Chosen people Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Throughout history, various groups have considered themselves chosen by God for some purpose. Sometimes this chosenness is viewed as marking them as superior; other times it is viewed as giving this group a special responsibility or purpose.
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2 Chosen to receive a message 3 Judaism 4 Christianity 5 Islam 6 See also |
The sense of being a chosen people occurs in both religious and nonreligious contexts. The Communists, for instance, were atheist, but considered themselves chosen by fate to liberate the world proletariat. The Abolitionists, who were largely Christian, considered themselves chosen by God to bring freedom and equal rights to the slaves. The Nazis considered the Aryan race to be superior, and believed it was their mission to eliminate all races they considered "inferior" in the name of secular human evolution. Many religious and charitable organizations consider themselves to be chosen by God to care for the sick and the suffering. Manifest Destiny drove Americans across the continent.
The sense of being a "chosen people" is therefore often associated with a particular ideological movement -- it is a sense of importance which drives people to further the ends of their ideology.
However, it is important to distinguish between the self-importance of a movement and the Truth of its message. Movements of all types consider themselves to be "chosen" in one way or another to change the course of history. Some movements may prove to be True, and some movements may prove to be false. The Truth of their message and their confidence in their message are entirely separate questions.
Some of these religions, such as some forms of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, teach that their path is the only path to salvation. In other religions, like other forms of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Wicca, and Transcendentalism, it is believed that the followers of one's faith do not have an exclusive path to God. They hold that people of other faiths may also reach God in their own way.
Views of being a chosen people are sometimes connected with ethnocentrism. The idea of a chosen people can be used to justify or create cultural imperialism, racism, and xenophobia.
On the other hand, there is no necessary link between considering onesself chosen and considering onesself superior. Many consider their chosen status to be humbling, as it requires them to live to make greater sacrifices than others. An example of this type of thought is exhibited in the Christian writing, Phillipians 2:5-8: "Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross.
A minority of Christians reject supersessionism and believe that members of other religions can also reach heaven. They cite verses such as Romans 2:6-11, "For God .. will ender to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God."
As an example, The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord is a Christian Identity movment which preaches that "Jews of today are not God's chosen people, but are in fact an anti-Christ race, whose purpose is to destroy God's people and Christianity through its Talmudic teaching, forced inter-racial mixings, and perversions."
Some Muslims believe Islam is Exclusive, and some do not.
Muslims who believe that Muslims, Christians and Jews all serve the same God cite Quranic verses such as:
Some parts of the Quran attribute differences between Muslims and non-Muslims to tahri fi-manawi, a "corruption of the meaning" of the words. In this view, the Jewish Bible and Christian New Testament are true, but the Jews and Christians misunderstood the meaning of their own Scriptures, and thus need the Quran to clearly understand the will of God. Other parts of the Quran teach that many Jews and Christians deliberately altered their scripture, and thus altered the word of God in order to deceive their co-religionists. This belief was developed further in medieval Islamic polemics, and is a mainstream belief in much of Islam today. This is known as the doctrine of tahrifi-lafzi, "the corruption of the text".Types of Purposes
Chosen to receive a message
In many religions it is believed that the God has revealed a message to a prophet or messenger. Judaism
This topic is described in Jews as a chosen people.Christianity
Supersessionism is the belief of most Christians that Christians have replaced Israel as God's Chosen people. In this view, the Jews' chosenness found its ultimate fulfillment through the message of Jesus; Jews who remain non-Christian are no longer considered to be chosen, since they reject Jesus as the Messiah and son of God. Christians who ascribe to supersessionsism, cite the Bible verse John 14:6, attributed to Jesus: "I am the way, the truth, and the life, No one comes to the Father except through Me" as evidence that only Christians can attain heaven.Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholicism has traditionaly taught that all non-Christians would not be saved. Today many within the Roman Catholic Church teach that salvation is not ruled out for those who have not had the Gospel proclaimed to them, nor the possibility of asking to be baptized.Latter Day Saints
In Mormonism, the Latter Day Saints are viewed as a chosen people. In contrast to supersessionism, Latter Day Saints do not dispute the "chosen" status of the Jewish people. Indeed, some Latter Day Saints view themselves as chosen because they are Israelites, in one of two ways: (1) some European and Asian Latter Day Saints claim literally to have Israelite blood, usually from the lost tribe of Ephraim; (2) others claim that when they accept Mormonism, they become an adopted Israelite.Christian Identity groups
Christian Identity groups, based on a fusion of Nazi ideology, white supremacy, and fundamentalist Christianity, have developed a theology which holds that God hates the Jews, and that only white Christians are God's chosen people. These groups are rejected as non-Christian by the great majority of mainstream Christian churches. Islam
Muslims who believe Islam is in an adversarial relationship with Christianity and Judaism, cite other verses such as:
Islamic supersessionism presents Muslims as the only people chosen to carry the true word of God.. According to these individuals, Islam the leaders of both Judaism and Christianity deliberately altered the true word of God, and thus led all of their believers down a false path. In the Quran, Mohammed charges the Jewish people with "falsehood" (Sura 3:71), distortion (4:46), and of being "corrupters of Scripture."