30% of Palestinians support Hamas

[jcaz]

HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE

Imagine that America is a very weak country. I know this may be hard, but imagine that we have essentially NO military power, and imagine that we could, reasonably, be taken over at any moment. And imagine that you are a resident of some other state, Colorado, for example. You are and American and you care for and love your fellow Americans.

Now imagine that Mexico is very, very powerful…the complete opposite extreme end of America. Imagine that Mexico can overtake America, or part of her, at any time. Also imagine that Mexico believes in some religion that tells them that Texas is their homeland.

So Mexico starts deporting thousands upon thousands of Mexicans to Texas, all with the agenda of building up a population in their “homeland”, so all of a sudden one day, they can be in control. So tens of thousands of Mexicans are being shipped to Texas yearly. And of course, little skirmishes and fights are breaking up here and there between Texans and these new invaders who are slowly causing trouble. Texans finally realize what is going on, and they decide that although they are very weak, that they must do something. So they muster up what little power they have, which is close to nothing, and they go try to push out the Mexicans. But alas, it is too little too late.

So what happens? Mexico takes the opportunity and completely jumps into NOT ONLY Texas, but they also take over Louisiana and Arkansas, just to show their might. As a result hundreds of thousands of Americans in Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas flee to neighboring states, BEGGING for help. But of course, no one wants to lift a finger or say a word, because they know their state could be taken also. You want to help, and your friends want to help, but you know there is little you can do. Texans, meanwhile, are being slaughtered and killed by the thousands, women and children raped, and boys killed as if their lives meant nothing. The rest are scrambling to flee, leaving their homes, their positions, their lives, behind.

Mexico has now taken three states. It now demands that the world accept Texas as part of Mexico, with Dallas as the new Mexican capital. The world is reluctant, but Mexico offers to withdraw from Arkansas and Louisiana if others stop talking about this Texas issue. It must be over. So others, although they disagree, turn a blind eye to Texas, and this includes refugees form Arkansas and Louisiana. Mexico is now heralded as working as a good country, being willing to give back the land taken in war. Residents of Louisiana and Arkansas, although saddened at the situation of their fellow Americans from Texas, happily and quickly return to their homes and their lives in their respective states.

No one is willing to completely give Mexico Texas as their land, but concessions are perhaps willing to be made. Mexico realizes that over time, since they are occupying the lands that people will start to forget that Texas once belonged to America. People will one day forget about the useless Texans, their homes, their lands, and their rights.

But does this happen? What do the Texans do? Well, they are refugees now, living hopelessly in Arkansas and Louisiana, praying and pleading for any way to get back to their home in Texas. It is their home. They have the deed! So what do that do? Do they give up? Heck no! Texans are proud Americans and they will always fight for their home! But many try to begin anew, living in Arkansas, and others go to other states and some go to other countries altogether. But what about the Texans who have lost everything. So what do they do? They brothers and fathers have been murdered. Their wives have been raped. Their sons are missing, probably murdered. What is left for them? Sadly, for many, rage and justice is all that is left.

…

 

[jcaz]

…continued…

So they spend their lives wanting to fight BACK, wanting to COUNTER-STRIKE the Mexicans. 10 years go by. 20 years go bye. The world slowly forgets that Texans have rights and have deeds in Texas. 30 years go by. 40 years. But Texans have never given up. People begin to talk about hopefully making a “Texas state”. And this irks the Texans to no end. “Make a Texas state? This is our state! Since when did it become anything other than Texas?” They try to reach out to the world. They try to make their words heard. But Mexico is to politically powerful, and their words fall on deaf ears.

So what do Texans do? They decide to take the fight with their own hands…LITERALLY, as this is all they have. They try and are killed with ease. However, in their desire to fight back and in their helplessness, Texans have adopted violent ways of fighting back, because it is all they have. They cannot come out in the open and fight the Mexicans, for verily, the Mexicans would pounce them with ease. So the Texans begin raising their youth and filling them with hate, mind you, deservingly, and telling them to fulfill the goal of killing Israelis. And these innocent, pure children are easily convinced and filled with hate, and used as pawns for the Texans. So the Texans then go and do these lewd crimes in order to get their homeland back.

