Image: Unsplash I was meditating on this question this morning: why can’t many Christians see obvious evil? We see so many examples of this. A few years ago, in an American election year involving the most controversial President in modern United States history, a pandemic was used as an excuse to lock people in their homes, shut down economies and movement of people, place limits on how U.S. elections could function, and eventually coerce hundreds of millions of people around the world to take an experimental medical treatment most people did not want, and certainly most people did not need, and which large companies profited from greatly. This had so
Mar 9·edited Mar 9Liked by Rev. Matthew Littlefield
Thank you Pastor, for a very thoughtful and well written discussion on this topic. I share your frustration(??) with many of our fellow believers on this topic.
I've attended a Bible-centered evangelical church (Calvary Chapel) for thirty years that while being Dispensationalist, it was not overtly "Israel right or wrong". However, much of the evangelical Christianity faithful really have never had the Dispensational viewpoint seriously challenged, nor do they understand the history behind this interpretation. They genuinely believe the Bible tells us we must always support the modern state of Israel, something that is constantly reinforced in evangelical circles and media. When pressed they throw out verses such as Gen 12:3 and God's promise to Abraham (I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.) They become defensive when pressed on Israel's atrocities, and fall back into a metaphorical "hey I just work here" posture. In other words, the Bible says I have to support them, it's not up to me.
I myself fell into this reflexive thinking and uncritically defended Israel's actions. They are "God's chosen people" after all, as they have no reticence to tell us. However, two events made me seriously challenge my reflexiveness on this, both having to do with my kids. First was our decision to pull our kids out of public schools and put them in a Bible-based Christian school. For mainly practical reasons we placed them in a conservative Lutheran school (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod). Through this exposure I learned for the first time that Dispensationalism was a minority view in worldwide Christianity, and really only had a stronghold in the US. On top of that, it was non-existent for the first 1800 years of Christianity and only took off with the Scofield Reference Bible being published in 1909. I had no idea the interpretation was so new.
The second item was more selfish, in that I have two teenage boys both of military draft-age. I have zero desire for them to fight (and possibly die) in some foreign Mideast sqalor which would have almost no direct bearing on US national interests. Yet there is this pervading evangelical notion that my unwillingness to sacrifice my sons is somehow defying God (as I'm not willing to "bless Israel"). This lead me to dig more deeply into the entire Dispensationalist interpretation that ended up taking me down a path I never envisioned. I rediscovered some of the passages you note, the writings of Augustine and other heroes of the faith, and for the first time understood the concept of Supersessionism. Our salvation through Christ is available to all, gentile or Jew, by accepting His sacrifice on our behalf. All those who do are now God's chosen people. As simple and as fundamental as this sounds, it was a radical notion for me, and likely is for many Dispensationalists. The idea that Jews get their own separate salvation is pernicious and pervading.
As I dug deeper into it I really began to wonder if the Dispensationalist movement had been hijacked for political reasons by those pushing the establishment and support of the modern Israeli state. There's a very compelling 1988 book, "The Incredible Scofield and His Book" that is now out of print but PDFs can be found online. It's meticulously footnoted, and goes through Scofield's life in painstaking detail. Rev Scofield had a checkered past including legal, financial, and marital troubles of which he never publicly repented. He misrepresented his education by repeatedly referring to himself as a Doctor of Divinity when never having attained a PhD. He had mysterious financial backers for the reference Bible that were never explained. He belonged to an exclusive Manhattan social club (Lotos Club) that would normally not welcome a fundamentalist preacher. There are many other oddities of his life that don't add up. I say this not to slander the dead, but because people who use his footnotes to read their Bible really should understand the character of the man that wrote them.
Last off and most important, I just cannot reconcile Christ's teaching regarding how we are to treat others with the modern Israeli state's actions. Evangelical Christians will study the Gospels in detail and accept without caveat Christ's commands to be kind to others. But then that gets thrown out the window when it comes to the Israeli state because of Gen 12:3 and the subsequent Dispensational interpretation. It's morally flawed and intellectually lazy, yet most evangelical Christians never give it a second thought. "God said it, I do it" is their response. The problem is that God didn't say it, John Darby, Cyrus Scofield and their followers said it. Paul never said it. Augustine, Apollos, John Chrysostom, Aquinas, Luther, or Knox never said it. The historical church never said it.
