Meaning that at the moment, I am sitting on my bed watching the rain hit the sliding glass door that is attached to my balcony and hearing the whistle of the wind come in through the cracks. It maintains the first impression that I had when I first put my things into the closet. Cold rooms but inviting dialog.
Did I mention earlier that I live in a castle? It was built in the late 18oos by an Austrian Duke as a hospital and church thing and converted into what it is now in the early seventies. Their are ruins everywhere and beautiful views that I have begun to appreciate. The director of my program explained to me that people would die to have the type of space and view that we have due to that fact that Israel is small in land mass and large in population. (They have to put all of those Jewish Immigrants some place after all.)
Which leads me to what I really wanted to talk about in this post. It doesn't really have to do with the Law of Return (a law that 1948 Israel put into effect to give any Jew, of any status a place to call home) which many believe is poetic justice for the Jews that have been in the diaspora for the last two thousand-ish years. The last few days my group has been learning about the Zionist movement in Israel. This started as a tour at the Israeli Holocaust museum and ended on top of Mt. Herzl (the birth place of the Israeli civil-religion interesting enough.)
I was even contented to walk through the museum of the 6th Prime Minister of Israel. The Begen center contained a lot of, dare I say it, propaganda. This museum which chronicled his life made it look like he was a God send to the people of Israel, and maybe he was. After all, Begen was the man who signed the Camp David accord with Sadat which Jimmy Carter witnessed. He also received a Nobel Peace Prize, which he also shared with Sadat. Regardless of what I think about him, the museum was well done and even convincing enough that I actually paid attention.
I was even contented to walk through the museum of the 6th Prime Minister of Israel. The Begen center contained a lot of, dare I say it, propaganda. This museum which chronicled his life made it look like he was a God send to the people of Israel, and maybe he was. After all, Begen was the man who signed the Camp David accord with Sadat which Jimmy Carter witnessed. He also received a Nobel Peace Prize, which he also shared with Sadat. Regardless of what I think about him, the museum was well done and even convincing enough that I actually paid attention.
Today I hit a road block in how I was processing different ideas and motives for Zionism and even Nationalism, which is a topic that I discussed in my first paper. The problem I had today involved Christian Zionism, and now that I have had the entire day to process and read a memo that talked about why we had to watch the movie that discussed the view points of what a collection of Christians believe I think I can now articulate how the movie made me feel and why I reacted to it as I did.
Let's just say that my reaction throughout the movie was of utter astonishment and disgust at the lack of tact that these people had. That is putting it as lightly as I possibly can.
I reality, I wanted to remove the connection as a fellow Christian as quickly as possible. Their rhetoric was on one hand that of a normal evangelical back ground, one that I am familiar with. The other half of the movie was of hate, intolerance and ignorance. I cringed every time the main person would come on and justify his language saying it was "a right", whether that right was to spread ignorant statements about religions and cultures he doesn't understand or about encouraging terroristic intentions about destroying another cultures holy places.
Yes, that is exactly how to show love to our neighbors, plotting the demise of their livelihood. YUP, makes me proud to say that I am part of that group. . .NOT.
I can't say that I am perfect or that I am any better than they are but for the last few years I have been trying to live by remembering that everyone was wonderfully and fearfully made. Which makes them important, whether or not you agree with them is besides the point.
I reality, I wanted to remove the connection as a fellow Christian as quickly as possible. Their rhetoric was on one hand that of a normal evangelical back ground, one that I am familiar with. The other half of the movie was of hate, intolerance and ignorance. I cringed every time the main person would come on and justify his language saying it was "a right", whether that right was to spread ignorant statements about religions and cultures he doesn't understand or about encouraging terroristic intentions about destroying another cultures holy places.
Yes, that is exactly how to show love to our neighbors, plotting the demise of their livelihood. YUP, makes me proud to say that I am part of that group. . .NOT.
I can't say that I am perfect or that I am any better than they are but for the last few years I have been trying to live by remembering that everyone was wonderfully and fearfully made. Which makes them important, whether or not you agree with them is besides the point.
Another thing that made me upset was that they were using half truths and corrupted history to make their arguments. I am sorry, but to build an argument on this kind of foundation usually leads to it falling apart because more informed people can tear it down with facts and figures that hold up to a general consensus of academic people.
