Month: April 2024

4 Walls

Posted on by josuter

4 Walls

Does evil exist in the world?  What would it look like?  What connection does it have with morality?  Opposing fighting forces appear to have different moralities – or do they simply have opposing goals, like opponents on a football field?  Death penalty supporters ignore the innocence of some death row inmates, a fact proved with DNA evidence.  Does evil exist here? 

Genocide must be evil, right?  Or is genocide a relief valve for the fear and hatred that has built up over years?  Scour the history.  Look under rocks.  Were does this evil comes from?  One group of people may carry the burden and suffer the consequences of someone else’s sin.  The Jews may have carried the burden of hatred and fear carried within the hearts of the Germans.  Now the Palestinians carry that same burden of the Jews.  This is tangible, even measurable.  Evil must exist then, right?

Yet evil may only reside in the hearts of humans led astray by stories that point in the wrong direction or point to the wrong enemy.  Wrong stories corrupt and mislead.  Wrong stories turn young people into the killers who seem to relish random violence.  Such a story cannot last.

Some people live their whole lives in opposition to other groups, unable to let go of hate and fear, even though the target of their hate may not be the source of their fear.   A closer look reveals that they are surrounded by warmongers and so are afraid to appear weak.  They need to be given a choice, just as Solomon gave a choice to two women.  Palestinians and Israeli Jews unable to let go of their hatred can chose to enter a room with 4 walls and 2 doors but no ceiling so God can see the battle.  No one else can enter.  No weapons are allowed – only the stones on the ground.  The survivor will not be prosecuted.  Will people choose to hold onto their hatred or let it go?  They may form a truce . . .  or one of them will kill the other.  Either way, some evil will be buried.  Women will fight other women, men fight other men, grandmothers fight grandmothers, and grandfathers fight grandfathers. Ages must be within 5 years. 

Set the stage to test their story.  Children will be able to examine the hearts of their elders who themselves were once children too, listening to stories from long ago.  Will the children wipe their hands or forgive their elders? 

Evil may only exist in the human heart, but somehow that does not seem enough. 

We live in a time of different people, different languages, different standards and different tools that existed when our stories began.  Survival requires a different Story, one that changes our focus and points to another path.

John Suter

April 2024

Israel-Palestine Solution

Posted on by josuter

A nation-state is not a person or a living being.  It is an agreement among leaders about rules and boundaries.  It is whatever can be agreed on and written into a constitution.  This is good news and may allow democracy to evolve.  It may also allow a solution to Israel’s dilemma.  With this dynamic form of democracy, PM Netanyahu can declare victory.  He could say “The war is over.  We have extracted an eye for an eye, ten times over.  Israel has won and now it is time for peace.”  Such a declared victory would be more Biblical than a war without end.   *(Ecclesiastes 3:3 – A time to kill and a time to heal.) 

Israel-Palestine will remain a single state, but because of external threats, the military will remain under Jewish control, even if the Jewish population becomes a minority.  That can be written into the constitution.  Regional leaders within Israel-Palestine will maintain peace in their areas, but they can be removed by a referendum of 80% vote of any minority within that region, or by a 60% of the general population vote within that region. This can also be written into a constitution and allows political leverage by minorities to allow some control over their own lives.  This dynamic democracy is somewhere between one-person-one-vote and one-group-one-vote.  It can work if leaders agree.  

Let the food aid into Gaza.   Palestinians can leave Gaza (with help and transportation) and establish many enclaves around the whole of the state of Israel-Palestine.  Enclaves on both sides can have their own small arms but only to be used defensively.  Any attempt to use them offensively will result in the small arms being taken from that enclave. Declare that the war has been won, but do not go back to the status quo.  The walls of Gaza must come down.  Anyone can live anywhere in Israel-Palestine.   

It may be that PM Netanyahu is the only one who can carry this out.  The role of religious leaders will be key in helping to guide The Story toward a positive future for all involved.  Third party peacekeepers and communicators may be required for some years and will be allowed to carry arms to defend themselves.  This plan is not simply a way of keeping enemies close but gives people a chance to heal.  Claims on geography are important but not in the same way as in the past, and there is no current court of justice that parties will listen to.  The healing must come from within.