Ultimately, we will all be judged on this and we better have a good explanation. Telling God that they supported the slaughter of Palestinians because some pastor at a megachurch (a church flying an Israeli flag in outright idolatry) told then to, likely won't be well received. God did give us a brain and reasoning capability for a reason.
Well said. I also fear Israel’s over reaction… when they are no longer seen as the victims of persecution but are now seen as the perpetrators of a far greater evil will see greater worldly support in the end for the dissolution of Israel as a nation that will indeed see Palestine free and the Jews face even greater persecution than occurred before the hamas attack.
Mar 12·edited Mar 12Liked by Rev. Matthew Littlefield
I only learned all of this stuff after becoming Catholic. I was also raised by dispensationalists who think Israel is chosen and Harry Truman was doing God’s work when he recognized the modern state of Israel (same guy who dropped the A Bomb, so no, not doing God’s work). My mind was blown when I learned about Darby and Scofield, etc.
Mar 9·edited Mar 9Liked by Rev. Matthew Littlefield
Rev. Matt - your essay is an answer to a literal prayer I uttered to God just a few days, because the silence of churchianity has been maddening to me.
This morning I was referred to it from Vox Day's site and I sent the following to my friends and family: "Whether you are a believer or not, attend church or not - this is NOT about religiosity - it is REALITY!
If there ever was an essay that is a must read, this is it, including the linked full text by Rev. Matt - in fact, read that linked full text FIRST, as Vox Day always has good overall perspective from all angles to sum things up.
Every pastor needs to read it!
BTW - I find both to be an answer to a prayer just recently- personally."
If you want to know how evil flourishes you need look no further than yourself. While I believe that you have the best of intentions you are being used by evil itself. And therein lies the problem. Evil flourishes not when evil people engage in it but when good people allow themselves to be used by it unwittingly. You hate what you see going on in Gaza because it is violent and because people are suffering so conclude it must be wrong. This is foolishness. Look no further than the OT when time after time God orders the Israelites to wipe out entire peoples because of their sinful behavior and ways.
No military in the history of the world has done more to prevent civilian deaths than the IDF. This is astounding especially when you consider that they have done that for people who are literally trying to genocide them. Civilians are dying in Gaza not because of the IDF but because Hamas is purposefully ensuring that they die to use the deaths as propaganda against Israel.
Another problem with your article is that you have simply regurgitated Hamas lies about the number of deaths. The Gaza Health Ministry has released the numbers you have cited and they are simply not true. There have not been 39000 civilian deaths and the majority have not been women and children. And many of the 'children' who have been killed are male teens who are actively involved in terrorism with Hamas. Anyone with even a basic understanding of how naturally occurring numbers work can see that the numbers are made up. The first place to look is the reported “total” number of deaths. The graph of total deaths by date is increasing with almost metronomical linearity. This regularity is almost surely not real. One would expect quite a bit of variation day to day. In fact, the daily reported casualty count over this period averages 270 plus or minus about 15%. This is strikingly little variation. There should be days with twice the average or more and others with half or less.
Perhaps what is happening is the Gaza ministry is releasing fake daily numbers that vary too little because they do not have a clear understanding of the behavior of naturally occurring numbers. …
The fog of war is especially thick in Gaza, making it impossible to quickly determine civilian death totals with any accuracy. Not only do official Palestinian death counts fail to differentiate soldiers from children, but Hamas also blames all deaths on Israel even if caused by Hamas’ own misfired rockets, accidental explosions, deliberate killings, or internal battles. …
The truth can’t yet be known and probably never will be. The total civilian casualty count is likely to be extremely overstated. Israel estimates that at least 12,000 fighters have been killed. If that number proves to be even reasonably accurate, then the ratio of noncombatant casualties to combatants is remarkably low: at most 1.4 to 1 and perhaps as low as 1 to 1. By historical standards of urban warfare, where combatants are embedded above and below into civilian population centers, this is a remarkable and successful effort to prevent unnecessary loss of life while fighting an implacable enemy that protects itself with civilians.
The bottom line is that Hamas must be completely eradicated from Gaza. Period. It would be the equivalent of the Allied forces getting all the way to the doorstep of Berlin during WWII and then withdrawing and allowing the Nazis to stay in power so that they could continue their genocide of the Jews.
