Dear en,
Why should a British evangelical missionary organisation to the Jewish people need to consider dropping the word Israel from its title? Because the wrong attitudes and thoughts about the Jewish people, which you rightly warned your readers against (en, October 2018, p.5), exist among British evangelicals.
The fact is that the word ‘Israel’ causes some to put the phone down. From a biblical perspective such attitudes should come as no surprise, because Paul warns Gentile Christians against boasting over the Jews; but they should be deplored and constantly resisted. How can we test ourselves? In much the same way as the Labour Party has been tested – by focusing upon the State of Israel, its origin and behaviour.
Labour’s prolonged hiatus was because some wanted not just the freedom to criticise Israel, which all would grant, Jews included, but more than that – the freedom to describe its foundation as racist. A stimulus to antisemitism if ever there was one. Why? The Far Left simply cannot abide the way the Jewish story contradicts their ideology of humanistic hope, so Israel comes under their microscope. And for evangelicals?
We should consider how we respond to the latest negative media report on the origins or behaviour of the State of Israel. Do we respond differently to negative reports about other peoples? Do we start to entertain negative thoughts about the Jews as a people? Does that lead to a diminished desire for their salvation? Do some slide ever further into set attitudes against the Jewish people? And, if so, is that part of an inability to cope with Jewish success and Jewish opposition to the gospel which leads to that sinful self-righteousness of which your article spoke, and which loves to condemn others. Questions worth asking.
Yours sincerely,
