ISRAEL UPDATEAugust 24, 2003-on August 21, 1969, Michael Dennis Rohan, an Australian fundamentalist Christian, set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, believing that he was called by G-d to destroy Muslim mosques.
Most people would view this as an irrational act that would only increase problems, showing the futility of misguided religious fervor. But is Rohan’s action anymore irrational than the pressure that is constantly applied to Israel to force them to implement the Road Map peace plan?
This author believes the Road Map plan is more irrational than setting a wooden pulpit on fire in a mosque, simply because so much more is at stake.
The heads of state and experts that make up the Quartet, i.e., the United States, European Union, the United Nations, and the former Soviet Union (now the C.I.S.), are all aware of the true intentions of the Palestinian state.
Yet they pressure Israel from every angle, while pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of those who are massacring innocent civilians, destroying religious sites, and causing untold financial misery on both sides.
So as we pass the 34th anniversary of an act so irrational… committed by a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic… comparing the expectations put on Israel to implement the Road Map… we ask, what's the difference?
Peace has not come because of the Road Map, nor will it come because of it. Soon much more will be on fire than just one mosque, but rather an entire region – all in the name of peace and Palestinian nationalism.
August 24, 2003 – Third on the list is the Kizai Pharisee, or bleeding Pharisee, as he makes his blood to flow against walls. He is so distraught over looking at a woman he dashes his face against the wall, bruising himself.
This is scary philosophy, not theology. They believed that inflicting pain for one sin would negate the other one - thus the sins would balance, or cancel each other out.
Is it any wonder that the belief system of the Pharisees would come into such sharp conflict with the teachings of Jesus?
Prophets of Baal, cutting themselves to be heard of G-d - people offering child sacrifice to the fiery G-d Molech - modern day throwing children to the crocodiles - the Buddhist monk that sets himself on fire in protest – these are examples of this type of belief.
Some people in other countries beat themselves with whips, or hang themselves on crosses, then plunge into the salty ocean waters to purge themselves from sin.
These are external methods and do not deal with the issues of the heart. One good deed cannot absolve a bad deed - a belief created by the Pharisees and also a foundation of Catholic theology.
Man cannot please G-d in his own service and sacrifice, as the Apostle Paul put it so succinctly, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing good." I Corinthians 13:3
Even in church circles today, the bleeding Pharisee is alive and well. This is because people not knowing or understanding G-d, try through deprivation and affliction to purge their sins - something only the blood of Christ can accomplish.
To be continued…