Hamas spews propaganda counting on useful idiots to regurgitate it so that the world will lean on Israel to conduct a ceasefire that Hamas will not respect. And you are helping them. You my friend are the Christian that cannot recognize evil.
Thank you Pastor, for a very thoughtful and well written discussion on this topic. I share your frustration(??) with many of our fellow believers on this topic.
I've attended a Bible-centered evangelical church (Calvary Chapel) for thirty years that while being Dispensationalist, it was not overtly "Israel right or wrong". However, much of the evangelical Christianity faithful really have never had the Dispensational viewpoint seriously challenged, nor do they understand the history behind this interpretation. They genuinely believe the Bible tells us we must always support the modern state of Israel, something that is constantly reinforced in evangelical circles and media. When pressed they throw out verses such as Gen 12:3 and God's promise to Abraham (I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.) They become defensive when pressed on Israel's atrocities, and fall back into a metaphorical "hey I just work here" posture. In other words, the Bible says I have to support them, it's not up to me.
I myself fell into this reflexive thinking and uncritically defended Israel's actions. They are "God's chosen people" after all, as they have no reticence to tell us. However, two events made me seriously challenge my reflexiveness on this, both having to do with my kids. First was our decision to pull our kids out of public schools and put them in a Bible-based Christian school. For mainly practical reasons we placed them in a conservative Lutheran school (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod). Through this exposure I learned for the first time that Dispensationalism was a minority view in worldwide Christianity, and really only had a stronghold in the US. On top of that, it was non-existent for the first 1800 years of Christianity and only took off with the Scofield Reference Bible being published in 1909. I had no idea the interpretation was so new.
The second item was more selfish, in that I have two teenage boys both of military draft-age. I have zero desire for them to fight (and possibly die) in some foreign Mideast sqalor which would have almost no direct bearing on US national interests. Yet there is this pervading evangelical notion that my unwillingness to sacrifice my sons is somehow defying God (as I'm not willing to "bless Israel"). This lead me to dig more deeply into the entire Dispensationalist interpretation that ended up taking me down a path I never envisioned. I rediscovered some of the passages you note, the writings of Augustine and other heroes of the faith, and for the first time understood the concept of Supersessionism. Our salvation through Christ is available to all, gentile or Jew, by accepting His sacrifice on our behalf. All those who do are now God's chosen people. As simple and as fundamental as this sounds, it was a radical notion for me, and likely is for many Dispensationalists. The idea that Jews get their own separate salvation is pernicious and pervading.
As I dug deeper into it I really began to wonder if the Dispensationalist movement had been hijacked for political reasons by those pushing the establishment and support of the modern Israeli state. There's a very compelling 1988 book, "The Incredible Scofield and His Book" that is now out of print but PDFs can be found online. It's meticulously footnoted, and goes through Scofield's life in painstaking detail. Rev Scofield had a checkered past including legal, financial, and marital troubles of which he never publicly repented. He misrepresented his education by repeatedly referring to himself as a Doctor of Divinity when never having attained a PhD. He had mysterious financial backers for the reference Bible that were never explained. He belonged to an exclusive Manhattan social club (Lotos Club) that would normally not welcome a fundamentalist preacher. There are many other oddities of his life that don't add up. I say this not to slander the dead, but because people who use his footnotes to read their Bible really should understand the character of the man that wrote them.
Last off and most important, I just cannot reconcile Christ's teaching regarding how we are to treat others with the modern Israeli state's actions. Evangelical Christians will study the Gospels in detail and accept without caveat Christ's commands to be kind to others. But then that gets thrown out the window when it comes to the Israeli state because of Gen 12:3 and the subsequent Dispensational interpretation. It's morally flawed and intellectually lazy, yet most evangelical Christians never give it a second thought. "God said it, I do it" is their response. The problem is that God didn't say it, John Darby, Cyrus Scofield and their followers said it. Paul never said it. Augustine, Apollos, John Chrysostom, Aquinas, Luther, or Knox never said it. The historical church never said it.
Ultimately, we will all be judged on this and we better have a good explanation. Telling God that they supported the slaughter of Palestinians because some pastor at a megachurch (a church flying an Israeli flag in outright idolatry) told then to, likely won't be well received. God did give us a brain and reasoning capability for a reason.