And the world realizes that these actions will never bring Texas back to them. Rather, these actions make them look like the oppressor rather than the oppressed. And frankly, the Texans perhaps even realize this. But what are they to do? It has been over 40 years. Security Council Resolution after Security Council Resolution…all of them saying Mexico MUST WITHDRAW. ALL COUNTRIES UNANIMOUSLY AGREEING. But no one enforces it. Why??? Texans just cannot understand. Has the world forgotten what happened to them? Why is no one helping them and enforcing these resolutions? They enforce it against Saddam. They feel he has weapons, so they enforce the resolution against him…and THEY CAN’T EVEN FIND WEAPONS.

So the Texans are left, refugees in their own lands, all at the hands of an illegal occupier, Mexico.

So now you tell me, who is the oppressor? Who is the one doing wrong? WHO IS THE REAL TERRORIST? Who is the one promoting terror? Who is the one doing a counter-strike?

In this situation would you have the audacity to call your fellow Texans terrorists? Sure, you and all other Americans would advise them to leave these brutal acts of suicide bombs, and you would advise them that it does not help their cause. You would advise them that they are religiously incorrect. But the Texans who do these things are “so fare gone” that your words also fall on deaf ears. They simply want their land and their home.

Will you call your fellow Americans, Texans, terrorists?

 

[jcaz]

Originally posted by Hospitaller:

What’s interesting in this comment is that first, you seem to be implying that I must hate Palestinians, and secondly, that “loving Jews” is a negative action.

The implication is that people seem to ignore the atrocities against Palestinians, but every single act that is committed against Israel is smeared on the evening news. And that action does imply that the people who do this have a bias towards Israel and could care less about Palestinians, mattering not if they are Muslim or Christian.

Originally posted by Hospitaller:

I don’t believe in international law.

As I thought, discussing this with people like you is pointless. How you can avoid a discussion by saying you do not believe in international law? You cannot avoid a discussion on speed limits simply by saying you do not believe in them and do not have to follow those laws. Rather, you are living in a democratic country and this country has made laws, and you MUST adhere to them whether you like them or not. You may not agree with them, but to say, “i do not believe in the speed limit laws”, saying they do not exist to you, makes no sense. They are there. You may not agree. But BELIEVE me, those laws are there and present.

International laws have been adopted by countries, INCLUDING AMERICA, because we realize they are necessary in order to promote a stable global world. These laws cannot simply be ignored. We cannot simply vote on them in a democratic manner and then ignore them when a friend violates them.

Posted by Hospitaller:

as I said, the only real arbiter in such cases is a nation’s military capacity.

So I guess that whole Mexico example was a waste…SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.

So although you were an american, in my example, you shouldn’t care if Mexico took over all of America, and if the world agreed…Because since Mexico was the one with the real military capacity, they are the only “real arbiter” according to you. SO SAD. Indeed, so sad. I hope many Catholics and Americans do not share your sentiments, because verily, those are the beliefs of the Hitlers and Saddams of the world.

 

[Hospitaller]

jcaz:

Will you call your fellow Americans, Texans, terrorists?

I can tell you, the thought of a Texan turning suicide bomber is rather amusing in its sheer improbability. I rather doubt they would have either the inclination or the cultural indoctrination neccessary to undertaking such an action.

jcaz:

As I thought, discussing this with people like you is pointless. How you can avoid a discussion by saying you do not believe in international law? You cannot avoid a discussion on speed limits simply by saying you do not believe in them and do not have to follow those laws. Rather, you are living in a democratic country and this country has made laws, and you MUST adhere to them whether you like them or not. You may not agree with them, but to say, “i do not believe in the speed limit laws”, saying they do not exist to you, makes no sense. They are there. You may not agree. But BELIEVE me, those laws are there and present.

The thing is, comparing something like, say an international criminal court to a county speed limit is misleading.

A speed limit is meant to be areasonable limitation on drivers to prevent crashes, imposed by the government elected by said drivers.

