Judaism

Why Jews are God’s chosen?

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Galatians 3:28. . .”In Christ, there is no difference between Jew or Greek, slave nor free, male and female, you are all the same in Christ Jesus.” New Century Version

I may have made myself a heretic the last decade or so when I started questioning Christianity. As a freethinker and intellectual, I can’t just accept things on blind faith. Nor do I think God expects me to since He gave me a brain. While I believe proof of God does depend more on faith, there are things in the natural world that point a Creator.

Why did God choose the Jews?

All the world religions trace back to either Judaism or Hinduism. Modern new age philosophy has its roots in the latter, while the moral standards that society has come to embrace have its roots in the former. The pagan world has no moral absolutes, which is why they embrace relative morality; i.e., “if it feels good do it.”

I read the Bible because much wisdom of the world comes from the Old Testament. I can tell this by studying Deism or Stoicism. I begin to ask myself why God would choose the Jews. I saw a comment on Quora from a Jewish person that said there wasn’t anything special about the Jews; God merely chose the Jews because they chose Him. How did they choose the Lord? By embracing Torah, or God’s divine instruction.

Who were the Jews?

So, who exactly are the Jewish people that God chose? They are the ancient Hebrews; the direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There are only fourteen million Jews today and most, if not all have been converts over the last few centuries. There may be a few who are directly descended to the father of their faith.

While you have to physically convert to become Jewish, you can be become spiritually Jewish by embracing Torah. This is why the early Church was a Jewish sect, before Constantine took over the Roman Empire and made Christianity the state religion, making the religion more of an empire that is currently in decline today.

The Early Church

The first followers still embraced Torah and practiced the Jewish faith. Over time Christianity got further away from the truth and eventually embraced more of a prosperity gospel and other dogmatic teaching which is contributing to its decline even today. This is why Islam was created, because Jews and Christians both went their own way, and so did Islam when it got caught up in its own dogmatic teaching. The world religions still fight over this even today.

In the last century, Jewish philosophy is making a comeback through Kabbalah and the nation of Israel. I have to admit, after studying these through sites like My Jewish Learning and Chabad, Judaism is way more interesting, and deep than Christianity. The Sufi sect of Islam is just as deep, with its poets like Rumi and Osho.

In closing, it doesn’t matter which outer religion you follow. It is all about a relationship with the Creator. The Bible says Torah is written on our hearts. It is all about being led by the Spirit, which will be reflected by a deeper understanding of Torah. Following Christ is all about following God’s commandments. God already knows you can’t keep all the Laws. It is about your heart’s attitude toward Him. The Christ is the manifestation of Torah. The more people embrace Torah, moore light gets released into a dark world.

Nectar of the gods

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It has been a long held debate on whether there is one God or many. The Abrahamic faiths hold to the fact that there is only one. This is why people have problems with the Trinity. Hinduism is believed to be polytheistic, though I read a piece by Deepak Chopra on Huffington Post where he said that Hindus believe in one God but they acknowledge all the false gods as well.

There are many gods in the world. Most of them are antichrist and don’t lead to the one true God which is reflected in those who walk in the Light and follow the Way. There are 7 billion people in the world and each person basically has their own unique perception of God. Atheists don’t necessarily disbelieve in God, they just reject the authority of the established church.

I wouldn’t be surprised if more atheists had faith in the Creator than people who sit in church pews. There are many atheists who follow Jesus. Since only the Divine knows the heart, we cannot judge who God has mercy on and “saves”. God is bigger than any religion.

People usually do their own thing and they always create a god that justified this. People have high standards, so they create a God with high standards, thus the need for a sacrifice. Jesus may have sacrificed His life but it was more voluntary than a substitutionary atonement.

True wisdom comes from a reverence for the Divine. It doesn’t matter than name, especially since names evolve over time and get corrupted. The Bible is a collection of ancient writings from centuries ago. Back then different groups were borrowing from each other; i.e, hebrews, hindus, egyptians, etc. We would have never heard of the ancient hebrew writings if some group called the Turkish Mongolians hadn’t invaded these lands and confiscated their scriptures and build a religion around them; first Judaism and then Christianity which was stolen from Judaism and turned Jesus into a god.

Jesus said only God was good. He didn’t claim to be God. But He lived in such close union with the Divine, being the chosen messenger for the ancient Hebrews that he led an exemplary life. No one is able to follow the law of God so perfectly so the next best thing is just make them a god and worship them; after they kill them and all the other prophets .

How to break out of prison

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Romans 2:28-29. . .”“Who are Jews but those who have received the circumcision of the heart?”

I have to confess that in recent years I have found more spiritual fulfillment from sites like Chabad.  I experienced more spiritual growth since I became interested in Judaism a few years ago. This is not surprising since it is the parent to Christianity. It goes without saying that the most spiritual Christians just refer to themselves as Judeo-Christians.

That being said, I tried attending a few Messianic congregations only to find that there was too much “Christianity” in it. You will better understand this when you come to understand the difference between following the Christ and following the religion built around the Messiah. 

In more recent years I discovered that I didn’t have to attend a Messianic church. I could just study Judaism on my own. I can also find the most spiritual congregations who are in touch with their Jewish roots. Even Paul said we are all spiritual Jews.

In one of the posts on Chabad that I read this week, it was saying that the best way to escape a prison cell was to make yourself small.  This is a great analogy for life which can seem like a prison.

Actually the material world is a prison. Our divine selves are actually free spirits. This is why we often feel trapped by the burdens placed on us by society.  Society will make us feel like we have some kind of moral obligation to produce and earn a higher income (making us economic slaves). It is even worse when the church does it because it perverts the message of Christ.

The humble, simple life is a high calling in scripture. The more you know God, the more you know yourselves. The more you realize where true wealth lies.  Rich and poor are relative terms.

The material world is hell. This is the only hell that exists is the ones humans create by making life complicated and stressful.

Living intentionally keeps you more focused on the Divine.

There is nothing wrong in and of itself with being materially ambitious. Even James, the half-brother of Jesus, talked about remaining humble in your high position. You can be as wealthy as you are driven to in the material world. Just don’t get too attached to it because this is when it borders on idolatry.

Pursue your dreams. Build an empire. Create all the wealth you want. Just remember to hold it with an open hand and to give back to humanity everything you have been blessed with. Actually if you don’t give back, the government will get ahold of it through taxes. Another reason why one is better off being poor, because if you really believe in divine providence then poverty doesn’t really exist and is completely man made.