An Obadiah Slope Column
Sergeant Schultz moment: Obadiah knows nothing, nothing about this story. But he is so glad it happened.
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The “Both Sides Now” problem: Obadiah thinks some of the best comments The Other Cheek receives are the ones that query why the site has published a piece. This week’s piece, “Putin, Jesus’ Death, & Zelenskyy” by Charles Brammall, was criticised for “both-siderism” – but sadly, that comment is no longer there.
Sadly, because “both Sides Now” is a real temptation for Christians. But Obadiah should first state that Charles Brammal, in making the point that Jesus is the ultimate answer to human conflict, insured an important clause in brackets in this sentence.
“Both sides (but one more than the other) are in danger of becoming Macbeth, haunted by the bloody business that ‘returns to plague the inventor.’”
So Brammall, while perhaps skating close to “Both Sides Now” – the idea that the case for and against each side in a human conflict can be set aside because Jesus is so much more significant – deftly avoided the trap.
But not everyone does. The most egregious example Obadiah can recall was in his Uni days when the apartheid crisis in South Africa was a major issue on campus and the Evangelical Union put out a poster with a pair of black and white hands clasped together, accompanying the slogan “Get it together in Jesus.”
Why is it a trap? Well, Obadiah has his head full of Amos, four weeks in on a sermon series on the church. God’s Judgement was on Israel because they kept (some) religious laws but ignored justice and mercy.
God told them through Amos: “I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Amos 5:21–24
Religiosity without a care for justice and mercy to the vulnerable offends God. And Both Sides Now may be an example of it in most cases. We should not look away, but take a good, hard look at what is happening around us.
That will also mean seeing the flaws in the side we might favour. An example is mark Leach of “Never Again is Now”: pointing out that those who wish to support the Jewish community should acknowledge problems they see in Israel’s war. Or a person calling for an end to suffering in Gaza, facing up to Hamas’ atrocities. And because Obadiah is not God, he is not attempting to weigh these downsides against each other. Obadiah is simply saying that an argument that acknowledges the brokenness of the side you favour is more credible.
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Pleasant surprise: Always in favour of verbal restraint. Obadiah feels like giving a shout-out to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) for criticising language from both sides in the recent flare-up between the Australian Government and the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In their letter to Albanese (and they sent a similar one to Netanyahu) they wrote, “We write to express our deep dismay and concern at the recent ‘war of words’ between yourself and Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu.
“On this occasion the truth compels us to state frankly that both parties have been at fault.
“We feel your statement on July 30 accusing your Israeli counterpart of being “in denial” about the consequences of the war in Gaza was excessive and gratuitously insulting. It was unseemly for an Australian Prime Minister to depart from diplomatic norms concerning the leader of a country with which Australia has had friendly relations for many decades. You could simply have said that you vehemently disagreed with the Israeli Prime Minister, without descending into a personal attack.
“Similarly, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements on August 19 characterising you as “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews” were inflammatory and provocative, and demonstrated a woeful lack of understanding of social and political conditions in Australia. These comments have played straight into the hands of opponents of Israel and antisemites, to the detriment of the Australian Jewish community.” The letter was also critical of Home Affairs minister Tony Burke for saying “Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up, or how many children you can leave hungry”.
Netanyahu has doubled down again since. “I’m sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,” Netanyahu told Sky News, according to Nine.
However, Albanese told reporters he does not “take these things personally, I treat leaders of other countries with respect, I engage with them in a diplomatic way,” he said.
Obadiah thinks the easy path for ECAJ would have been to stand with Netanyahu, but they didn’t. It’s a good example of what was in the previous item. Being able to see the flaws in the side you favour helps you do the smart thing.
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