At present there *is *no world government, and I pray fervently that there will never be one, unless in some far-off time the world recognizes the authority of the Bishop of Rome. There are far too many variables for international laws such as one prohibiting invasions, of all things, as illegal. If you break a speed limit, local law enforcement will enforce the local law. If you commit what to your mind is a comparable offense but on a global scale, *no one *is going to punish you for it, no one has the capacity or will to punish you for it, except the U.S. of A.

jcaz:

And that action does imply that the people who do this have a bias towards Israel and could care less about Palestinians, mattering not if they are Muslim or Christian.

I can’t say I’ve heard of any Palestinian Christian suicide bombers, but feel free to prove me wrong, if I am.

jcaz:

So I guess that whole Mexico example was a waste…

Yes, it was.

Besides which, I don’t have the time to reply to such tremendously long posts.

jcaz:

those are the beliefs of the Hitlers and Saddams of the world.

Would I be correct in assuming that you support the occupation of Iraq?

 

[Lance]

Edris:

I don’t know where to start. The Palastinian-Isreali conflict is very complicated. You can’t simply ask how can we convince those 30% that they are wrong. First of all let me tell you, I’m a Palestian-Canadian, born in Lebanon. I have seen closely what the isrealis can do; for every suicide attack that hamas commits, there are 10 massacres commited by the isrealis. It’s like a vicious cycle down there. Maybe you’ll tell me ya but Hamas is doing it in the name of islam, same as the israelis, everything they do is based on their religion. Hamas simply is defending it’s land, suicide bombing is against islam, but they think it’s right because that’s all they can do. If hamas or other groups stops fighting and surrender their weapons, the israelis will simply annihilate them, and they can do it, as they have done to many palastinian refugee camps in the past. I was in Lebanon, when the massacre of “Sabra & Chatila camps” took place. The israeli army lead by now Prime Minister (Ariel Sharon), (he was a general at that time 1982), where standing there not just watching but providing protection for Lebanese christians while they slaughtered every man, woman, and child in that camp (note: there was not a single palastinian with a gun inside the camp). In 2000, Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, this started the al-aqsa uprising. You might think what the …a visit would cause an uprising, this is because you don’t know the history of sharon…but imagine this “Binladen taking a tour in the Vatican”, how would the christians react.

     Anyways,  it's endless,  I know what hamas is doing is wrong and against islam,  but i don't know if anything can be done in that region.  One more thing,  don't rely on what you hear on the news,  it's a joke,  it's about 1 - 10 % of what really is going on there.

Peace

My son in law is a Lebanese Christian who can give you 2 Islamic atrocitities for every one you give about Israeli/Christians. Per his version there never would have been a Lebanese civil war if it had not been for the Palestinians. I am sure there is enough blame to go around on all sides. It just seems to me that the terrorist bombings are anti-productive. Hamas is a world recognized terrorist organization, there is a huge difference between a guerrilla war and terrorism. True guerrilla warriors don’t attack civilians.

 

[Lance]

jcaz:

I was going to stop typing, as I’m WAAAY too busy for this. But when people make such INSANE claims and such biast (or hopefully simply misinformed) statements, it is hard not to.

Originally posted by Hospitaller:

COUNTER STRIKES? Are you kidding?

Okay, let’s step back for a moment. Because in order to understand who is truly “counter-striking” we need to see who the oppressor is. So let us step back and assume ALL violence were to stop. COMPLETE STOP. At this exact moment in hypothetical time, is there an oppressor? Is someone still being oppressed?

OF COURSE! How? Because someone’s land is still BEING OCCUPIED ILLEGALLY! This is what you people fail to understand. Hate palestinians for all I care. Go and Love the Jews for all I care. But don’t turn a blind, ignorant eye to the facts of international law. As mentioned earlier, NO ONE DENIES THAT ISRAEL IS ILLEGALLY OCCUPYING PALESTINIAN LANDS.

