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What made the Israelites so special as a people...?
- Thread starter sense12
- Start date
... and I find according to Scripture that ancient Israel of Jacob's day is Not the ' Spiritual Israel ' of Galatians 4:26.
Since Pentecost the "Israel of God" is No longer natural fleshly Israel by descent, but a 'spiritual nation', the international Christian congregation through Christ as Leader.
That 'spiritual nation' as mentioned at 1 Peter 2:9,5 has No boundaries or borders found located on any map.
Since Pentecost, whether Jew, Samaritan, or persons of the Gentile nations can be part of the Christian congregation.
So, the LORD (YHWH) has since chosen 'spiritual people' out of ALL nations to comprise the Christian congregation making up a 'Spiritual Israel ' nation.
Im dyslexic and cant read a word of that
The name doesn't matter, the tribe does.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
God loved Abraham. His descendents were blessed for that reason, being bestowed with the 613 laws and Promised land BECAUSE OF ABRAHAM. There is a midrash that God offered the Torah to all the nations of the Earth, but the Children of Israel were the only ones to accept its burden.
Why do you think that monotheism and the 613 are similar to Egyptian culture? There is an incident in the sacred texts where the Israelites got tired of waiting for Moses to return from speaking to God on Sinai, and reverted to Egyptian religion (the golden calf). They were punished terribly for this.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
LOL
Your 1 Peter 2:5-9 basis, quotes from Isaiah 28:16 and refers to a "cornerstone", a "tested stone". That tested stone would be the Word of God, the Law and the prophets. The alternative foundation would be the "covenant with death" which would be the gospel of grace, which guarantees its believers that they shall not die (Genesis 3:4), but be made imperishable in a blink of an eye. That "pact with Sheol shall not stand" (Isaiah 28:18).
According to your false prophet Paul (Galatians 2:7), Peter went to the circumcised, not the Gentiles. The circumcised were to "keep their behavior excellent among the Gentiles" (1 Peter 2:12). While Peter may be the "worthless shepherd" of Zechariah 11:17, 1 Peter 2 doesn't agree with your presumptions.
New American Standard Bible
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
Kelly of the Phoenix
Well-Known Member
Egypt, unlike Israel, has been a thing basically the entire time. Even when a client state, it was still a state.
That's not how they act. Certain Jews seem to be under the impression the covenant with God was eternal and stuff.
Thor: So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights? No, the Earth is under MY protection, Loki!
Loki: [laughs] And you're doing a marvelous job with that! The humans slaughter each other in droves, while you ideally threat. I mean to rule them. And why should I not?
For a mere millennium out of eternity. I don't see why he bothers, to be honest. Maybe one day we'll get someone who isn't always planning for his next vacation.
Jesus says he's coming back to bring ruin to Earth. You know, the whole apocalypse thing.
As a zombie?
Yeah, but WHY, though? Abraham isn't even a Hebrew yet because that hasn't been invented. He was Sumerian.
There's also the possibility the author misinterpreted what happened. El, the original God, was portrayed as a bull. They would've then been killed off only because the author didn't know his own religious history. Golden bulls were in the Temple, for God's sake.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
We don't actually know, but we can trust God.
It could be that Abraham was simply the one responding to God's call.
And then there is the midrash about Abraham as a child being wise enough to know that idolatry was stupid. One day he took a stick and and destroyed all the idols in his father Terah's idols shop, except one. Then he put the stick into the hands of the one he didn't destroy. Terah came in and said, What the heck happened? Abram said, The gods got into an argument and that idol over there smashed them all.. The father said, Don't be silly, an idol can't do that; they are just wood and stone and have no consciousness. To which Abram replied, You say say they are not even conscious, yet you worship them.
To answer the thread title in a more objective way - Jews are not special. It's just that their mythology makes them about to be. In Christian cultures, we have inherited their mythology and even the parts they reject (Jesus and his entourage), are Jewish, so Jews have a peculiar status in Christian cultures. They're either hatred or loved or admired in an envious fashion. Maybe as Christianity dies out in the West, we'll start viewing them as just another ethnic group that's no more special than any other. Then maybe us Gentiles can start having more pride in our own peoples and rediscover our own indigenous ways.
No, it isn't. If you're set apart from everyone else with a particular relationship to "the one true God" that no other group has, that is a special circumstance. Jews are said to be God's chosen people, a "light unto the world" (because us dumb Gentiles are too enamored with idols and depravity, apparently) and Israel is the apple of God's eye. Everyone else is viewed as impure and their ancestral deities are either demons or don't exist at all. If thats not special, I don't know what is! There's also that one story that Jews accepted the Torah after God presented it to all other nations but they rejected it because they didn't want to give up worshipping idols!
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Let's talk about an objective, non-religious evaluation.
Jews make up 0.02 % of the world's population.
However, they make up...
30% of Nobel Prize winners
52% of the Pulitzer Prizes for nonfiction,
15% of the fiction,
20% of the poetry,
34% of the drama
10% Fortune's top CEO's
33% of the top Bridge players
44% of chess masters
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Jews-so-successful-1
3 out of 9 Supreme Court Justices of the US are Jews
42 Jews nominated for Best Director Academy Award from 1980 til 2016
Sorry, but I'm not a racist or think the Supreme Being is. There's cultural explanations for those stats. I've also seen Jews want to downplay those things because it can embolden anti-Semites. I would think most Jews would prefer to be left alone and seen as any other ethnicity. It's not like being seen as special has done your people much good in the past. Can't have it both ways.
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
And what is it?
Wow, you really think it's because they're Jewish by blood or God favors Jews? How is that any different from white supremacists believing that the white race is the best due to evolutionary advantage or that Divine Pretty favors them? If I've misinterpreted you, please let me know.
Anyway, here's a theory that has nothing to do with biology or racist deities:
The Chosen Few: A New Explanation of Jewish Success
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IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
I'm undecided. I've had a few ideas, but they always turn out to be true of other peoples and you just don't see the same phenomenal results. So as a person who is open to possible answers, I'm asking you: What do yu think is the reason?
Please post where Jesus says the ^ above ^
I find at Revelation 11:18 B that God will bring to ruin those ruining the Earth.
I am wondering what you find about ' ruin ' at Revelation 22:2 when mankind will see the return of the Genesis ' Tree of Life ' for the healing of earth's nations. Please notice it says healing and Not ruin to Earth.
I see nothing about ruin to Earth's future at Isaiah 35th chapter.
What I find about the ' whole apocalypse thing ' is that the executional words from Jesus' mouth will rid the Earth of the wicked as per Isaiah 11:3-4; Revelation 19:14-16.
Kind of like if you had a beautiful house and it became infested with rats, would you ruin your home, or exterminate the rats bringing ruin to your beautiful home.
Samantha Rinne
Resident Genderfluid Writer/Artist
Jews are probably Neanderthals. I don't care for most of the articles that I've seen this though, as most of them are deeply anti-Semitic. Given what we know of the current state of the world and that Jews have won a record number of Nobel Peace Prizes, I'd say it's probably a good thing that they keep themselves racially separated, and regular ppl have in fact caused more of the world's problems.
Muffled
Jesus in me
...said the Christian
I believe we can't laugh too loud. We have the same God.