Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

Sorry that doesn't seem right. I'm sure God does not agree with the injustice done against the Palestinians in his name. We should be very careful how we read our scriptures and not to use them to cause injustice to others. No religion should work like that. I pray for peace in Jerusalem for all its people, not only Jews.

Theologically there is a fair amount of confusion on this subject, and in part it is because of an incomplete reading of the Old and New Testaments-this confusion typically extends in 2 manners, one either saying Israel and the Jewish people are not important and the Church replaces them-or 2., people saying Israel and the Jewish people matter to the point where all else are excluded. Both extremes are wrong. One must remember, the Church was first made up of Jewish believers, believing in the Jewish Messiah-and when the New Testament speaks of the conversion of Gentiles, it does so within the context of them being Grafted into Abraham's root (St. Paul even uses a Jewish term for conversion where a Gentile is said to be "born again" and becomes a "son of Abraham"-as Christ says to Nicodemus as well). Theologically speaking, the base of judgement is how one responds to the Messiah being the true Israel of God, both physically and spiritually-as St. Paul says, the promise was made to the Seed and not "seeds" (major theme in Galatians). An example of this would be, in St. Paul's thought, Herod the King was NOT the Messiah or the ruler of Israel, but rather Jesus was-so it is how one responds to Jesus which is the blessing or cursing. It is in that that the promise holds, and both replacement theology (those who say the Church is the "new" Israel") and those who hold to the Exaultation of the Jewish ppl simply because they are Jews are both incorrect. That said, the New Testaments thoughts on the country of Israel, and the Jewish people? The thought is complex. And even though in Romans Paul does spiritualize much, in Romans Physical Israel is still Israel-it IS important, and Paul says that we who are grafted in must also remember the familiar ties, and that when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, all Israel shall be saved, and Paul calls them blessed because of the Patriarchs. We are commanded kindness. We are commanded humility, and St. Paul even said to his Gentile converts that they had responcibility to provide for the Jerusalem poor. And though Paul speaks of the Jerusalem above and the Israel of God, he still very much would point out the still choseness of the Jewish people, that they were not cast off, since he himself and the Apostles were Jews. We as Christians, can never forget this-yes, the land, the language, the people, are the family of Avraham, and are still important, and in showing kindness, we show kindness to the family of Avraham, which is also physically speaking, the family of Christ.

As for me, the little understanding I have about this discussion is that, these Jewish people have been blessed right from the beginning, but the blessings has been extended to the whole world. The fact still remains that they have been blessed and whosoever God bless, no one can cause, except they dip their hands into sin.