Hi Nihil (interesting name)I hesitate to respond to your post as I tend to just sit back and try to learn from others. However as I read your post a couple of things just sort of jumped out at me and I thought perhaps you might want to clarify and even elaborate your views a little bit for me.
First; let me say I only just discovered this thread and therefore I know nothing about Emile, his history, or any of the issues specific to him.
Second; I am not a "scholar" nor do I have much in the way of a formal education. I do however have a slightly better than average knowledge of the bible (having actually read it)and a love for clear thinking.
This leads me to your first statement . "Read critically, the prophets are shown to have incited rebellions, coups d'etat, and religious discrimination throughout history." This is a very general statement. Could you please provide us with some specific examples of what you are talking about?
Next you say . "Religious hysteria caused the destruction of the Jewish state, and is doing much to threaten it right now." From a biblical, and an historical perspective I think you are factually wrong. Read (critically of course) Deuteronomy Chptr 27-30 and you will see that Israel was promised either blessing or cursing for fidelity to God and His commandments. Israel's relationship to the land is like a barometer of Her relationship to God. For example DT 28:1 says "If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:" and further, in DT 28:9 "The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.
DT 28:12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.". He goes on to say in DT 28:15 "However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:" He,(God)then lays out what reads like a veritable history of the nation. for example DT 28:49 "The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.".
These things in fact and in History happened just as God said they would.
As for Israel's current predicament that to has been fortold as well. Last night as I was watching all the coverage of the Israeli palastinian peace talks I was reminded of the words of Zechariah in
ZEC 12:1 "This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: 2 "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. 4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. 5 Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, `The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.'"
And in ZEC 14:2 "I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
ZEC 14:3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south."
Indeed Israel has a rocky future ahead of her BUT!! Messiah-Jesus Christ is coming again!! (and all Gods people said?)
Well speaking of blessing and cursing my wife just came to remind me what time it is and since I have not even touched on the part of your post that was the initial reason for my response, if you would be so kind, perhaps you could respond to what I have written and we could take it from there. Have a good evening and god bless; Greg |
