• South African Christians divided over morality of genocide

    From Steve Hayes@21:1/5 to All on Sun Apr 13 05:06:48 2025
    XPost: za.misc, alt.religion.christianity, alt.christnet.ethics
    XPost: alt.christnet.evangelical, alt.christian.religion

    On Saturday, 22 March 2025 an event was held that was presented as an
    occasion for national prayer and repentance, with the intention of
    encouraging Christians "to reflect and realign our hearts with God´s
    purpose for South Africa." The speakers included prominent South
    African leaders and the event was live-streamed on YouTube and
    Facebook.

    As South African Christians of various traditions and political
    affiliations, we are united in affirming that our nation is in real
    need of prayer and repentance, and that aligning our hearts with God´s purposes is of the utmost importance. We are also pleased that
    speakers explicitly repented of the sinfulness of our country´s
    apartheid past.

    However, the full agenda of this meeting only became apparent towards
    the end, when a "Prophetess Janet" stated that what South Africa needs
    to repent of is "that which has been brought against the nation of
    Israel" and that "our destiny as a nation is tied to Israel." She
    proceeded to declare (claiming to speak the words of God) the need to
    "win this nation [South Africa] from the hands of Islam," going so far
    as to call for a new political leadership. The meeting ended in the
    ritual lighting of a seven-branched candelabra and a dance in which
    the dancers were attired in the Israeli colours and the Star of David
    while singing in Hebrew.

    Whatever our perspectives on our government´s record on various
    matters, we want to unequivocally affirm that its action in taking
    Israel to the International Court of Justice, and its stance against
    Israeli apartheid and genocide more broadly, is a righteous action and something that makes us proud to be South Africans. Indeed, those who
    need to repent are those who have supported, and sought to provide
    theological justification for, the actions of an illegitimate,
    apartheid, and genocidal state. The modern state of Israel cannot be
    equated with any of the biblical references to Israel. So-called
    Christian Zionism is a heresy and its interpretation of Scripture is
    absolutely alien to a traditional Christian understanding.

    Read it all here:

    <https://sites.google.com/view/sachristians-not-in-our-name/home>


    --
    Steve Hayes
    http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    http://khanya.wordpress.com

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