Using the word complicated to describe the affairs in the Middle East is an extreme understatement. There are many layers to the conflict and few solutions in sight. It would be foolhardy for me to think that I can lay out the answers in a blog post. However, there are a couple things about the situation in the Middle East that bother me relative to how many Americans view Israel. The first is the sense that Israel has yet to use up the “free passes” that have been granted to them because of past persecution. The second is the effect that Dispensationalism has had on shaping United States’ policy in the region.
Without pulling out the history and theology books, I think that it is important for us as Christians to remember that God chose Israel. It was not because they were special or great — Israel was a tiny stiff necked nation — rather God simply set His covenantal love on them. Fast forward to the New Covenant, which is really part of the same covenant of grace that God made with Israel, and you see that God’s plan of salvation is characterized by the same grace and mercy. He save us, both Jew and Gentile, not by works which we had done, but by the blood of Christ Jesus poured out richly on us.
In the Middle East hate runs deep on both sides of the border. While it is painful to see the bodies of Palestinian children being lifted out of the rubble, or watch people live under the constant threat of rocket attacks, it is also difficult for us as Westerners to comprehend that at a very young age these people are taught to hate their neighbor — Palestinian or Israeli, Arab or Jew. The closest we come to this in America is the cycle of racism. Both are generational problems, but over there it manifests itself far more violently.
I think we need to be careful about how we view the war between Israel and its neighboring Arab countries. It would be very, very easy to side with one group, or the other, and forget that neither side is special. This is where our favoritism toward Israel gets in the way, because the people on both sides of the conflict are equally deserving of our prayers and compassion. Until we repent of this behavior and see the Palestinian people on par with the Israelis, as the neighbor Jesus speaks of in Matthew 22, then I think in a very real sense we become passive participants in the cycle of hate.
I know a missionary family of five that moved overseas several months ago to minister specifically to Palestinian refugees. The Hastings’ presentation at our church and their love for these people opened my eyes to a suffering that I would not have otherwise seen. They were supposed to be in Beirut, but at the last minute the mission agency routed them to Jordan. Please pray for this family, their ministry and for all who are carrying the gospel to this needy region. By God’s grace, the work by people like Jonathan is the only real hope for a lasting peace settlement in the Middle East.
Both of the big pro cycling webzines — VeloNews and CyclingNews — have articles today about testosterone, how it is used in sport and what might be reasons, other than doping, for Floyd’s failed test. I say it was a combo of the fatigue and the beer.
I just read an article in the New York Times about a University of Pennsylvania professor who has written a paper that is surely in the running for this year’s And Your Point Is? award. His theory is that because cyclists live longer, they actually pollute more than people who drive cars. While burning fossil fuels is bad for air quality, outliving your couch potato neighbor is a bigger net drain on the Earth’s resources. This should give the Chicago city council just what they need to levy a tax on bike riders. Up next, Why Bean Consumption and Flatulence is Destroying the Environment.
The news is out that Tour de France champion Floyd Landis has tested positive for high levels of testosterone following his amazing comeback ride in Stage 17. A control sample will either clear him of any allegations or further implicate him of cheating. While the reasons and results for doping are obvious to anyone–he pretty much lost the tour in Stage 16 and won it back the next day–the level of scrutiny in the sport over performance enhancing drugs offers equally compelling reasons why Landis would not dope. If you do drugs in cycling these days, it is extremely likely that you will be caught. The riders are tested constantly. Kudos to the sport for taking a hard line on drug use. American sports leagues could learn a lot from the Europeans.
One of the oft cited downsides of the aggressive doping controls is that it is easy to be caught up in what some would call a witch hunt. Rarely do riders admit to using performance enhancing drugs, which makes it difficult to tell who is lying and who is unjustly accused. Who can forget racer Tyler Hamilton, who has maintained his innocence for homogulous blood doping for the entire two years of his cycling ban? Now he faces a possible lifetime ban due to new evidence. Of course, the perpetual pleading not guilty should come as no surprise, as most murderers never admit that they killed someone, either. Everyone in jail is innocent, right?
It is worth noting that there has always been skepticism over the accuracy and reliability of some drug tests. Beyond this, many riders have naturally high levels of testosterone or red blood cells in their systems. All you have to do is train at altitude, or sleep in a hypoxic tent at night in order to get the same red blood cell boosting effect as taking the drug EPO. I recently heard that altitude tents are being considered for a ban. What is the UCI going to do next, make everyone train at sea level? The rules are becoming egalitarian, which should come to no surprise to us since the French are involved.
One possibility in cycling that I think many people overlook is foul play. I am talking about things like illegal gambling, publicity stunts, leveling the playing field and even acting on grudges. All you have to do is mention Tonya Harding and her goons that attacked Nancy Kerrigan in 1994, the French judge in the 2002 Winter Olympics who was pressured to vote for the Russians, or the recent match fixing scandal in Italy’s Serie A soccer league to realize that the same sorts of things could be occuring in cycling. Just look at Operacion Puerto, the recent doping scandal in Spain that has netted some of the top names in cycling. Why was it that a newspaper was able to leak confidential information on the investigation right before the Tour?
The worst part of it all is that the UCI Pro Tour Ethical Code prohibits a rider from racing when he or she is under investigation. You do not even have to test positive. Just the suspicion alone is enough to ruin your career. Hopefully, common sense will prevail and those whose actions risk ruining the sport–the riders who dope, those who are quick to accuse and those who are involved for ill gain–will be brought to justice. It will be nice when the day comes again when an athlete can win a race without the immediate cloud of suspicion hanging over him. Landis may turn out to be a doper after all, but as Flava Flav says, “Don’t believe the hype”…until the “B” sample results are in and (when those results are likely the same) Floyd has been given the opportunity to prove his innocence.