A word of faith, hope and love from the

heart of Palestinian suffering

Part One: Faith

excerpts

2.1 We believe:

in One God, Creator of the universe & of humanity

in a good & just God who loves all

every human is created in God’s likeness

Each person’s dignity is derived from God’s dignity

God created us to know and love one another, especially in this homeland of Jesus

2.1.1 We believe God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, as God’s eternal Word and Savior of the world.

2.1.2 We believe the Holy Spirit journeys with the Church and all humanity, helping us understand all Scripture. The Spirit makes manifest the revelation of God to humanity past, present and future.

2.2 We believe God has spoken to humanity – here in our country - initially through our ancestors and the prophets, but finally through Christ.

2.2.1. We Palestinian Christians and all Christians believe Christ came to fulfill the Law & the Prophets and we read the Old & New Testaments “in his light and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

2.2.2.provoking a revolution in human life and faith.

casting new light on Old Testament themes such as the promises, election, people of God & the land.

The Word of God is a living Word, shedding light on each period of history and on what God is saying here and now.

Therefore, a fundamentalist interpretation of Scripture is unacceptable because it is a dead letter. This dead letter is now used as a weapon to deprive us of our rights and land.

2.3 We believe that our land has a universal mission to include all people as the people of God.

2.3.1 God sent the patriarchs, the prophets and the apostles to this land to carry out a universal mission to all the world. Today we constitute three religions in this land. The land is God’s land. It is our duty to liberate it from injustice and

war, and make it a land of reconciliation, peace & love. God has given us the capacity to do so and really make it God’s land.

2.3.2 Christians and Muslims are deeply rooted in the history and geography of Palestine. In making amends to the Jews for the Holocaust, the West created a new injustice.

2.3.3 Some Western theologians try to legitimize this injustice theologically and biblically. We call on these theologians to deepen their reflection on the Word of God, to see in the Word of God a source of life for all peoples.

2.3.4 Our connectedness to this land is a natural right and a matter of life and death. We are defined as enemies only because we want to live as free people in our land. We suffer from the occupation of our land because we are Palestinians.

As Christian Palestinians we suffer from the wrong interpretation of some theologians. Therefore, our task is to safeguard the Word of God as good news and a source of life, not death and destruction.

2.4 Any use of the Bible to legitimize or support political opinions based on injustice transforms religion into human ideology, stripping God’s Word of its holiness, universality & truth.

2.5 The occupation of Palestine is a sin against God and humanity because it deprives Palestinians of their God-given human rights and distorts the image of God in the Israeli occupier just as it distorts God’s image in the Palestinian.