\u201cAll who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d \u20142 Timothy 3:12<\/p>\n
I returned home last weekend after spending two weeks in Israel, where I observed their latest elections firsthand. As you know, a coalition led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu won<\/a> enough seats in the Israeli parliament to form a new government.<\/p>\n What you may not know, however, is why this story matters to every evangelical Christian in America.<\/p>\n The popular vote was evenly split with about 49 percent going to Mr. Netanyahu and 49 percent going to his opponents. However, as my Israeli friends explained to me, Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s victory was fueled primarily by the rise of a political partnership led by two men who are unfamiliar to Americans but who are dominating the news in their country.<\/p>\n Bezalel Smotrich leads a political party called Religious Zionism which, as Israeli political commentator David Horovitz explains<\/a>, \u201cultimately seeks an Israel run according to the laws of the Torah.\u201d Itamar Ben Gvir leads Otzma Yehudit, which \u201cadvocates the annexation of the biblical Judea and Samaria for an enlarged sovereign Jewish state in which West Bank Palestinians would be denied equal rights.\u201d<\/p>\n The two parties formed a coalition with Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s secular Likud party to win a sixty-four-seat governing majority in the 120-seat parliament. This coalition, according to my Israeli friends, is fueled less by popular support for Smotrich and Ben Gvir\u2019s actual agendas and more in response to the security threats Israel is facing. Violence in the West Bank is escalating<\/a> dramatically; Iran continues to arm Hezbollah in Lebanon while pursuing nuclear capacities that pose<\/a> an \u201cexistential threat\u201d to Israel.<\/p>\n As last week\u2019s election showed once again, a tiny nation surrounded by enemies will always put its defense ahead of other political issues.<\/p>\n Why is this fact relevant to you and me?<\/p>\n For the answer, we must explore briefly the global rise in anti-Semitism that is contributing to the political situation in Israel.<\/p>\n NBA star Kyrie Irving was suspended<\/a> last week by the Brooklyn Nets after posting a documentary with antisemitic conspiracy theories and falsehoods on Twitter. Nike<\/a> also suspended its relationship with him in the wake of the controversy. Irving later apologized<\/a> to the Jewish community.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Jewish advocacy group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) warns<\/a> that anti-Semitism is rising on US college campuses at a time when violence against Jews in America has reached record levels. Last year, the ADL reported 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism against the Jewish people, a 34 percent increase<\/a> from the year before and the highest number on record since the group began tracking anti-Semitic incidents in 1979.<\/p>\n Anti-Semitism has been called<\/a> \u201chistory\u2019s oldest hatred.\u201d Many factors explain this tragic narrative, but one is especially relevant for Christians in America: the Jewish commitment throughout history to maintaining their unique religious identity.<\/p>\n Jews refused to worship the gods of Persia (cf. Daniel 3 and 6), Greece (thus the Maccabean revolt), and Rome (thus the revolt that led to the destruction of the temple in AD 70). They have been committed throughout their history to truth and morality as expressed in their 613 commandments (mitzvot<\/em> in Hebrew) extracted from the Old Testament that govern<\/a> every dimension of their lives.<\/p>\n Why is this commitment relevant for you and me?<\/p>\n George Barna and the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University have just released (PDF)<\/a> a new report studying morality in the US. Here\u2019s the good news: \u201cMost Americans, regardless of their religious faith, champion traditional moral values.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the bad news: 71 percent \u201cnow contend that human beings rather than God should be the judge of right and wrong.\u201d Forty-two percent said \u201cwhat you feel in your heart\u201d is the best moral guide, followed by 29 percent who said we should base morality on majority rule. Only 29 percent said principles taught in the Bible should guide our morality.<\/p>\n By contrast, 66 percent of American adults who possess a biblical worldview said that the Bible should be the main source of determining right and wrong.<\/p>\n As the history of anti-Semitism shows, if you will not bow to the gods of your culture, you will face the wrath of your culture<\/em>. Paul warned us: \u201cAll<\/em> who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted\u201d (2 Timothy 3:12, my emphasis).<\/p>\n We can therefore determine the degree to which we follow Jesus by the degree to which the world opposes us.<\/p>\n If worshiping God yesterday does not make us different from those who did not worship him, did we truly encounter God? If you and I are not living in ways that distinguish us from our secularized, post-Christian culture, how can we truly be following Jesus?<\/p>\n The more we experience Jesus, the more we will become like him (Romans 8:29) and the less we will be like those who oppose him (cf. 1 John 3:1).<\/p>\n Gordon Fee has been called<\/a> \u201cone of the most influential New Testament scholars who has ever lived.\u201d A textbook he wrote with colleague Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth<\/em><\/a>,<\/a> was the primary textbook I used in teaching biblical interpretation courses in seminary. It is now in its fourth edition and has sold around a million copies.<\/p>\n Fee died<\/a> recently at the age of eighty-eight. In a 1988 paper reflecting on Bible study and spirituality, he concluded (PDF)<\/a> that to study God\u2019s word properly, \u201cWe must hear the words with our hearts, we must bask in God\u2019s own glory, we must be moved to a sense of overwhelming awe at God\u2019s riches in glory, we must think again on the incredible wonder that these riches are ours in Christ Jesus, and we must then worship the living God by singing praises to his glory.\u201d<\/p>\n By this measure, did you \u201cworship the living God\u201d yesterday?<\/p>\n Will you today?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAll who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.\u201d \u20142 Timothy 3:12 I returned home last weekend after spending two weeks in Israel, where I observed their latest elections firsthand. As you know, a coalition…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4396,"featured_media":2479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe issue above all other issues<\/h2>\n
Kyrie Irving\u2019s suspension and the rise of anti-Semitism<\/h2>\n
Should the Bible govern morality?<\/h2>\n
\u201cA sense of overwhelming awe\u201d<\/h2>\n