Tel Aviv

What I heard on the news sickened me last night!

When a ceasefire is in place, you hope that everyone will try and make it work. then a few brainless heartless dissidents go and jeopardise it all. Regardless of what you may believe, these people don't serve God... these people:

"Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace."

Personally I would urge the Israeli Government not to retaliate, for as Solomon, king of Israel once wrote:

"My son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds!"

Sorry to get so heavy on a Saturday morning folks.... just hearing the news upset me. I saw Panorama once, when a reporter was allowed access to a suicide bombers training camp, and it enraged me. YOU DO NOT TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO BECOME CANNON FODDER FOR YOUR IDEALS. There was that famous poster with a toddler strapped with explosives, that was used in a recruitment campaign. Utterly disgusting and repugnant.

Both sides have treated one another terribly in the past... but when there is hope for peace, it is absolutely imperative that everyone holds their nerve.

My prayers go out to the people who have suffered on this occasion.

I know a lot of people who would say, there will never be peace in the Middle East until such and such happens. I don't like the mentality of only backing a cause you know you can win. In my mind if you believe what you are saying is right, you should stand by it even in the face of adversity... and I'm not saying you have to use violence at all. I'm saying stand by your principles and adhere to them when oppression comes, whatever form it takes... don't cave just because all the other fish are swimming the other way. What I'm saying actually is opposed to the violence we see around us. Do we do the easy thing, cave in and start blowing people up? Or do we hold to the truth, have faith in our convictions and just trust that good will win out in the end?

I'm not saying there isn't a case for resistance in some instances, but we should not yield to the impulse and temptation to resort to violence so readily.

The law of this world is "survival of the fittest", the law of God is "love your neighbour as yourself".

We must constantly choose which one to serve.