By Pastor: Bassam Bannoura

It has been more than 40 days since the events of October 7th started in the Holy Land. Many people in the world have already recovered from a state of shock and entered a state of rage with a desire to know the reasons behind the 7th of October.

As a Palestinian Christian, I do understand the anger and the urge to act. I also understand the frustration and the rush to take swift measures as a response to the killings and destruction.

This situation recalls what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:26 “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” It is true that this is easy to say and quote from the Scriptures, but it is difficult to live.

• Sinners and lost people resort to evil methods to inflict pain and sorrow upon others.
• Christians are called to act as loving humans and not like killers.
• The doctrine of “an eye for an eye” and “a tooth for a tooth” is not Christian.

In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus said: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt.5:43-45).

Our Lord wants us to “be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom.12:21). Overcoming evil with good might not quench the thirst of an angry person for retaliation, but still, we must follow the way of God and not our emotions.

The above exhortation does not mean that we must be tolerant or passive towards those who have committed these crimes. Even the Bible teaches us that such people must be brought to justice, as we read in Romans 13:4-6.

As a Christian, I understand that the mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel to every individual from every nation under heaven. We read in 2 Peter 3:9 that our God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. Also, in 1Tim.2:4 we read that God our savior wants “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of truth.” This basic biblical truth is applicable to every human being on planet earth. The Church is called to preach the Gospel to all. I know for sure that Jesus loves all the lost, and we are also called to love them and to reach out to them with the Truth.

• It is time for us as Christians to see every human being with true Christian eyes.
• Palestinians are people like everybody else. They have dreams, hopes, fears, disappointments, hurts, and needs like every other human being.
• The problem with all humans, as I understand it from my Bible, is that they are sinners, lost, and deceived.
• Our response as Christians is to hate the deception but to love the deceived.
• God is calling us to love our neighbors.
• We must differentiate between people and wrongdoings.

We are living in a violent world, and as Christians, we know that there will never be peace until Jesus comes. We know also that we are called to the ministry of reconciliation. It is the ministry of the Church to walk towards reconciling people with God, hoping and believing that this will cause people to be reconciled with each other as well.

Let us pray together for a new beginning in “The Land of Jesus”, where people will accept each other, and celebrate life instead of living in fear and pain.