What Does Lausanne Have to Do with Gaza?
Ruth Padilla DeBorst's controversial talk at the Lausanne Congress
At the Fourth Lausanne Congress held in Incheon, South Korea earlier this year, Ruth Padilla DeBorst created controversy when her talk Walk Humbly with God briefly mentioned the injustice and violence experienced in Gaza.
In her talk, RPD made some negative remarks about “colonialist theologies that justify and finance oppression under the guise of some dispensational eschatology.”
Beyond that, she also declared:
There is no room for indifference toward all who are suffering the scourge of war and violence the world round, the uprooted and beleaguered people of Gaza, the hostages held by both Israel and Hamas and their families, the threatened Palestinians in their own territories, all who are mourning the loss of loved ones. Their pain is our pain if we are God’s people.
Taking a dig at dispensationalists, seeming to side with the Gazans, and failing to acknowledge the 7 October massacre, created immediate controversy. So much so that two days later, Congress Director David Bennett issued a statement to all participants at the congress acknowledging the diversity of views represented at the Congress about the Israel/Gaza conflict, and apologized for the offense that Padilla DeBorst’s speech had caused. He wrote:
We have become aware of significant pain and offense experienced at this Congress from those in dispensational theological contexts, those who are Jews, and those engaged in ministries to Jews and/or in Israel. Our Lausanne team, including me, failed to review the wording of the presentation carefully enough in advance, or to anticipate the hurts and misunderstandings it would cause. As your brother in Christ, and on behalf of our Lausanne leadership, I ask for your forgiveness,” he said in the email.
In response, RPD issued her own Open Letter clarifying her remarks and apologizing for any offense:
Although I did refer to “all who are suffering” and “all who are mourning,” the world round, why would I zero in on Gaza and Palestinians? Why explicitly name only them? I am convinced that this is a current justice issue in relation to which we, as Christians, have a particular responsibility. Let me explain. Truly, the Hamas attack almost a year ago was abhorrent and absolutely reprehensible, and truly people who live in Israel, Jewish, Palestinian and others are being threatened as I write. Their pain is our pain. At the same time, the long standing suffering of Palestinians has been compounded by the attacks on Gaza since October 7 where over 40,000 people have been killed, many of them, children. Additionally, settler attacks have only increased in the West Bank. Their pain is our pain -or it should be. However, far too many evangelicals around the world a-critically “stand with Israel,” and remain oblivious to the suffering Palestinians. This injustice must be named.
What do I think?
First, watch RPD’s speech yourself and read her open letter. Judge her by her words, not other people’s words about her words.
Second, consider that just as the Israel/Palestine conflict divides the political world, it also divides our Christian world, and there is an inherent difficulty in choosing sides in what is clearly a morally, religiously, and geo-politically complex topic that cannot be solved with hashtags or slogans.
Other than that, what do I think of RPD’s speech? Well, at the risk of offending literally everyone, I believe …