Jews News (www.jewsnews.co.il) an online Israeli news and social networking service, just published an article entitled "Presbyterian Church Proposal to Wipe Israel Off the Map". For several years, the mainline and largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S., the PCUSA, has divested from companies doing business with the State of Israel. What that means is that the denomination will not do business with Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola Solutions because, in the words of a resolution letter from their 221st General Assembly [These investments] " ... are not in compliance with the church's policy on socially responsible investing." What's significant here is all those companies that the PCUSA has seen fit NOT to divest from; companies that deal in countries with far worse human rights and religious rights abuse than relatively benign Israel. Jews News reports that earlier this month the Israeli Law Center filed a legal complaint against the PCUSA for its connections with Hezbollah. The complaint alleges violations of the US tax code for the denomination's unlawful lobbying and contact with this US-designated terrorist organization. So ... to the PCUSA, Israel's BAD, but Hezbollah's NOT so bad? Clearly it's a double standard, but since the denomination already chokes on the idea of biblical/traditional marriage, then this Israel-divestiture thing is really "small potatoes" to them. They've already "swallowed the camel" (Mt. 23:24), so it should come as no surprise that they're going to commit lesser stupidities as well.
But the PCUSA's moral shenanigans don't stop there: at the recent GA, there was a proposed resolution to strike out the word "Israel" from their hymnal. Their new Presbyterian Hymnal Glory to God (2013) contains a section of hymns entitled "God's Covenant with Israel". The proposed resolution (Yes, it was defeated, THIS time at least!) recommended a re-education process regarding the difference between biblical Israel and the modern state of Israel.
Now there IS a difference between the two. And it's worth talking about because not only is this a theological question but it's also a question that affects American-Israeli relations, Jewish-Christian relations, and as well as the way the American evangelical churches' version of the gospel is heard and interpreted by the Muslim world. We'll have more to say about that in subsequent blogs because with the PCUSA's current climate of moral ineptitude, they can't be trusted to arrive at the right answer themselves.
But the PCUSA's moral shenanigans don't stop there: at the recent GA, there was a proposed resolution to strike out the word "Israel" from their hymnal. Their new Presbyterian Hymnal Glory to God (2013) contains a section of hymns entitled "God's Covenant with Israel". The proposed resolution (Yes, it was defeated, THIS time at least!) recommended a re-education process regarding the difference between biblical Israel and the modern state of Israel.
Now there IS a difference between the two. And it's worth talking about because not only is this a theological question but it's also a question that affects American-Israeli relations, Jewish-Christian relations, and as well as the way the American evangelical churches' version of the gospel is heard and interpreted by the Muslim world. We'll have more to say about that in subsequent blogs because with the PCUSA's current climate of moral ineptitude, they can't be trusted to arrive at the right answer themselves.