Edit: fixed typos
Among other evils, judeo-churchianity obscures how radically transformative a new Covenant is.
Well said. I also fear Israel’s over reaction… when they are no longer seen as the victims of persecution but are now seen as the perpetrators of a far greater evil will see greater worldly support in the end for the dissolution of Israel as a nation that will indeed see Palestine free and the Jews face even greater persecution than occurred before the hamas attack.
I only learned all of this stuff after becoming Catholic. I was also raised by dispensationalists who think Israel is chosen and Harry Truman was doing God’s work when he recognized the modern state of Israel (same guy who dropped the A Bomb, so no, not doing God’s work). My mind was blown when I learned about Darby and Scofield, etc.
Rev. Matt - your essay is an answer to a literal prayer I uttered to God just a few days, because the silence of churchianity has been maddening to me.
This morning I was referred to it from Vox Day's site and I sent the following to my friends and family: "Whether you are a believer or not, attend church or not - this is NOT about religiosity - it is REALITY!
If there ever was an essay that is a must read, this is it, including the linked full text by Rev. Matt - in fact, read that linked full text FIRST, as Vox Day always has good overall perspective from all angles to sum things up.
Every pastor needs to read it!
BTW - I find both to be an answer to a prayer just recently- personally."
https://voxday.net/2024/03/09/those-who-call-evil-good
If you want to know how evil flourishes you need look no further than yourself. While I believe that you have the best of intentions you are being used by evil itself. And therein lies the problem. Evil flourishes not when evil people engage in it but when good people allow themselves to be used by it unwittingly. You hate what you see going on in Gaza because it is violent and because people are suffering so conclude it must be wrong. This is foolishness. Look no further than the OT when time after time God orders the Israelites to wipe out entire peoples because of their sinful behavior and ways.
No military in the history of the world has done more to prevent civilian deaths than the IDF. This is astounding especially when you consider that they have done that for people who are literally trying to genocide them. Civilians are dying in Gaza not because of the IDF but because Hamas is purposefully ensuring that they die to use the deaths as propaganda against Israel.
Another problem with your article is that you have simply regurgitated Hamas lies about the number of deaths. The Gaza Health Ministry has released the numbers you have cited and they are simply not true. There have not been 39000 civilian deaths and the majority have not been women and children. And many of the 'children' who have been killed are male teens who are actively involved in terrorism with Hamas. Anyone with even a basic understanding of how naturally occurring numbers work can see that the numbers are made up. The first place to look is the reported “total” number of deaths. The graph of total deaths by date is increasing with almost metronomical linearity. This regularity is almost surely not real. One would expect quite a bit of variation day to day. In fact, the daily reported casualty count over this period averages 270 plus or minus about 15%. This is strikingly little variation. There should be days with twice the average or more and others with half or less.
Perhaps what is happening is the Gaza ministry is releasing fake daily numbers that vary too little because they do not have a clear understanding of the behavior of naturally occurring numbers. …
The fog of war is especially thick in Gaza, making it impossible to quickly determine civilian death totals with any accuracy. Not only do official Palestinian death counts fail to differentiate soldiers from children, but Hamas also blames all deaths on Israel even if caused by Hamas’ own misfired rockets, accidental explosions, deliberate killings, or internal battles. …
The truth can’t yet be known and probably never will be. The total civilian casualty count is likely to be extremely overstated. Israel estimates that at least 12,000 fighters have been killed. If that number proves to be even reasonably accurate, then the ratio of noncombatant casualties to combatants is remarkably low: at most 1.4 to 1 and perhaps as low as 1 to 1. By historical standards of urban warfare, where combatants are embedded above and below into civilian population centers, this is a remarkable and successful effort to prevent unnecessary loss of life while fighting an implacable enemy that protects itself with civilians.
The bottom line is that Hamas must be completely eradicated from Gaza. Period. It would be the equivalent of the Allied forces getting all the way to the doorstep of Berlin during WWII and then withdrawing and allowing the Nazis to stay in power so that they could continue their genocide of the Jews.
Hamas spews propaganda counting on useful idiots to regurgitate it so that the world will lean on Israel to conduct a ceasefire that Hamas will not respect. And you are helping them. You my friend are the Christian that cannot recognize evil.