Arna’s Children

Paradise Now

The Law in These Parts (there’s a screening on May 11th at DOXA Film Festival in Vancouver)

People presumed that I was a Christian back then – after all, I could name all the famous Bible characters, I “believed” that “Jesus is my savior” and reaffirmed that to my summer camp leaders, and I “served the Lord” in various ministries.

But it was only after falling away from the Lord that I realize: I was  not a Christian during all those years!

If one truly believed in the Word, then one would produce good fruits. I realize that during the past couple of years, all I was capable of doing was producing rotten fruits – jealousy, contempt, anger…and the list goes on.

How is it that a presumably “good Christian girl” could be capable of falling away from God?

Simple. It is because I never really cared for God before.

Many North American kids would go through the usual church routine every weekend, without really examining their true motivations for going to church-related activities.

In the past, I’ve been guilty of going to church because I wanted to:

1. Socialize with the friends I grew up with
2. Uphold my “good Christian girl” image in front of others

Simply put, I was never motivated to go to church because I truly wanted to seek God.

I left Vancouver to attend university in the States. That was when I stopped going to any church-related activities.

No one would nag me to go to Sunday School, and I always had convenient excuses for not attending service or fellowship (“I have like 3 midterms next week! God can wait…”).

I also felt invincible – that I was attending a prestigious university, getting stellar grades, in a steady relationship, not doing drugs or getting into trouble with the police.

My pride and arrogance blinded me from seeing the need for God in my life.

It took a really bad fall to make me wake up and realize how broken of a person I’ve become. That I am not as perfect as I make myself out to be. That I am truly flawed, sinful, and in need of God’s grace and mercy. And that there is no better plan than to submit to God’s authority and see how I can do His will – not mine.

After a 4-and-a-half year dry spell, I’ve finally started to produce a few good fruits. I’m still a work-in-progress, but I’m so happy and glad to have God in my life again.

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⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

I also had the freedom to rebel, and I chose to do that while I was away.

I did not fear and love God. I was a fool.

———

My dad likened it to the freedom that God has given humans. God gave us a mind to think for ourselves. He also gave us freedom of choice to do whatever we desire.

God loves us to the point of giving us the freedom to rebel against Him.

This verse struck me:

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Mark 15:12-15

Out of love, God gave us freedom. How much it must pain and anger God for us to rebel against Him.

———

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 1:7

Beit Romano, an Israeli settlement in Hebron's Old City

When I first encountered the word, “settlement,” I thought it was comprised of tents and people touting guns to settle a piece of barren land. But in this part of the world, “settlements” pretty much mean physical concrete structures that are built smack dab in the middle of existing Arab neighborhoods.

So how does that affect the local population (read: Palestinians) who have been living there for centuries?

I think the best approach is simply to examine the physical structures that surround a settlement. I’ll take Beit Romano as an example (pictured above).

In order to “secure” a settlement, the Israelis would create buffer zones (“secure areas”) around a settlement.

They would create these buffer zones by:

1. Evicting Palestinian tenants out of their buildings
2. Welding shut Palestinians’ stores
3. Closing off roads to Palestinians

One of my Palestinian friends’ parents used to live in the house pictured on the right, but they were soon evicted after the Israelis deemed them a security threat. Now, a soldier occupies the roof of the building.

To give you an idea of the economic impact of the settlements in Hebron, 1,829 Palestinian shops located in and around Hebron’s Old City have closed between 2000 and 2007. Of the closed shops, 440 of them were closed due to military orders.

The map below shows the extent of the closures in Hebron’s city center. All the areas shaded in purple are the closed areas, while the blue areas are the Israeli settlements.

For more info, check out the resources listed here.

This conflict will not be solved, unless people could find within themselves the capacity to love, forgive, and empathize with the “other.”

“What happens in a war?”

“People do nasty things to each other.”

“Like what?”

“Well, people would destroy each others’ homes.”

“With what?”

“With weapons.”

“What are weapons?”

“Weapons are things that you use to destroy other things.”

“Why do people use weapons?”

“Because they don’t like other people.”

“Why don’t they like other people?”

“Well, for a lot of reasons. That’s why there is war in the world.”

“I don’t like wars.”

“Me neither.”

“Then why do we have wars, grandma?”

