WHY FREEDOM MUST NOT BE SURRENDERED
Anti-Semitism is wrong. Jesus was the greatest Jew. All the Bible writers and the Apostles were Jews. The Virgin Mary was a Jew. The greatest theologian and evangelist of all times was a Jew. His name was Paul. It is very apparent, therefore, that slandering the Jews because they are Jews is wrong and anti-Christian. We totally reject it.
But speaking out against the bad policies of PM Netanyahu and his government is not anti-Semitism. It is called freedom of speech in the same way that speaking out against the policies of Putin, Biden, Trump, or any other politician is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Of course, you may place your life in jeopardy if you exercise that right if you are outside America or one of those few surviving democracies where freedom is a guaranteed right. Freedom of speech is important because it means the right to criticize the bad policies and actions of the country you live in, or even the bad policies of some other place, including the State of Israel. Americans glorify the right to say what they think. Hooray, I say, for America. Hooray, I say, for those Israelis who feel convicted to peacefully condemn the policies of Netanyahu. They are certainly not anti-Semitic. Hooray for those brave souls who condemn the policies of Hamas. Let freedom ring, I say. But exercising such a right is life-threatening if you live in Russia, China, or North Korea, where freedom of speech is a one-way ticket to a concentration camp where a bullet in the back of the skull is almost guaranteed.
Along with freedom of speech is freedom of religion. Get rid of one, and the other will soon follow. So as a Christian, I defend freedom of speech along with freedom of religion. As an American who loves liberty, I defend both.
The Jewish writers of the Bible predicted that Israel would reject their Jewish Messiah, and the consequence of that act of deicide would have calamitous consequences. See the Jewish commentary in Acts 2:22,23, and Luke 21:20-24. It’s worth reading. Today we are seeing the tragic results of man’s rebellion against God. An acknowledgment of that sin of the ages is not anti-Semitism.
A belief that there is “God’s Future“ that has no sin, death, hatred, and terrorism is the one thing that gives us hope during these times that try the souls of the most pious. So taught the Jewish Jesus. Amen.
— John Carter