Steven Erlanger of the New York Times propounds a hypothetical scenario as an ethical dilemma, naturally portraying an impossible situation which truncates any and all meaningful choice to choosing between the lesser of evils. Choosing “evil” is no choice at all but, rather, is a refusal to choose instead. Evil is ultimate unreality. It is the ultimate “cop out” from the truth and what is righteous. Mr. Erlanger’s construct goes as follows, from … “Weighing Crimes & Ethics In The Fog Of Urban Warfare,” NY Times.
“JERUSALEM — Your unit, on the edges of the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, has taken mortar fire from the crowded refugee camp nearby. You prepare to return fire, and perhaps you notice — or perhaps you don’t, even though it’s on your map — that there is a United Nations school just there, full of displaced Gazans. You know that international law allows you to protect your soldiers and return fire, but also demands that you ensure that there is no excessive harm to civilians. Do you remember all that in the chaos?”
“You pick GPS-guided mortars, which are supposed to be accurate and of a specific explosive force, and fire back. In the end, you kill some Hamas fighters but also, the United Nations says, more than 40 civilians, some of them children.”
“Have you committed a war crime?”
We must, however, be reminded that, as Paul wrote by inspiration of Jehovah’s holy spirit, — “that those who adhere to faith are the ones who are sons of Abraham.” –Galatians 3:7-8–That merely “claiming” or “professing” to be among the sons of Abraham is plainly not enough.
“Neither because they are Abraham’s seed are they all children, but: “What will be called ‘your seed’ will be through Isaac.” That is, the children in the flesh are not really the children of God, but the children by the promise are counted as the seed.” –Romans 9:7-8
This, then, is our true dilemma, because both the Jews and the Palestinians profess to be the sons of Abraham and of God, yet where is this thing called faith inside the horrors of Gaza? One can plainly hear the roar of the glorious Lion of Judah who long ago admonished one party about this issue, saying: “If YOU are Abraham’s children, do the works of Abraham.” –John 8:39. And foremost of those “works” was the very same faith I arise to write about this afternoon, in context of the cruel and vicious bloodspilling by and between the purported sons of Abraham, before the newest pseudo-withdrawal is accomplished and yet another basket of war crimes glossed over by claims of necessity and justice.
John 8:41 . . .They said to him: “We were not born from fornication; we have one Father, God.”
Israel the nation state and religion persists in professing that they remain in a special and privileged status with the Majestic and Most Holy Father, Jehovah of Armies is His Name. If that were true then it is necessary that they obey the commandments of the Melach a’Mashiach of Jehovah God–who is among other names known as Jesus. I will make that important case soon enough. For now, however, …let us recall that the Jews-of-the-flesh have long contended being in this intimate relationship with Jehovah, this despite the fact that the curtain between the holy and Most Holy compartments was ripped in two upon the crucifixion of Jesus and the miraculous Shekinah has not been seen throughout all of Israel at least since then.
The reasons why have everything to do with what is happening in Gaza and that why is not only instructive, it is breathtaking.
The only ethics that anyone can look to for a guide in all such matters are those found within the Ways of Jehovah. Israel ought not to be a stranger to those ways and yet she persists in her obnoxious wickedness, contrary to all such ways of the very same ‘Father’ they contend to be children of. During the next calendar year I will provide a detailed discussion of conduct by the purported sons of Abraham under the authority of the Greater Abraham–Jehovah God Himself. This ought to suffice irrespective of any self deceptions because the Jews themselves profess to be the children of Jehovah even though by superstition they no longer can bring themselves to declare His glorious and beautiful Name. The Jews by means of their representatives, the Pharisees, told the Messiah long ago that they were the sons of Abraham and that they were the children of Jehovah.
Jesus declared the important rejoinder for all to hear plainly; it split the cedars and it shattered the oaks to hear it and even now it reverberates throughout the world. Listen closely to the Son of the Greater David, my Greatest Hope, who said:
“If God were YOUR Father, YOU would love me, for from God I came forth and am here. Neither have I come of my own initiative at all, but that One sent me forth. Why is it YOU do not know what I am speaking? Because YOU cannot listen to my word. YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie].. . .” –John 8:42-44
The conduct of both sides in Gaza must be analyzed under the Law of Jehovah for in truth all other sources are ultimately a form of lawlessness, and all other sovereignty is both fleeting and sham.
When I first read what I call the Royal Law, after graduating from law school, I sat and wept at its beauty, at its wisdom, and at the feet of its Author, whom I more closely saw for the very first time in my entire life at that moment. The “personality” of the author of that Law is such that I ran headlong towards Him, breathlessly hoping that I would make it and not fall, and I am running still, as best I can, despite all opposition–from within and from without–because I love the Author of the Royal Law, the Savior of the Small and Helpless, the Provider of all those who are without, the Light for all those in darkness, the healer of all those who suffer, and more … the Protector of the widow and fatherless boy, and oh, my, from the depth of my soul I say these words, oh so very, very much more indeed is Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, my God and my Father, the Great One of Forever.
Those are my only credentials if I am to have any credentials. For if any one of those professing to be God’s sons are in truth God’s sons then they are as my brothers and I am speaking to members of my own family. If not, then I am speaking boldly to imposters!
I will provide an installment each week. And I will do this for a span of one year, making for 52 installments in all. And throughout the entire span of 52 weeks one will not be able to find anywhere in the Law of Jehovah, in his regulations or his judicial decisions or his statutes any such ethical construct that provides for “proportionality” or “discrimination,” of the type proposed by Steven Erlanger, except that there was not to be any “discrimination,” except that which divided everything and everyone away from what God enjoins and towards what God instructs, and no “proportionality,” except that cruelty was enjoined always, in every instance, irrespective of fault, and one had a duty to recognize God in all things because it is by means of His glorious right hand and His Word that all things exist.
The horrors of Gaza will continue until the Holy Father resolves this dispute by means of the execution of His Judgments by His Son, who now rules in the heavens and will soon rule everywhere else and over everyone else because everyone else opposed will, simply stated, no longer exist. The horrors of Gaza, under the light of Jehovah’s judicial decisions, can and will leave us with a clear result as between ALL PARTIES INVOLVED.
I am looking forward to hearing your comments as well. ~
