I am not a scholar, nor a preacher.  I hold none of the documentation accorded those with either distinction.  But, I also don't believe that depth of insight into profound matters of consequence is relegated only to those who have obtained those things. 

This is a layman's view.  An informed laymen's view, which may provide freedoms not available to those constrained by credentialed ties to institutions. 

And so it is that I state the deeper, underlying reason for this letter: It is my sense of things that Postmodern Institutional Christianity suffers from an identity crisis of life-threatening proportion.  And that is why it has a skewed, distorted view of Israel in general and the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular.

It’s a generally acknowledged fact that in America, large-scale denominational churches tend to be more liberal than locally autonomous, non-denominational congregations. Also, that the Bible, as well as subjects like biblical prophecy, are more often exclusively taught within the non-denominational community. This letter is to those of a more Liberal predisposition, who may consider Israel to be the cause of conflict in the Middle East while seeing “the Palestinians” as, more or less, innocent victims of an oppressive “occupation.”

I write in three parts: Part 1 dealing directly with myth and fact as concerns the Arab-Israeli conflict, Part 2 dealing with reasons in support of aligning oneself, as a Christian, primarily with Israel.  Part 3 will prescribe a remedy for healing the spiritual identity crisis that I think inflicts modern Western Christianity.  More parts may be added if inspiration strikes.

I may be writing to the reader as "family," then again, I may not. A problem here is how to define "Christian"and then, how to identify individuals who fit the definition. Nevertheless, a solution can only be found in trying. We live in near-cataclysmic times, whether politically or theologically speaking. At any rate, read on, as I think that what I have to say may be instructive, whether Liberal or Conservative, even if you're not a Christian.

This has to do, afterall, with ultimate things.

In a nutshell, my reason for singling out Liberal Christians, without getting too "scriptural" and coming off like a preacher, which I am not, is that as I see it, you, as a Liberal Christian, have sat under teaching very different from that which I've received. As a result of a less intense focus on Scripture, it makes sense that your view of the Arab-Israeli conflict moved more in an overly-sympathetic direction of the so-called “Palestinian” dilemma than mine.  According to Ephesians 2, as I see it, Israel is the spiritual commonwealth of my spiritual residence, not “Christianity,” per se.  I view Abraham as my spiritual father and consider my access to, and knowledge of, the God of Israel, as being connected directly to the covenant made with Abraham. Therefore, I am blessed through Abraham and his descendants and count it as my willing obligation to stand with them in gratitude--through thick and thin--for all they have suffered to bring me to faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

From the stronghold of this great metaphysical reality that is only available through a more certain view of Scripture, my view of Israel's predicament is a much longer, over-arching, longitudinally historic view. This view envelops me within the context of “Israel” as a believer in the Jewish Messiah. To understand what I mean by this, see Ephesians 2 and Romans 9-11. I admittedly identify less with Christianity than I do Messianic Judaism, for example. I see Christianity as originally being conceived of and taught by Jesus as a form of transformational, transcultural Judaism, in only vague manner represented today in, for instance, the highly centralized, bureaucratically-driven, institutional format that much of Christianity takes today.

As a result, through the greater, faith-based lens of Scripture, I see today's so-called "Palestinian uprising" as an intrinsic element of the latest lethal attempt in a long history of antisemitic genocidal intent, to eradicate the Jewish people from the face of the earth.

Therefore, in the spirit of dialogue and understanding, I share with you this letter in hope that more understanding may lead to more dialogue, more dialogue to the truth of the matter. And that Israel may gain more support from new friends who have chosen to see the light and repair their broken identity as Christians through repair of the broken spiritual sibling relationship with their elder sibling, Israel.

Next: Myths & Facts Regarding Israel’s Role in the Current Attack on Its Existence