My friends in Hebron always ask about my travels, and comment on how young I am to be traveling the world far and wide. Many do not have the opportunities to travel abroad, whether it is because of the Israeli border control or their lack of financial means.

I’m also thankful for my parents, who have supported all my endeavors, regardless of how much pain and worry I sometimes cause them…

And of course, I’m thankful for God’s presence in my life and His Hand in all my endeavors. Without Him, I am nothing.

Photo credit: Lo Yuk Fai

If only we can put it into practice.

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1 Corinthians 13

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

But is Israel in her current manifestation really the fulfillment of God’s prophecy? Who is to say that the state is the state that God really wants? Especially when the state does everything that is contrary to what is deemed Christ-like behavior?

Plain and simple, the current state of Israel is a political construct. It is not a nation under God, and never was one to begin with. The Zionist movement – which led up to the creation of the state of Israel – is a secular, political movement. It was – and still is – comprised predominantly of secular Jews.

Is God’s promise to the Jews unconditional, and that He will bless a nation that is rife with human rights abuses and ungodly ways of dealing with others? And did God call on a political project that would destroy the lives of thousands of Palestinians?

I think one way of supporting Israel is to make sure that she is upholding God’s principle of love, mercy, compassion, and justice – things that she is not doing right now.

Moreover, God never called us to support certain political parties or governments – these are all man-made. All we know for certain is that God called us to be loving and merciful to others.

To quote a pastor from Jerusalem, “To idealize the religious significance of the State of Israel is to close one’s eyes to the spiritual, religious and moral realities of the modern Jewish state.”

2) Israel provides a safe haven for Christians, unlike all the other countries surrounding it.

Evangelical Christians are not allowed into Israel. In fact, some Messianic Jews are persecuted within Israel by other Jews.

An article by Amira Hass paints a different picture of Israel as a “safe haven” for Christians.

3) Injustices happen in other countries too, so why should we point out all the wrong things in Israel? Why should we single out Israel?

Just because these injustices happen in other countries doesn’t make what Israel is doing okay.

It’s the same thing as saying, “This person is doing drugs, so it must make it okay for my kids to do it too.” There are certain principles and values that you cannot backslide on – you uphold them wherever you go.

Shining a light on injustices is ever so important – not only in autocratic regimes, but also in democracies. We become lazy and falsely presume that democracies are well-oiled regimes that need no checks and balances from others – that they are infallible and moral constructs.

But wasn’t it a 21^st century democracy – with the implicit and explicit backing of many other Western democracies – that led to the deaths of thousands in the Middle East?

Israel self-identifies as a democracy that upholds democratic principles and adheres to human rights conventions. When there is a disconnect between what the State says, and what its actions are, we need to keep the government accountable.

Martin Luther rightly said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

4) But you have to admit that these barriers, fences, checkpoints, etc. – though unpleasant – do help keep terrorists out.

Is it more important to secure the lives of your own citizens, at the expense of the liberties, freedoms, and lives of others?

Answering positively to this question translates to ill-conceived policies and security procedures, like pre-emptive wars.

Could you live in peace, knowing that your security is bought at the expense of thousands who had no choice but to submit to the Western world’s imposition of “justice” and “security”?

And who is to say that these security and pre-emptive measures really solve the root of the conflict? They may end up perpetuating the hatred and animosity in future generations.

Put simply, they are bandage solutions to a gushing wound. They not only fail at resolving the conflict, but perpetuate it.

Here in Vancouver, no one would dare to make eye-contact with you. The other day, I was on the Skytrain, and I suddenly felt alone. So very alone.

Why all the gloomy faces? Why all the effort placed on avoiding a simple contact with another?

We lead such separate lives here in North America. No one would want to go up to a stranger and genuinely ask them, “How are you?” Or even just to smile at each other.

I bet if I went inside everyone’s head on the Skytrain, each of them secretly want others to reach out to them and connect with them.

And that’s exactly what happens when I go on the Skytrain nowadays. Yesterday, a woman approached me because I was holding a Jerusalem bag, and she asked where I got it. By the end of our conversation, she was really eager to come to my presentations on Israel and Palestine. What a lovely lady, whom one might have simply dismissed, avoided eye contact, or just plugged in your ipod to avoid “small talk.”