...because you are a Jew you automatically think your a better(chosen) person over the next....If that is the case then that is a very sad day for Judaism....Just as when Islam calls people outside the core infidels.
The day is coming when all will be exposed but it will be after a bloodbath of an inconcievable scale and that is very sad that it may come to that cause of peoples selfcentered egotistical beliefs that one human is anymore important than another human.
Amen bro!
There is something inherently dangerous about what we might call a "supremacist" belief. Whether the belief comes from culture, religion, "science" (as in the case of the Nazis, who imagined Aryan superiority), it can easily get ugly, real fast.
What you're saying about Judaism is largely true, and it's an issue too often swept under the rug. Is Judaism inherently "supremacist"? We can answer that at our peril, but the answer is in fact staring us in the face. The word "Chosen" says a whole lot, although if you agree with the idea that Jews have been chosen by the elite because of their useful characteristics, then the "joke" might indeed be on them.
Of course, there really are Jews that have tried to "update" their traditional outlook in this regard, and prefer to cast themselves with more of a "leadership" role in the world, instead of simply being "superor". But that is a departure from the long Talmudic tradition, and still smacks of "ego" as you put it.
Here, another "distinction" turns up. The Talmud (not really the Torah) is the source of the supremacist notions that are so much a part of Jewish subculture. Notice, I prefer to look at this as "cultural", rather than "religious". It's one of the things that continually confuses the Gentile masses. They really don't often "get" that "religion" for the Jews is NOT as important as their IDENTITY. While that identity is obviously tied up in what Christians usually refer to as the Bible, their identity is a product of so much more. A long history of "persecution", a tradition of segregation, this and more, has contributed to "who" these people are. The Talmud is in many ways the Jewish "response", in writing, to the world, from their traditional adversarial perspective. In other words, their great thinkers thought about, and wrote about what might be called their collective experience, but not as mere history, but as commentary, meaning that they gave a great deal of thought to the "implications" of what were, once upon a time, a core belief (as found in the Torah).
The process is actually completely natural, and can be compared to any other group that possesses an identity. Blacks in America for example. Do they share an "identity"? Yes. Do they even share a "culture"? Again, yes, there is an identifiable black subculture, distinct from the "white" mainstream. And what do we see, when push comes to shove? A LOYALTY to blood that the mainstream white people may not even understand. Of course, you put them into prison, and they'll figure it out real fast! My point is, this thing we're dealing with when it comes to Jewish identity is not necessarily "evil". It can be, whenever a Jew sees injustice, and looks the other way in favor of one of their own. No different than any other distinct group we could plug in and compare to.
You mention Islam. Like all big religions, those who do not believe as they do, are "infidels". Christians are no different, even though they may use different terms. Again, it's about an "identity" that each group/religion/race has, that remains apart from a much greater identity...
That is, as members of one human race (family)...
Imagine what things could be like if that came first! No, I don't think we have to give up our differences, they are actually good for the most part (what would I do without Mexican food?). But, there must be the recognition that we are all fundamentally the same inside, regardless of how big our outward differences seem.
I'm an agnostic, not a christian, but I'm reminded of a famous line made by the US ambassador to Israel back in the 1950's (no one could say such a thing today!). It went something like this: If the Jews and the Arabs can't sit down at the same table like good Christians, then we're never going to have peace!
Well, maybe there's some truth to that...
JR
