Wednesday, December 2, 2009

How Dare We Defile The Holy Land
  Culture Wars piece by James T. Moore

Male or female, light or dark, religious or atheistic, rich or poor, strong or weak, American or other nationality, all of us, like it or not, share a unique birthright: we came to life and opened our eyes here on this planet; not on Mars or Saturn or Uranus or some distant star, but here, on this verdant world called Earth.

But then, we human beings proceeded to degrade our spiritual gift by morphing ourselves into the most insensitive, intolerant, and violent creatures that were ever consigned to a planet. How? By disrespecting and all but destroying that singular location on earth that God gave all of us.

And where is this holiest of holy places?

The location is so obvious that most people never give it much thought, except at “special” times. That insignificant smidgeon of land in one corner of our planet is called the Holy Land. And it’s the un-holy use, or utter rejection, of this miniscule and mysterious region that we human beings have justly earned the reputation of the insensitivity, intolerance and violence spoken of earlier.

That list of destructive human traits and attitudes has, through the millennia, been justly earned. And this is not a caustic accusation. It is an ignominious truth.

For some reason that we may never know, when God created this planet and filled it with living entities, including man and woman, it is generally conceded that this small Asian region known as the Holy Land was where most, perhaps all, religious fervor and spiritual power was made manifest, miracles performed, and, indeed, Jesus Christ was born, grew to manhood, brought us the gospel, healed us, and instilled in our hearts a love for God and God’s love for us, his children.

Moreover, it is the one place on Earth which history, tradition, and belief tells us that God may have planted the seed of life on our planet and we became one; not in body but in spirit. Yet, with this knowledge, it is we human beings who have callously defiled and degraded the Holy Land—-the small but sacred “spit of sand” that belongs to all humanity. And it is a tragic irony that with Christmas coming soon the Holy Land can only be visited today by the faithful who, in order to see the site where Jesus was born, must take the risk of not leaving this sacred place alive.

This writer has often wondered why the so-called Holy Land should have ever become what many consider to be the battlefield on which the wars between good an evil are constantly being fought. Why such a small but significant part of Earth’s spiritual purpose and meaning has been stigmatized by constant cruelty, violence and wars, is beyond comprehension.

Here, after all, is where Christianity, Judaism, and Islam were born. Here is where much of the Bible narratives took place. Here is where Jesus preached the gospel, healed the sick, forgave sins, and was crucified. Here is where Moses received the facts of creation from God. Here is where Muhammad received the words of God by way of Angel Gabriel.  Here is the location that radiated with the Spirit, where miracles became realities; where messages of love and hope filled the hearts of Christians and Jews alike; and where tolerance and revelation filled the minds of many a Roman soldier and citizen.

Forgetting, however, that the Holy Land and its sanctity is God’s gift to every human being on earth (in an enigmatic way it is a part of us all) we poison it with sin; wage wars, create chaos, and deliver death, never realizing that we know not what we do.

In deference to Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and God himself, couldn’t we ourselves also perform a miracle? Couldn’t we stop killing each other, turn hostility into tolerance, irreverence into acceptance; hatred into respect for the sanctity of the Holy Land, a tiny area of land which is spiritually sacred to all human beings; and let peace reign there?

What better time than Christmas to stop hating and killing each other? Who knows, maybe the idea will catch on.

Jim Moore

Posted by James T. Moore on 12/2/09

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