Book Review: Tea With Hezbollah

I have a new favorite Ted Dekker book.

The 3.5 faithful readers will know that Ted is pretty much my favorite fiction writer. Okay, so he's pretty much the only fiction writer I have read in the past 10 years. His writing, while fiction, is so stimulating theologically that I suck it dry when I read it.

But this new book is not fiction. Far from it. It's all too real.

Ted, and his friend Carl Medearis, travelled a few years ago to the Middle East, on one specific quest: to discover if the teaching of Jesus--that we are to love our neighbor as ourself--is being talked about, taught, or even followed. And specifically when that neighbor is your enemy, what then?

Ted & Carl sit down with many people that leaders here in the US (and can I say, most people who call themselves Christians) would clearly define as enemies. Muslim teachers and leaders. Hezbollah. Hamas. Regular people like cabbies and tour guides. And in between the great writing of Ted, they post verbatim what these "enemies" have to say about life, about what makes them laugh, and what they think about Jesus' teaching to love your enemy. And at the end they even get to meet some of the remaining 700 or so Samaritans still living in Israel.

This book is, as my friend Thom Wolfe said on the back cover, irreverent. But it is full of truth. And it point to Truth in the man from Nazareth.

Muslims, Jews and Christians have several things in common. A couple of them are (1) they claim to worship the God of Abraham; and (2) they by and large ignore the actual teachings of Jesus.

This book gets the coveted 5 bellybutton rating. 00000. Read it. And take another look at what Jesus calls us to.

Israel and Palestine

I hope to tread lightly here...this is a delicate and divisive topic. Israel has a special place in my heart, my family and my ministry. Palestinians include a number of Christian churches and communities who can trace their ancestry back to the first and second centuries, and they find themselves in a diffucult and sometimes desperate situation today.

By now everyone has heard of the deadly skirmish that took place between a boat operated by a Turkish aid organization and Israeli military forces. Everyone has chosen sides, and I have no doubt that those sides directly relate to the position that anyone held going into the event, either pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian.

The truth is this was a bad idea on both sides. The aid boat brought the kerosene, the military brought the matches, and the two were going to result in a fire. We can debate forever the "first causes" of such a situation--is it the blockade by Israel of Palestine, is it the leadership of Hamas who promotes the extinction of Israel, is it the occupied-by-Israel territory, the severe hardships of Palestinians, the millenia-long persecution of Jews, etc. etc. There are innumerable causes to return to. But do we ever get anywhere?

Like usual, I've got a few broad thoughts I want to share. None of them probably provide any solution to the current relationship--or lack thereof--between Israel and Palestinians (or most of her neighbors for that matter), but maybe they can cause us to think and act not according to our preconceived notions but according to wisdom and character.

1. No ally is perfect. Yes, Israel is our best and most trusted ally in the region. But allies make mistakes, and quite frankly it should be okay for us to discuss our mistakes with friends. I'm not saying Israel made a mistake, but I am saying that the call for unmitigated support of Israel regardless of their actions, especially from some Christian circles, is out of touch with reality. When the early nation of Israel oppressed the alien and stranger among them, God sent prophets to call them on it. Today should be no different. And if we are oppressing the alien and stranger among us, our friends should be the ones telling us "Hey, you need to do something about this."

2. This situation is not George Bush's fault, nor is it Barack Obama's fault. Stop using world politics to blame American politicians that you disagree with.

3. As the church, let's make sure that we always consider being a voice for those who have little or no voice of their own. We are not to be impressed with the places and positions of power but are called to understand, like Mother Teresa (and I guess like Jesus of Nazareth), that humble love and service and sacrifice will change the world over the long haul. The ring of power will destroy those who arrogantly think that they can overcome evil with evil. "Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are the household of faith." Ga 6.9-10 ESV

"Let us not grow weary..."