Connections-+Jennifer,+Lauren,+Ron

In class we had a discussion about how President Obama went and talked to the students in Israel about peace between the Palestinians and the Jews. I thought this was an interesting discussion. Some of our class thought he should have talked to the leaders of their country before he talked to the students,but I thought it was good that he talked to the younger generation of kids because they are the ones who will need to stand up and make the change. I think that he should have talked to both the leaders and the students, and I think he did, but I think it was the most important to talk to the younger generation. What I thought that was interesting and new, was when we talked about peace by deterrence. I have never heard of this term before, and it was just nice to find out what it meant. This is where, one group will stop an attack because the other group has threatened to retaliate if they take any action. I think that one of the best things that happened because of the class discussions and the readings were that I was able to grow my thoughts about the conflict and make them more educated and historically backed. I have never really known the recent history of Israel and how it was formed, aside from the general knowledge that the United Nations helped found it after WWII. Understanding the mentalities of the founders, and how it led to the Palestinian crisis and the violence between the two truly opened up my eyes, not just to how unjust the world can be at times, but how truly ignorant and oblivious to the rest of the world we as American's can be. Many Evangelicals probably would argue that it is a Christian's first duty to side with the nation of Israel at all costs, but I have a different perspective. I believe that it is a Christian's higher calling, and more importantly, God given duty to fight injustice in the world wherever it may be perpetrated and by whomever it may be done against. This can't be done with force, but instead with love. The brilliant thing about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount spoken so many years ago in the Holy Land was his statement: "Love your enemy," and this is so revolutionary because truly loving your enemy will overtime change them into a friend and create peace.
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