Beginning with words from the “Book of Amos” in the Old Testament, young Palestinian Christian men and women issued a statement describing it as urgent, expressing “our repentance and our hope in light of the injustice that befalls us,” and calling on the recipients of the statement to read it carefully and think deeply about Him and Christ.
The group calling itself “Christ at the Checkpoint” said that “we stand firmly in the face of violence, and hate the suffering of all innocents, but we refuse to fall into the trap of equalizing the violence and domination of the regime with the violence of the oppressed in their resistance to the regimes that oppress them. Failure to take an explicit and firm stance towards the regimes The attempt to adopt moderation and suffice with denouncing all violence indicates ignorance or intentional or unintentional support for the powerful. Read also When Christians, Jews and Muslims wore the red fez.. the time of Ottoman coexistence and the eras of bloody sectarianism He was not a white-skinned European.. the drawings of Jesus that ignore his Middle Eastern features Anger is for God and his religion.. Christian and Islamic wars through the eyes of Ibn Khaldun
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The group is a branch of the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, which is held every two years in the city of Bethlehem.
The statement continued, saying, “The wrath of the Palestinians is a holy wrath (Ephesians 4:26-27) that is shed by the yoke of injustice: the oppression of apartheid, settler colonialism, and the ongoing oppression of the Palestinians. Our political leadership and those with influence are participants in this oppression and they have served the powerful directly and indirectly.” Jesus Christ is present today with the Palestinians who are suffering and resisting tyranny across the country (Matthew 25:31-46)
The statement’s words seemed unique and unusual. On the one hand, they offer an unprecedented self-criticism, and moreover emphasize the necessity of action and nonviolent action to resist injustice rather than passive calls for calm.
“Theology of Palestinian Liberation”
In essay platform “Mundoas” ( Mondoweiss ) saw writer Jack Monaar that statement seems inspired by “theology black liberation ” adding that many theologians Palestinians and activists Christians emerging studying ideas liberation theology, especially God oppressed of world American theologian James fact 1938-2018 And they came to the conclusion that we need to fundamentally rethink how we engage the oppressive colonial system in which we live.
Monayer continues, “Just as the civil rights movement had a strong Christian presence in its resistance to racial superiority, we must also find it in the Palestinian context…There is much to be said about comparing these two different positions, but the bottom line is that Palestinian Christian youth have a new understanding of their situation and there There is a need to break free from the shackles of theology and Western influences that aim to ease our conditions.”
The ideas of “liberation theology” emerged in Latin America in the fifties and sixties of the twentieth century by evangelical preachers, missionaries and priests as a protest and moral response to poverty and social injustice, and a demand for political liberation for oppressed peoples. This term was coined in 1971 by the Dominican priest Gustavo Gutiárrez, who saw that European theology What he studies does not reflect the repressive material conditions in Latin America.
The term “black theology” refers to the religious theory popular in America’s black churches that seeks to liberate people from forms of political, social, and economic slavery, and for which civil rights issues are a priority.
The statement of the Messiah Group at the Checkpoint reads, “We must stand up and stand up for our dignity and the dignity of our brothers and sisters with whom we share coexistence and the pain and blood that cries out from the land. It is time for nonviolent resistance through an act that bears witness to our God, the God of the oppressed, based on the legacy of Palestinian fortitude.” The statement continues, “We have to be a society that directs its eyes to work, and is committed to supporting the dumb and the oppressed. Our statements, our theological books and our sermons must be rooted in our reality and context, and be ratified by more actions, otherwise they are incomplete and empty.”
The statement added, “We must uproot our tribal mentality that tries to isolate us from our neighbors and from the reality around us. We spend most of our energy in internal conflicts of power, positions and money, things that we must be prepared to lose as disciples of Christ and the Kingdom of God. Our oppressors use this mentality to divide us, so We must join hands with one another (John 17:21).”
The statement calls for an end to financial colonization and Western influence on Palestinian churches, which are “used to keep pace with and settle our society, especially the influence of Christian Zionism.” It also called for “confronting anti-Islamic ideas and any other tendencies that exclude the other.”
The statement pointed to the need to “confront those in positions of authority with the truth firmly, and this includes our leadership,” calling for “developing steps that combat the oppression of the weak in our society and renewing the commitment to solidarity with the oppressed.”
Christians of Palestine
In his article previous published on Al-Jazeera Net, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Christian Organization for the Support of Jerusalem and the Holy Sanctuaries, Hanna Issa, saw that the most dangerous thing that the Christians of Palestine faced, especially after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, was the Judaization and confiscation of land, stressing that “the roots of Arab Christians are deep. In the land of Palestine, Jerusalem always radiates life and nourishes it, and it has received, throughout the ages, brothers and sisters in the faith of pilgrims, resident and transient, calling them to learn about the sources that nourish their faith.
Monayer says that to his knowledge, “no one in our society has issued a statement like a statement of repentance and hope,” adding that “public self-critical statements are unusual here, and are likely to cause a lot of negative reactions, but this can wake the sleepers from their slumber and open discussions about Our role in this conflict.”
“Demographically speaking, we are a small part of the population in this land, yet one could argue that the influence of Palestinian Christians internally and externally is huge… Are we using our full potential?”
Moreover, Monayer continues, “If we expect the international community to end occupation and discrimination in this land for our sake, we are unfortunately wrong. It is time for us to come together and rethink our approach to this conflict and rebuild our strategy. We should also break the mentality Tribalism, no matter how others treat us, we have to stand strong with our convictions.”
The Christ at the Checkpoint group describes itself as “young women and men, Christians and Christians, Palestinians and Palestinians from the 1948 territories, Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza; we cannot remain silent about what is happening in our society.” And they added, “We acknowledge our guilt and repent of our inactivity, our inaction and our lack of solidarity with the most suffering of colonial oppression in recent events and over the years. “Severe failure in their statements and actions regarding the ongoing injustice experienced by the Palestinians.”
The conferences “Christ at the Checkpoint” focus on the Palestinian Christian youth, and seek to encourage them to take an active role as followers of Christ in spreading justice and peace, by discussing the political and social challenges in our societies from the perspective of the Bible.