Citizens of Isreal

In the Last issue of "The Bible Student" we printed a letter from Bro. John Rayner taking exception to certain things said by Bro. John Allfree in his Editorial Note of Nov/Dec 1980. Here is Bro. John's answer:

I am sorry that Bro. Rayner was “irritated” by the editorial on our attitude towards the State in a time of national emergency. The intention was not to irritate but to stimulate brethren in the exercise of thought and con­science on the matter. May I make the following brief comments:

  1. The editorial in no way suggested anything contrary to the fundamental Scripture teaching that we are under an obligation to render to Caesar that which is his due and to submit to the laws of the land, provided these do not conflict with our duty to God and His Son.
  2. That the State has been kind to us is not in dispute. But this is irrelevant for, if the State had not been kind to us, we would still be under the obligations mentioned in (1) above.
  3. We should indeed be careful regarding our claim to be citizens of the commonwealth of Israel careful not to forget it, which I am afraid is a ten­dency within the Christadelphian community today. We are members of the common­ wealth of Israel now (Eph.2:12),not only when our Lord returns. The State of Israel in the land today is not the commonwealth of Israel to which we have been joined and in view of what I wrote in the last paragraph of the editorial I cannot understand how Brother Rayner could imagine that I was suggesting some sort of present affiliation with the modern Israeli State.
  4. To argue that because we accept the benefits of the British Society, therefore when that Society is threatened we have an obligation to help preserve this Gentile State cannot be sustained from Scripture. Brother Rayner, with most other brethren, is no doubt pleased to accept the benefits the trade union movement has brought the working man. Does he therefore feel obliged to join a union and share in its activities?
  5. There is something inconsistent in the attitude which sees it proper to offer aid to help preserve a Gentile State in time of war, but withdraws help to that State in time of peace.
  6. On the matter raised in paragraph 2 of Brother Rayner’s letter, whilst it is true that a committee which claimed to represent the Christadelphian Body negotiated conditional exemption from military service (i.e. saying the Body would help preserve the State by doing work of national importance), this commit­tee did not represent the minds of all members of the community. There were a number who shared the view set out in the Editorial Note and whose views were not presented to the Authorities by the Committee.
  7. The time when we should “stand up and be counted” and say, “We are on Christ’s side” does not lie in the future as Brother Rayner’s final paragraph suggests. We should be doing this now which is really what my editorial was all about.