So realize how insane it is to say that Isreal is doing a counter strike, implying Palestinians are the ones in the wrong. Israel is holding their lands and their homes, HOMES THAT PEOPLE HAVE DEEDS TO! Yet these people have become refuges in their own country. So verily, it is the Palestinians who ARE WORTHY of fighting back, and it is they, AND ONLY THEY, who are counter-striking.

Now, is their method of fighting back, which was part of this original post, correct? Is suicide bombing correct? ABSOLUTELY NOT. It is against Islaam. These people, although they may deny it because of their own ignorance, are going against the teachings of Islaam, and we have provided you ample evidence for this.

But until one is willing to set aside all biases and really willing to go study the issue IN DETAIL and to really get inside the minds of these people, Israeles and Palestinians, and really go see the hate and the crimes ON BOTH SIDES, one can never truly understand the actions of either party.

How can it be the Palestinians’ land? There has never been a country of Palestin. The land belonged to Jordan and Egypt before the war. If Israel is going to give it to anyone it should be those countries.

 

[Hospitaller]

Lance:

How can it be the Palestinians’ land? There has never been a country of Palestin. The land belonged to Jordan and Egypt before the war. If Israel is going to give it to anyone it should be those countries.

Both of them need to be brought to terms for keeping Palestinians in refugee camps rather than re-integrating them into their respective countries, training them as terrorist weapons against Israel rather than letting them settle down.

 

[jcaz]

Originally posted by Hospitaller:

Besides which, I don’t have the time to reply to such tremendously long posts.

Convenient.

Don’t reply to anything that completely pushes you in the corner and leaves you with no argument. NEVER admit you are wrong and hold bias beliefs!

 

[Hospitaller]

jcaz:

Convenient.

Perhaps, from your perspective, but such a massive response would seemingly dictate a suitably lengthy rebuttal, and I don’t have that much free time to spend on the internet, on this one topic.

Come to think of it, though, the whole “Texas equates Palestine” argument could have been effectively boiled down to a few sentences, or else drawn out over the course of several interactions, rather than beaten to death like that.

 

[jcaz]

the whole “Texas equates Palestine” argument could have been effectively boiled down to a few sentences, or else drawn out over the course of several interactions, rather than beaten to death like that.

Perhaps Hospitaller. But the sad part is, that even with “beating it to death like that”, there will still be those who either do not understand or those, with thick skulls, who choose to ignore the facts.

I don’t have that much free time to spend on the internet.

I’m with you there.

 

[Hospitaller]

jcaz:

Perhaps Hospitaller. But the sad part is, that even with “beating it to death like that”, there will still be those who either do not understand or those, with thick skulls, who choose to ignore the facts.

Let me ask you something: should the same rules that you’re using to condenm Israel be applied to Mohammed and other early Muslims, in their many invasions of neighboring states, tribes, kingdoms, etc? :ehh:

 

[jcaz]

Hospitaller,

You do not answer questions, yet think you can have your own answered constantly. Amazing.

But I will humor you and will answer your questions.

When Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or his followers faught others AND when the Europeans came to this country and killed the Indians and TOOK THEIR LAND, although we can all say there were problems with that, the one fact remains, and it is this fact that Americans hide under, that there was no international law governing the actions of countries.

However, since that time, since the time of our ravaging the Indians and taking their lands, since that time, we have come together and realized that this is not acceptable, and that no one can live in peace without some type of laws governing us.

So America and other countries have come together to make these international laws to set these boundries. So now that we have democratically chosen these rules, we need to follow and ibide by them.

 

[Hospitaller]

jcaz:

When Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or his followers faught others AND when the Europeans came to this country and killed the Indians and TOOK THEIR LAND, although we can all say there were problems with that, the one fact remains, and it is this fact that Americans hide under, that there was no international law governing the actions of countries.

Would you retroactively apply one then?

 

[Edris]

In 1907, a commission convened by British Prime Minister Campbell-Bannerman issued a report declaring:

“There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another … if, per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state; it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.”

 

[Lance]

Edris:

In 1907, a commission convened by British Prime Minister Campbell-Bannerman issued a report declaring:

“There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another … if, per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state; it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.”

