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The Blame Game

April 5, 2011 - 5:00 am

“Guide me in your truth and teach me,
   for you are God my Savior,
   and my hope is in you all day long.”—Psalm 25:5

Since the beginning of time, humans have played the “blame game.” You know about the first time. After eating the forbidden fruit from the tree at the center of the garden, Adam and Eve hid from God because they knew they had disobeyed Him.

When God asked Adam if he ate the forbidden fruit, Adam replied, “The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12). And when God confronted the woman, she said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13).

And we’ve been playing this game ever since, sometimes over small, petty matters, such as “who ate the last cookie,” to larger, much more significant issues, such as “who is responsible for creating the situation in the Middle East.”

Ever since the United Nations proposed a partition of the Holy Land and the formation of separate Jewish and Arab states, this question has been a thorny, political time bomb waiting to explode. It’s often reported, and in some circles widely accepted, that Israel created the current Palestinian problem by forcibly expelling thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

Of course, this position ignores the fact that many Palestinians left their homes voluntarily. Others left their homes believing their leaders’ assurance of an Arab victory against the “Zionist invaders” and that they would be able to return home quickly. Seldom mentioned by Arab critics is the fact that Israel’s leaders encouraged many of these fleeing Arabs to stay where they were. It’s even written in Israel’s Declaration of Independence that “full and equal citizenship” is guaranteed for all people — Arab and Jew alike.

Clearly, the blame for the Palestinian refugee problem, which persists today, cannot simply be laid at Israel’s feet. The Arab states who refused to accept Israel’s existence in their midst bear the brunt of the responsibility for this tragedy.

What is needed is God’s light to shine on the truth in this situation and elsewhere. Israel desperately needs her friends, people like you, to stand with her and not be swayed by skewed media coverage or “popular opinion,” or to be tempted to play the “blame game.”

We all need to be grounded in a desire for truth, justice, and peace. In these confusing times, may the God Who is truth and justice and peace work in and through us to seek the truth in all situations and respond with His unfailing love.





     

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