Mennonites and the Israeli-Arab Conflict
How do they view a conflict that is thousands of miles away yet affects them in one way or another?
Most Mennonites see the recent tensions between Moslem countries and the country of Israel as prophesies being fulfilled and God-ordained happenings. Since God spoke so much about Israel as his beloved servant and chosen people in the Old Testament, they understand it to mean the physical, geographical country of Israel today. The fact that Israel has a powerful military that has committed atrocities and other war crimes is quietly ignored or sidestepped by many who defend Israel either because they believe the Old Testament over the New Testament or simply take it for granted what their pastor tells them concerning the Old Testament prophesies that have to do with Israel as God's country.
Now , let's see what the Beachy and Holdeman groups have to say about this situation in the Middle East. They believe that the Israel of the Old Testament and the Israel of the New Testament was and is a separate nation. The people of Israel in the times before Christ did not have the grace nor Holy Spirit that only came AFTER Jesus died thus they were called God's chosen people and were assigned a geographical location with God-given authority to massacre their enemies and destroy civilians who were called heathens. (Note: many whiteskinned people used this same approach to justify their massacre of uncivilized native Indians in North America.) However they believe that Jesus changed all that when He came to earth bringing a new Kingdom with Him, introducing the law of love and overthrowing the law of stone. They believe any reference to the future "country of Israel" or "people of Israel" spoken by the prophets is symbolic of God's new but spiritual "Israel", or in other words His church, which is made up of born-again Christians all over the world who follow in the foot steps of Jesus by denying themselves, suffering persecution, humbly living their lives, and never resisting their enemies in any way except by prayer and love. Israel today is a Jewish state with hatred towards their Moslem neighbors, therefore no country can be called God's chosen when Jesus and the apostles clearly taught us who is God's follower and who is not.
In short, the Holdeman and Beachy church place their view of modern-day Israel on the verse where Jesus told the Pharisees and other Jews, "the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a people you don't know" and also where Jesus said "if my kingdom was of this earth, then my servants would fight in my defense, but my kingdom is not of this world".
Since His kingdom is not of this world, these two conservative groups send out help and the gospel of Christ to Israelis, Jews, Moslems and Arabs alike. They know no borders nor do they depend at all on any military groups for protection during their missionary work. I truly respect them for this.
Most Mennonites see the recent tensions between Moslem countries and the country of Israel as prophesies being fulfilled and God-ordained happenings. Since God spoke so much about Israel as his beloved servant and chosen people in the Old Testament, they understand it to mean the physical, geographical country of Israel today. The fact that Israel has a powerful military that has committed atrocities and other war crimes is quietly ignored or sidestepped by many who defend Israel either because they believe the Old Testament over the New Testament or simply take it for granted what their pastor tells them concerning the Old Testament prophesies that have to do with Israel as God's country.
Now , let's see what the Beachy and Holdeman groups have to say about this situation in the Middle East. They believe that the Israel of the Old Testament and the Israel of the New Testament was and is a separate nation. The people of Israel in the times before Christ did not have the grace nor Holy Spirit that only came AFTER Jesus died thus they were called God's chosen people and were assigned a geographical location with God-given authority to massacre their enemies and destroy civilians who were called heathens. (Note: many whiteskinned people used this same approach to justify their massacre of uncivilized native Indians in North America.) However they believe that Jesus changed all that when He came to earth bringing a new Kingdom with Him, introducing the law of love and overthrowing the law of stone. They believe any reference to the future "country of Israel" or "people of Israel" spoken by the prophets is symbolic of God's new but spiritual "Israel", or in other words His church, which is made up of born-again Christians all over the world who follow in the foot steps of Jesus by denying themselves, suffering persecution, humbly living their lives, and never resisting their enemies in any way except by prayer and love. Israel today is a Jewish state with hatred towards their Moslem neighbors, therefore no country can be called God's chosen when Jesus and the apostles clearly taught us who is God's follower and who is not.
In short, the Holdeman and Beachy church place their view of modern-day Israel on the verse where Jesus told the Pharisees and other Jews, "the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a people you don't know" and also where Jesus said "if my kingdom was of this earth, then my servants would fight in my defense, but my kingdom is not of this world".
Since His kingdom is not of this world, these two conservative groups send out help and the gospel of Christ to Israelis, Jews, Moslems and Arabs alike. They know no borders nor do they depend at all on any military groups for protection during their missionary work. I truly respect them for this.