Try to keep your quotes to the last 50 years at least and preferably the last 25 years. ‘Palestine’ is no longer as important to trade as it was in 1907. And within the next 20 to 30 years I predict Arab oil will deminish in importance to the world economies.

 

[jcaz]

Originally Posted by Edris
In 1907, a commission convened by British Prime Minister Campbell-Bannerman issued a report declaring:

“There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another … if, per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state; it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.”

Wow.

 

[Edris]

Lance:

Try to keep your quotes to the last 50 years at least and preferably the last 25 years.

by Thomas Williamson
In January of 1997, an Israeli soldier opened fire on Arab civilians in the city of Hebron in occupied Palestine, killing some and wounding others. His motive was to prevent the return of Israeli-occupied lands to the Arabs.

This soldier was convinced that God has given the land of Palestine to the Jews, and that it would be a sin to return the land to the Arabs. Many evangelical Christians, while not condoning the soldier’s act of killing Arabs, agree with him that the Jews have a divine title deed to Israel and that the land must not be given back to the Palestinians.

Christian Zionists who believe this way, when asked to cite a Biblical justification for their views, usually go all the way back to Genesis 12 and 13 in the Old Testament. Many such Zionists are dispensationalists, who teach that the Old Testament and the Law of Moses are not for today, and that only selected parts of the New Testament are to be followed in this dispensation. However, they never quote from the New Testament to justify their Zionist convictions, for the simple reason that no New Testament teaching exists that would possibly back up such beliefs.

Zionists prefer to rely on the Old Testament, citing Genesis 13:15 where God said to Abraham, “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” They construe this verse to teach that a large chunk of the Middle East still belongs to the Jews today, including the ancient lands of Edom and Moab, even though God said in Deuteronomy 2:5, 9 that He would never give those lands to the Jews.

Christian Zionists regard God’s covenant with Abraham, including the land grant, as an unconditional covenant. They admit that the Jews have broken that covenant, and have rejected their Messiah, but insist that Palestine still belongs to the Jews because God gave it to them “forever.”

However, the Bible teaches that God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants was a conditional covenant, not unconditional. In Genesis 17:9-14 the Jews were warned that they must keep the covenant or be cut off from God’s people. Leviticus 26:40-45 teaches that the Jews must confess and forsake their sins in order to maintain the covenant. Deuteronomy 7:12, 1 Kings 9:6-9 and Exodus 19:5-6 all teach that the covenant was conditional. Joshua 23:15-16 and 2 Chronicles 7:19-22 not only teach that the covenant was conditional, but they also specify that the Jews would lose their land grant if they broke the covenant.

As for the statement in Genesis 13:15 that God was giving the land to the Jews “forever,” we must compare this with other uses of the same word in the Law of Moses in order to understand what God is saying to us.

In Exodus 12:23-24, God ordained the ordinance of the Passover to be observed “forever.”

In Deuteronomy 18:3-5 the Levites are ordained to be God’s ministers, and to receive the offerings of the people, “forever.”

In Deuteronomy 23:3 we find that an Ammonite or Moabite cannot join the congregation of the Lord’s people “forever.”

In Leviticus 7:34 we find that the peace-offering was to be observed “forever .”

In Leviticus 10:15 we are told that the wave-offerings are to be observed “forever.”

Leviticus 16:29 specifies that the Day of Atonement is to be observed “forever.”

In Leviticus 23:41 we are commanded to observe the Feast of Tabernacles “forever.”

Numbers 18:19 tells us that we are to observe the heave-offerings “forever.”

In Numbers 19:9-10 we are instructed to use the ashes of a red heifer for purposes of purification “forever.”

If we ask our dispensational Zionist friends why they are not observing any of these commandments today, they will explain that they are not for this dispensation, that they were intended only for the observance of the Jews in the dispensation of Law, before the coming of Christ.

