Why Should We Care?

Using a recent Time magazine article titled, “Why Israel Doesn’t Care about Peace,” as a springboard, Metzger discusses why Israel, God, and the American Evangelical should care about peace between Israel and Palestine. He first discusses what is keeping both Israel and the American Evangelical from concern for peace, including the assumption for the Evangelical that God himself does not care about peace. Metzger shows that God has promised to bless not only Israel but also the Arab nations through Ishmael. The Arab peoples are not enemies of God. More so, he argues that as followers of Jesus we are called to love our enemies and the “other,” working for justice for all peoples. Instead of isolating ourselves from the conflict between Israel and Palestine, we are called to love our neighbors and enemies and seek reconciliation between Israel and Palestine, Christians and Muslims, ourselves and the “other.”