Why do Christians believe in a God that has "chosen" the Jews

The Christian religion was created by Jews. The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, was wrritten by Jews. All the characters were Jewish, except those that held them as slaves or in captivity. We Christians know it as the Old Testament. Moses said in De 7:6 “For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God. It is you Jehovah your God has chosen. According to Ps 135:4 “Jah has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his special property.”

The New Testament makes Jesus, another Jew, the same as God. Even the authorities are aware of his special status, they refer to Jesus in Mt 27:37 as “King of the Jews”.

His followers, the apostles were also Jews. They are the ones who wrote most of the New Testament. And they probably addressed themselves to Jewish communities because Peter 2:9 for example mentioned “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession that you should declare abroad the excellencies of the one”.

It will help to point out that Jews have always sent a number of people to all the foreign lands, to help them advance their knowledge and their customs to bring the people closer to God. Here Peter is addressing Priests who had moved from Israel to modern day Turkey.

Christians have lived in the land of Israel only to a very small extent. It becomes very questionable why Christians felt a need to order crusades to a far away land like Israel. The argument that Israel is significant to Christianity does not hold up under scrutiny. Christianity only spread there in the 4th century under the Roman emperor Constantine, and only until they were kicked out in the 6th century.

To be clear, these quote make it explicit that Christians are NOT the chosen people of the Christian God - the Jews are the chosen people, according to the Christian Bible.

Why do Christians not believe in their own God? And who chose them not some other “race”?

reply to post by ThinkingHuman


Israel, correct me if I am wrong, means God's people. Obviously it is also a place, but it is actually a symbol that the bible uses to talk about the community of God's children, who are good people who can be from all religions as long as they are men of good will, virtue, and spirit.

I've always wondered the same.

If their god does give favor to jews over Christians, then why be a christian and not convert and become "better" in god's eyes?

Without the bible quoting head games, I think it's obvious to most observers that at least jews think that god favor's them over Christians.

So why would you join the second best group worshiping this god?

Originally posted by kryton

 

I've always wondered the same.

If their god does give favor to jews over Christians, then why be a christian and not convert and become "better" in god's eyes?

"Gentile" is the Jews' derogatory term for Christians (and believers of other religions)

reply to post by ThinkingHuman


Maybe this thread will help you to understand the connection...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by backcase

 

Israel, correct me if I am wrong, means God's people.

To the Jews it does, I guess. As a Christian I feel no connection to the land, to the people who lived there back then, or the wars they were fighting with each other.

While I have always been interested in believing, I have never felt a connection with the Bible. Only now do I start to understand why. I actually feel kind of betrayed.

If one actually reads the NT. The question, and the answer, is addressed several times.

Paul addresses it in detail.

Try Romans 11 for starters. Though he uses metaphor, it isn't hard to understand.

Originally posted by ThinkingHuman
To the Jews it does, I guess. As a Christian I feel no connection to the land, to the people who lived there back then, or the wars they were fighting with each other.

Well Israel is not just the geographical place, as I said. There is a transition to be made in the minds of those who understand by the letter, to move to the Spirit of the word.

Originally posted by ThinkingHuman

I actually feel kind of betrayed.

Why? Please message me if you wish to touch upon the issue more personally than you would like to declare publicly.

reply to post by ThinkingHuman


If you're a new Christian, I highly recommend this website (www.gotquestions.org) for asking questions and looking up topics for ANY question that you might come up with...

"Why did God choose Israel to be His chosen people?"

www.gotquestions.org...

Originally posted by Deetermined

 

Maybe this thread will help you to understand the connection...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks but no it did not help. It did not answer my question in the title/OP, and it did not ease my sense of betrayal I am experiencing right now.

I am shocked because for all intents and purposes, every Christian is really a Jew.

I don't know much about Christianity but you are very wrong on 2 things:
1) There are TONS of non-Jewish characters in the bible that most certainly were not slaves. Starting with mr Adam,through Yitro and all the way to king David ancestors.
2) Gentile in Hebrew (goy) means nation. That's the meaning of the word. Goyim means nations. nothing deragatory about that.

reply to post by ThinkingHuman


This stigma that you have attached to Jews isn't healthy.

You've let a bunch of propaganda get to you in a way that it shouldn't.

Just remember, the Bible says that the entire world will turn against Israel before God steps in to save them from total destruction, but it's only to serve God's greater purpose and nothing else.

Don't let it build up some kind of worldly and human sense of disgust. Just know that everything has happened this way for a reason. A reason that is explained in the Bible.

Don't let the process of events get to you. It will all work itself out with God's righteous judgement and nothing less.

reply to post by ThinkingHuman

To be clear, these quote make it explicit that Christians are NOT the chosen people of the Christian God - the Jews are the chosen people, according to the Christian Bible.

Why do Christians not believe in their own God? And who chose them not some other “race”?

I'm not exactly sure what all you're asking but here are some points I'd like to mention. My apologies if you are already familiar with the information in this post.

'Jews are the chosen people' is a very commonly misunderstood concept- I used to misinterpret it as well. It doesn't mean God loves them more, or they're a master race, they have some special magical ju-ju, or what not. It just means they were chosen to carry the covenant and testimony of salvation to mankind.

