, aren't you recognizing the moral and practical authority of the cops, and if you recognize that, shouldn't you stop burning pictures of them?

It's hard to form an informed opinion because it's hard to know what information and statistics to trust. Reports from Gaza? Whose reports? A Western journalist? An Israeli doctor? A local community leader?

Obama makes a good point: "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything in my power to stop that."

It's also a significant point because both sides are launching missiles right now.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't be concerned with who is right and who is wrong, and who started it and who should end it. That's important. Most of my friends support Israel, both from patriotic and religious loyalties, and I agree that God has always loved Israel, ever since the faithfulness of Abraham. But supporting Israel doesn't mean that everything her government does is morally defensible or God's will. It doesn't mean that war isn't terrible. And the fact that Palestinian rockets have devastated Israeli homes doesn't mean we shouldn't weep for the death of Palestinian children any more than Israeli missile strikes preclude us from praying for the peace of Jerusalem.

My point is that even if we're called to stand by Israel, we don't have to give up the cause of humanity. Humanity is God's cause, His magnum opus, the apple of His eye. The attack on His people surely must anger God, and surely there is a cause of holiness and righteousness that accompanies a necessary war, but the result of our sin, the ensuing war, must surely grieve His heart with each death of a beloved creation.

I'm not a pacifist. I believe that sometimes you have to kill people and break their things. But it's still a terrible thing.

The problem isn't Palestinians, and it isn't Israelis. This conflict is just a local manifestation of the fact that in the bigger picture of creation and sin and consequences, the problem is us, you and I.