“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’”

_C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

The naïve call of so many for Israel to stand down and declare a cease fire reminds me of hell. 

Hell is an uncomfortable topic and, while you can almost daily hear someone being invited to go there, hell is not a topic we like to talk about.  Matter of fact, many try to convince themselves that there is no hell.

But like asking Israel to just forget about the horrific deeds done to their citizens, if there is no hell…

Evil wins. 

If there is no hell there is no hope of ultimate justice. (There is little of it in this life for the truly oppressed and marginalized!)

If there is no hell how can we call God good?  After all, what kind of God would make people go to heaven to be in his presence forever if they didn’t want to?

And if there is no hell then mankind has no dignity or worth. 

Tigers, sharks, and termites don’t go to hell for their blood lust and destruction because they’re just animals doing what animals do.  Humans are different, they’re more than animals. 

The Israeli citizens (and citizens of other nations including the U.S.A.) who were ravaged, raped, and slaughtered and the innocent Palestinian citizens who are being used as human shields by Hamas matter.  They are not trash or disposable dinnerware to be used for the evil purposes of an organization whose expressed purpose is the complete genocide of an entire race of people. Whether Israeli or Palestinian, each of them have great dignity and worth and Hamas must be called to account.

Every human should be asking Hamas the same question that God asked Cain concerning his murdered brother, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10)

There are some causes so vitally connected to human life that compromise and ceasefire is not morally permissible. This is what Israel understands and those who are seeking a ceasefire don’t understand (or are pretending to not understand).

The truth is, Hamas or Israel will have to be destroyed – there is no middle ground.

The ONE THING for today: Certainly not everything, and not even many things…but there are a few things that are of such importance that there is no middle ground. And when faced with that dreadful choice, it is our duty to stand and even die for what is right. Otherwise, hell — both now and forever — is assured.