I believe it is explained from a passage in the Bible where God is looking upon mankind and Abraham's righteousness stands out to God (like Noah stood out to him before the flood). So God blessed Abraham and his descendants. They became 'the chosen people' to carry God's message.

Second, the parable of the Prodigal Son ties into the relationship God has with Old Testament Jews and New Testament Christians. The parable explains that God loves both equally and how they both receive the same inheritance. The Jews represent the prodigal son who returns to God after a time period of separation.

Third, the New Testament explains how the Christians are the carriers of the new covenant.

There was one final thing I wanted to mention but forgot it already since starting this post. lol Sorry if I misunderstood something you were asking or for whatever I missed.

ISis + RA = ELohim

Mother + Father = plural or gods children.


Just glad it truly is above all titles labels and definitions.

Originally posted by Deetermined

 

If you're a new Christian, I highly recommend this website (www.gotquestions.org) for asking questions and looking up topics for ANY question that you might come up with...

"Why did God choose Israel to be His chosen people?"

Your link is answering the wrong question. I do not want to know why God chose the Jews. That’s fine. Since I am not a Jew, why would I choose that "God" rather than some other deity?

You link does give an interesting quote, though. “God’s desire for Israel was that they would go and teach others about Him. Israel was to be a nation of priests, prophets, and missionaries to the world.” I have heard this before, do you know where it is from?

Create yourself a god.
Claim this god is on your side, demoralise your enemy.
How can you fight a war and win against superior people?

YOU are not chosen, god rejected you, you will lose or not bother fighting hard because the creator of EVERYTHING is on their side, not yours.

Face it, god is a war propaganda tool for ancient men.

An all knowing, all powerful being that created everything, if this being chose a certain people and not your people, how can you possibly war against them and win if they got god on their side?

Almost like Iran, they may, or may not have WMD's, Iran's enemies belief that they may have them, so they don't start crap fearing the power of the atom.

That's my opinion of why god chose Israel, Propaganda.

Originally posted by superluminal11
ISis + RA = ELohim

Mother + Father = plural or gods children

Insightful, thanks. Also, its a triad.

If god exists he doesn't have favourites. I seriously take the bible with a grain of salt.

Thinking a tad myopically, are we?

What's being emphasized by modern day Christians and Jews? The "choseness" present in certain pre-Christian biblical books, or the nature of the God worshiped - introduced - by the Jews?

This is an extremely weak and pointless attack. The God we think of today in theistic terms is mostly a product of Jewish thinking: it originates from their traditions (If you're iffy about the word "Jews", replace it with Hebrews, if you'd like). Fast forward down through history, and Christians, Muslims, as well as Jews, more or less envisage a God active within human reality, conscientiously involved with all his creation, giving precedence to the one being - man - who has the ability to consciously connect, worship, and improve - or sustain - the work of His creation.

This is the gist of the Christian notion of God. Same God the Jews worship - because its constructed in the SAME METAPHYSICAL way. Muslims, particularly moderate, interfaith thinkers, possess the same notion of God.

Most Jews have forgotten the 'chosen' epithet of their religion, as they understand it to be counterproductive to inter-communal dialogue and understanding. But, again, you would need to know something about this to appreciate that fact. Likewise, Christians and Jews - if they understand this state of affairs, will not hold the "chosen' concept in the Hebrew Bible against the majority of religious minded Jews who have outgrown - nay, repudiated - that concept.

Some have even begun to interpret "chosen' in the metaphysical sense of particularity: as the biblical authors mode of expressing 'particularity' within the fabric of human relations. We are all "chosen" i.e. unique, specially created works of God.

Jewish literature makes it plain that Jews are not Israelites.

The word "Ioudaois" used in most of the New Testament :

Ioudaios (wikt:Ιουδαίος)[a] is the Greek ethnonym in classical and biblical literature commonly translated in English as "Jew" or "Judean".[1] In its various contexts, the word has also been translated as "Judahites", "people of the region of Judah/Judea" and "leaders of Judea".[2]

The choice of translation is the subject of frequent scholarly debate, given its central importance to passages in the Bible (both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament) as well as other writers such as Josephus and Philo. Translation as "Jews" is seen to infer connotations as to the religious beliefs of the people, whereas translation as "Judeans" infers an identity primarily defined by the territory of Judea.[3]

The Herodian Edomites had taken control of Jerusalem and Judea (under the Romans)nearly 100 years before the ministry of Christ. These are the people referred to as Jews in most of the Gospels. Although Jesus was a Judahite, he was not a Judean (he was a Galilean), he was not a Pharisee (these were the ones who were under the control of Herod and family, and controlled the Sanhedrin at the time) and hence not a follower of what had become known as Judaism. Most particularly, the Ashkenazi Jews of today, who insist upon the maternal lineage being Jewish before immigration to Israel, are unlikely to bear much, if any Israelite genes.

Any use of the word "Jewish" should therefore include qualifiers so that we can know who you are discussing, or if you perhaps know enough history to discuss such subjects. The Jews at the time of
Christ were descendants of Abraham, but not of Jacob. Paul was a Benjaminite who was one of the few Israelites allowed a seat of power. He called himself a Jew, which further compounded the confusion.