This has been so incredibly apparent to me as I delve into the Israel-Palestine issue. If there has ever been a wildly complex and complicated matter it is this one.
I am currently reading "The Palestine-Israeli Conflict," written by an Israeli and a Palestinian. Whew, this is complicated! And our attempts to simplify and "dummy it down" actually make it worse. We stereotype. We generalize. We draw conclusions before examining the many facets of the issue.
In simplifying complex matters we tend to put ourselves in a simple box: "I am pro-Israel, the Israelis should be in the land, others should get out." Or, "Israel should be destroyed, the Palestinians should have their own country," etc.
The challenge of complexity is that we can become stuck in it, throw up our hands, feel paralyzed, and give up. That would be the worst thing to do.
Jesus spoke of "foreign" and complex things all the time. The Sermon on the Mount blew people away. His teachings on the Kingdom of God left people scratching their heads. And most of all, his trial, execution, burial, and resurrection was anything but simple and straightforward! God calls us into the complexity, not to escape from it.
Now I have to go back to reading about the Palestine-Israeli Conflict.! Woohoo!
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