The same reasoning applies to the land grant of Palestine to the Jews. Not only is that land grant no longer in effect in the new dispensation of grace, but it is also very clear that the Jews were given that land under a conditional covenant, and that they broke that covenant when they rejected and crucified their Messiah.

cont…

 

[Edris]

The covenant and the land promise to the Jews were not eternal, to last until the end of time. The Jews did not keep the conditions of the covenant, and for this reason God took away the kingdom of God from them, Matthew 21:42-45, and gave it to the New Israel (Galatians 6:16,) the Church which consists of believing Jews and Gentiles.

The inheritance of the new Spiritual Israel is not land in the Middle East, but rather the new Jerusalem in heaven. The old Jerusalem on earth is of absolutely no importance to God’s people, John 4:21, Galatians 4:24-28, Hebrews 12:18-24. The Apostle Paul in Galatians 4:25 condemns as children of Hagar all those whose focus is on the earthly Jerusalem.

In Hebrews 8:13 we read that the old covenant with Abraham was about to disappear. The final disappearance of the old covenant took place in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the Temple, the City of Jerusalem, and the Jewish state. The genealogical records of the Jews were destroyed also, meaning there is no Jew alive today who can trace his ancestry back to the Palestinian Jews of the First Century.

There is no statement or hint in the New Testament that God will revive the Jewish state. It has been revived by man twice, in 132 AD and in 1948 AD. There is no prophetic significance in these human restorations of the Jewish state, and Christians are under no obligation to support such a political entity.

Even our father Abraham has no interest in a restored Jewish state, Hebrews 11:13-16. He is in a much better place, the new Jerusalem. Instead of encouraging our Jewish friends to seek out the earthly Jerusalem, we should point them to the heavenly Jerusalem, available to them by faith in the Messiah. Some Zionists accuse American Jews of greed, saying that they belong in Israel and have stayed in America so they can make more money here. Instead of telling American Jews that this is not their country and that they should emigrate to Israel, we should rather encourage them to stay here where they enjoy all the blessings of religious freedom for their faith as well as a better opportunity to convert to Christianity if they so desire

Nowadays there are prominent evangelists who preach to their followers that God never fulfilled His promise of giving all the land of Palestine to the Jews. They support whatever action necessary, even nuclear war, to obtain Arab lands in the Middle East and give them to the Jews.

This belief is not only a threat to world peace, but it is also totally mistaken and unscriptural. The Bible clearly teaches that God did keep His promise to His chosen people the Jews, and that He did give them all the land that was promised. The boundaries of the land promised are given in Genesis 15:18 - from the river of Egypt (the Wadi El-Arish, not the Nile) to the river Euphrates.

Read Joshua 11:23, Joshua 21:43-45, 2 Samuel 8:3, 1 Kings 4:21, 1 Kings 8:56, 2 Chronicles 9:26 and Nehemiah 9:7-8, 24 and it will become very clear that God did give all of the land promised to the Jews. If God says that He did, who are we to say that He did not?

It is not necessary for us to start a war in the Middle East to fulfill a promise that God already fulfilled 3400 years ago. As for the Old Testament promises that Israel would be restored some day, these prophecies were fulfilled by the return from the Babylonian Captivity in 536 BC. The prophet Jeremiah is often quoted to prove that God promised a restoration of the Jews to their land and that the promise began to be fulfilled in 1948 AD. However, Jeremiah very clearly said in 606 BC that this prophesied national restoration of the Jews in their land would take place within 70 years (Jeremiah 29:10, Daniel 9:2). Christian Zionists need to study their Bibles more carefully, so that they will realize that God already kept His promise, when He said that He would, and that we do not need to stir up war and bloodshed in the Middle East in order to fulfill the promise yet again.