(I also don't like people messing with history. I understand history is written by the victors and it is important to gather the facts from all sides but some of these claims these people were making was tearing out the part of my soul that is a history major and stomping on it.)
(I also don't like people messing with history. I understand history is written by the victors and it is important to gather the facts from all sides but some of these claims these people were making was tearing out the part of my soul that is a history major and stomping on it.)
The last straw with the movie I had was when they were discussing the time after the tribulation. To put this into the context for those who may not understand the understanding of Armageddon (or the end times of the world) is understood differently by Christians.
As a Christian myself, I do believe that some time in the future, Jesus will return. I don't know when or where or how, but I believe that he will return because that is one of his promises. I don't concern myself with the prophecy or dooms-day sightings because I believe that God wants me to live my life without worrying if tomorrow Jesus will return.
This group of people interviewed discussed many aspects of the end times which includes the rapture, tribulation, a huge war, and the end all millennium (one thousand years of peace and tranquility). When they were discussing the millennium one of the men had to the nerve to say that he didn't even know if there was going to be seasons any more.
No more seasons? Really dude? What made me the most upset was the fact that this man was a (explicit) engineer! A man of science!
I maintain to be a Christian through and through, even to the point that God created the Heavens and the Earth. I also believe that science is very important. He created intelligent people who have been figuring out how Space and our planets works for the last few hundred years, and guess what, because God made the night and day*
*Quick science lesson: Due to the fact that our earth rotates to give us night and day it also moves the earth closer and farther away from the sun giving us seasons. It's opposite seasons for the North and South Hemispheres, but still, seasons have happened since God created the Earth and will continue to happen until the (explicit) sun blows up.
As a Christian myself, I do believe that some time in the future, Jesus will return. I don't know when or where or how, but I believe that he will return because that is one of his promises. I don't concern myself with the prophecy or dooms-day sightings because I believe that God wants me to live my life without worrying if tomorrow Jesus will return.
This group of people interviewed discussed many aspects of the end times which includes the rapture, tribulation, a huge war, and the end all millennium (one thousand years of peace and tranquility). When they were discussing the millennium one of the men had to the nerve to say that he didn't even know if there was going to be seasons any more.
No more seasons? Really dude? What made me the most upset was the fact that this man was a (explicit) engineer! A man of science!
I maintain to be a Christian through and through, even to the point that God created the Heavens and the Earth. I also believe that science is very important. He created intelligent people who have been figuring out how Space and our planets works for the last few hundred years, and guess what, because God made the night and day*
*Quick science lesson: Due to the fact that our earth rotates to give us night and day it also moves the earth closer and farther away from the sun giving us seasons. It's opposite seasons for the North and South Hemispheres, but still, seasons have happened since God created the Earth and will continue to happen until the (explicit) sun blows up.
Now granted, just the fact that I say I believe in an esoteric religion that goes against the very nature of humans many people would say that I am just as ignorant as the people from this movie are. I don't think so.
Just because I believe that people should treat others well. That love, hope, peace, and joy are important things that should be shown everyday. Also the little thing of believing that a stonemason (what Jesus really was, because there isn't a lot of wood in Israel) was the son of God and that is how I am going to heaven.
I think most people agree that being a good person makes the world a little better by following the golden rule (one that is expressed in every culture in every part of the world by the way.) I just happen to have Jesus tacked onto my belief system.
Just because I believe that people should treat others well. That love, hope, peace, and joy are important things that should be shown everyday. Also the little thing of believing that a stonemason (what Jesus really was, because there isn't a lot of wood in Israel) was the son of God and that is how I am going to heaven.
I think most people agree that being a good person makes the world a little better by following the golden rule (one that is expressed in every culture in every part of the world by the way.) I just happen to have Jesus tacked onto my belief system.
In any case, I do believe that I have used up my ranting quota for the month of February already, but I think the space was well used.
In reality this has been the only thing that really has gotten me upset and much of my experience so far has been fantastic.
Peace and love
Kylie
In reality this has been the only thing that really has gotten me upset and much of my experience so far has been fantastic.
Peace and love
Kylie
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