Kristen sionisme - En skummel og farlig vranglære

Jeg åpner med et utdrag fra et brev som jeg skrev til noen engelsktalende kristne for en stund siden:

Right wing Christians base their ideology on Christian Zionism (also known as Holy Land  Theology). They believe that the land promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1, Genesis 15:18, and Genesis 17: 1-8 (among others) indicate a so called "Biblical mandate" to support Israel.

We can take a look at Gen 17:1-8:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” 3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God. ”

Pro-Israel Christians are even scared of getting cursed if they criticize Israel because Gen 12:3 says "I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you". Personally I interpret this passage more as a solicitation to bless the Jewish people in general, rather than blessing the Israeli occupation of Gaza and The West Bank.

However, the land promise is not the only reason why they support Israel. Another reason is remorse over the church’s past sins against the Jewish people. The church has persecuted the Jews again and again throughout the centuries. They were blamed for having killed Jesus. Even prominent names in church history such as Martin Luther and John Calvin hated Jews. This reached its climax in the Holocaust, when the German church, and perhaps even the Vatican, supported Hitler. Today the church tries to heal the wounds by supporting Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

But consider Jesus' own words in John 18:36: "My kingdom is not of this world". Considering this verse it is strange why pro-Israel Christians support Israel in a conflict about “this-worldly territories”.

The Christian doctrine of Separation of Church and State, is based on the aforementioned verse, and also Matthew 22:21, among others. Therefore, to combine politics and Christianity to the extent Christian Zionism does, is wrong.

And as aforementioned, God didn't give the land promise without conditions. The Jews would have to keep their part of the "deal". "When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it." (Deut 30:1-5).

But even if the Old Testament were to be emphasized the way Christian Zionists do, this "Obey him with all your heart…according to everything I command you today" would have required obedience to those Old Testament commands regarding strangers and aliens living in the Land. 36 times in the Torah the Jews were warned to be compassionate to strangers and aliens, for example in Lev 19:33-34: "'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." So, does today's Israeli government treat the Palestinians as if they were among their native-born? Does that government love the Palestinians as they love themselves? I don't think so.

For a correction of Christian Zionist eschatology, I'll include some of what Gary M. Burge writes about the Book of Revelations, taken from his book Jesus and the Land[1]:

“Attachment to Judea of affection for the Land do not figure in John’s outlook. Safety cannot be found in a place, much less the Temple of or city of Jerusalem. The holy city is not a place of yearning; for even its temple is doomed (Rev 11.1-2)…..To defend the land as a divinely appointed duty, is to regress utterly in the most miserable way. It is to misplace hope entirely. The kingdoms of this world will be judged. And this includes the kingdom of Judea…Hope is not found in the destruction of the world, but in the renewal of the world when God’s will is done….Hope is found in the descent of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:2)”.

Det er noe underlig at disse høyrevridde kristne reagerer så veldig negativt når muslimer argumenterer med at Jerusalem er Islams tredje helligste by, men ikke innser at deres landløfte-teologi byr på det samme problemet. Eller hva om en inder skulle argumentere for at India bør beholde Kashmir fordi det står i Hinduismens hellige bøker at Kashmir er indisk? Eller hva om en kineser skulle argumentere for fortsatt okkupasjon av Tibet fordi Konfucius mente at Tibet er kinesisk? Jeg vil ikke tro på en Gud som krever jordisk territorium, fordi jeg tror han har mer en nok av plass i himmelen som han kan breie seg ut på.

Forresten er det viktig å understreke at kristen sionisme har antisemittiske undertoner, fordi den oppfatter jøder som sjakkbrikker i et politisk spill. Jeg personlig ser på jøder som mennesker med uendelig verdi. Kristensionismen derimot, reduserer jøder til sjakkbrikker i spillet for å fullføre landløftet og endetidsprofetiene. Når Hamas og Islamsk Jihad dreper jøder, så blir reaksjonen fra de mest berømte kristensionister: "Ikke slå ut sjakkbrikkene våre!". Og man må ikke glemme at den kristensionistiske pastoren John Hagee har sagt at Hitler var sendt av Gud[2]. Det er dermed underlig at kristensionister stempler Israel-kritikere som antisemitter, men overser de antisemittiske sider ved deres egen teologi. Det er på tide å minne om Jesu ord i Matt. 7.3: "Hvorfor ser du flisen i din brors øye, men bjelken i ditt eget øye legger du ikke merke til?"

Det er et under at de palestinske kristne ikke har konvertert til Islam, på tross av alt det vonde som kristensionistene har påført dem. Og hvis kristne minoriteter i muslimske land skulle tro på denne teologien, ville de oppleve enda verre undertrykkelse enn de allerede opplever.

Det kristensionistiske forfattere skriver om Israel-Palestina har et tydelig bias. Jeg kaller det et "landløfte-bias". Deres landløfte-teologi får dem til å alltid velge de mest pro-israelske forfatterne, de mest pro-israelske avisene, og de mest pro-israelske nettsidene. De sitter med andre ord alltid med fasiten på forhånd!

Nå er det slik at disse høyrevridde kristne er ikke onde mennesker, de har bare blitt feilinformert av israelvennlige medier. Man hører dem ofte si "Men Jesus elsker palestinere også!". Men så ligger det en helt vanvittig form for ironi i at kristensionister liksom skal elske palestinere, samtidig som de støtter en hær som bomber tett befolkede palestinske områder.

Den kloke Henrik Ibsen har sagt "Tar du livsløgnen fra et gjennomsnittsmenneske, så tar du lykken fra han med det samme". Overført til denne sammenhengen kan man lage en parafrase: "Tar du kristensionismen fra den gjennomsnitts-kristne, så tar du lykken fra han med det samme". Men trenger det nødvendigvis være slik? Mange kristensionister opplever nok et meningsdiktatur, at pastorer og predikanter dikterer dem hva de skal mene om Israel-Palestina konflikten. Når de forstår at kristensionismen er ubibelsk, kan det oppleves som en befrielse, og de kan si "Tidligere mente jeg hva pastorene mener, endelig får jeg lov til å mene hva JEG mener!". Da kan man snu Ibsen-parafrasen på hodet: "Tar du kristensionismen fra den gjennomsnitts-kristne, SÅ GIR DU HAN LYKKEN TILBAKE MED DET SAMME".

For en god analyse og kritikk av kristen sionisme, vil jeg anbefale denne artikkelen av frikirken:

http://www.frikirken.no/site/frikirken.no/files/innmat_prinsipp.pdf.

Men jeg vil også anbefale denne artikkelen av Stephen Sizer. Han og Frikirken er faktisk uenige på en del teologiske områder. Du kan lese begge artiklene, og vurdere hvilken du mener er den beste:

[ http://www.churchsociety.org/churchman/documents/Cman_113_2_Sizer.pdf ]

Gud velsigne deg!