Christian Zionism and dispensationalism represent a giant step backward in our theological progress. Instead of resting in the once-for-ever sacrifice by Christ on the Cross for our sins, dispensational Zionists look forward to the building of another temple in Jerusalem with animal sacrifices. Instead of rejoicing in the New Covenant which was promised to all God’s people, Jeremiah 31:31-34, they want to go back to the Old Covenant which has been forever abrogated. Instead of inviting our precious, beloved Jewish friends to partake in the eternal blessings of the heavenly Jerusalem, they try to send them back to the Old Jerusalem, even though they believe that 2/3 of them will be slaughtered in a 7-year period of Tribulation to come very soon.

cont…

 

[Edris]

The entire tendency of this theological system is to lead us all back to Judaism. The founder of dispensationalism, John Nelson Darby, openly admitted that his teaching would lead us back to Judaism. Let us rather heed the exhortation of the apostle saying, “Let us go on,” Hebrews 6:1, rather than turning back to the empty shadows of a religion that was meant only to prepare mankind for the coming of Christ.

The duty of Christian churches today is to seek the well-being of Jews according to the flesh, Romans 9:3. We will accomplish that, not by lobbying for the territorial expansion of Israel, but rather by preaching the Gospel and planting churches, thereby giving all Jews and Gentiles an opportunity to enter the heavenly Jerusalem for all eternity.

Mr. Thomas Willimasom is an ordained Baptist minister who lives in Chicago, Illinois. He contributes to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from time to time.

Source:

by courtesy & © 2001 Thomas Williamson

mediamonitors.net/williamson1.html

 

[gurrato_alaien]

Palestine: Its Significance for Muslims

Palestine is part and parcel of the Muslims’ identity. Each Muslim has a big role to play regarding Palestine and its people. Each should support the Palestinian cause according to his means. Those who are well-off should give charity, and those who pay the Zakah aught to allocate part of it to help their oppressed Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine as well as in the whole world. Every Muslim can champion the cause of his Ummah from the place where he lives.

In order to shed some light on the significance of Palestine in Islam, we’d cite the following:

Palestine in Islamic Faith:

The significance of Palestine in the Islamic faith is evident by the frequent references to it in both the Qur’an and the hadiths (traditions) of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). The greatest significance of Palestine for the Muslims is that it contains Baitul-Maqdis (the noble sanctuary), the holiest place in Islam outside of the Hijaz. Both Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock are built in the area of the Baitul-Maqdis.

Baitul-Maqdis in Palestine was the center of Isra’ and Mi`raj of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). In the Qur’an Allah says: (Glory be to the One who took his servant on a journey by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa whose precincts We have blessed…) (Al-Isra’ 17: 1)

Baitul-Maqdis in Palestine was the second Mosque established on earth after Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah. In the Hadith, Abu Dharr said: “Once I asked Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) what was the first mosque established on the earth; he said “Al- Masjid Al-Haram.” Then I asked him: then, which mosque? He replied: “Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa.” I then asked him what was the time period between the establishment of the two mosques; and he said: “forty years.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari)

Baitul-Maqdis in Palestine was the first Qibla (direction in which Muslims face when praying). The Muslims faced towards Baitul-Maqdis when praying during the entire Makkah period of Prophet Muhammad’s (peace and blessings be upon him) life and for the first 16 months of the Madinian period, after which Allah ordered the Qibla to be changed towards the Ka`ba in Makkah.

Prayers in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa are equivalent to 500 times the Prayers in any other mosque except for Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah and Al-Masjid An-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet) in Madinah. In the Hadith Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Prayers in Al-Masjid Al-Haram are equivalent to 100,000 Prayers, and Prayers in my Masjid (in Madinah) are equivalent to 1000 Prayers, and Prayers in Baitul-Maqdis are equivalent to 500 Prayers.” (Reported by at-Tabarani)

In addition there are several verses in the Holy Qur’an and several hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that describe both the significance of Baitul-Maqdis in Islam and the fact that Allah has blessed the land around it. The various Qur’anic revelations and Prophetic statements concerning the blessed land of Palestine endeared the land to the Companions (Sahabah) of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to such an extent that when `Umar ibn Al-Khattab entered the region for the first time he announced that all the lands of Palestine would be part of the Islamic Waqf (endowment) for the Muslim generations to come. After studying the various Qur’anic revelations, Prophetic traditions and practices of the Companions to the Prophet, no rational mind could deny that Palestine as a blessed and holy land is of extreme importance and significance to every believer in Islam.

to be cont…