Free Palestine? The Coffee Shop Contradiction | Fares Abraham

The Palestinian flag is everywhere these days. Along with the Ukrainian flag, the pride flag and a number of other flags that have come to hold cultural meaning in our modern world. These flags are symbols—but symbolic of what?

Dave likes to call this the coffee shop contradiction. The cognitive dissonance of competing claims about reality crowding the same coffee shop window. What do these flags have in common? More importantly—are they in contradiction? Shouldn’t these contradictions matter?

To discuss this issue and the wider situation in Palestine, Dave is joined by Fares Abraham—Palestinian Christian, founder of Levant Ministries, and a native of Bethlehem. Dave thinks the situation is unbelievably complex. Fares doesn’t deny the complexity, but instead argues that complexity is no excuse for Christians to lose moral clarity. Yet they are both clear on how Christians are called to live. As a child, Fares saw his mother shot in front of their home in Palestine and yet his family has made forgiveness a living reality. In a situation that can often feel hopeless—Fares Abraham is an ambassador of forgiveness and hope.

Thank you for joining Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts.

For related information please see Hank Hanegraaff’s book The Apocalypse Code: Find out What the Bible Really Says About the End Times and Why It Matters Today.

(Timestamps below.)
0:00 — Dave met Fares Abraham in Palestine 10 years ago
0:40 — Who is Fares Abraham?
4:15 — Christ at the checkpoint and Christian Zionism
5:50 — The rise of flag culture—Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, LGBTQ+ flags everywhere—why?
11:25 — The impact of theology in the Middle East?
17:00 — The impact of Jewish and Islamic theology regarding conflict resolution
21:45 — A personal account of life in Palestine
27:55 — Dave describes his first impressions of Palestine and reality of intercultural relations
36:50 — Secular Flags and the Coffee Shop Contradiction
41:05 — The reality of queers for Palestine
44:35— What does it mean to be a sermon on the mount Christian?
47:15 — The reality of religious freedom in the Middle East
52:50 — What is the reality of Islamic theology?
57:20 — Can you support Palestinians without supporting Hamas?
1:04:15 — The real world impact of theology
1:14:45 — Are Palestinians and Israelis asking for the impossible?
1:16:30 — Fares saw his mother get shot in front of his home—how have they made forgiveness a living reality?
1:21:30 — Closing questions about reality