Thank you for the replies Pouring Rain and Boaz. I dont know much about the Jewish faith.
Anyways those are interesting explanations. But do non Jews achieve the same level as Jews in the next life or are the Jews one step ahead? Do Jews and non Jews both end up in the same place?
It is said they will "share in the world to come." What this means in exact, specific terms, I do not know nor have I read anything on it. Jews are not as concerned with the afterlife as Muslims and Christians are, so it is possible that even they have not thought this out. (The second part of that was sort of a joke.:giggling: But the first part is true that they do not focus on it the way muslims and christians do.) *shrug* Sorry I could not give you a better answer to this part.
and since in order to become Jewish a non-Jew would have to to prove their worth and their dedication shouldnt the same be applied to Jewish people also. They just had the privilage of being born Jewish they didnt have to work for it.
To the Jew, they believe that it is actually more difficult for them. This is because they have 613 laws (although not all 613 apply to every individual. Some apply only to males and some only to females.). But the noahide only has 7 laws to follow. The Jew believes that he should be the example. An orthodox Jew, for example, is not even supposed to step into a non-kosher restaurant in order to use the bathroom, because the appearance of him being in there could be misconstrued. Or if an orthodox woman makes a meat dish with almond milk (since they can not mix meat with dairy), then she must place almonds on the dish so that the "milk" will be known as almond and not give the appearance that she mixed milk with dairy. So, you can see where it can be extremely strict for them.
Unfortunately, what most people see is not the Orthodox Jews and how they live, but the vast number of liberal Jews who simply wear their religion, rather than fully living it. (My statement is not intended to offend any non-ortho Jews, as there are "good" Jews even outside of the Orthodox.) And it is also unfortunate that there is hypocrisy and wrong even within the Orthodox community that many see. When an Orthodox says things like it is forbidden by law for him to even dial 911 on the sabbath if he sees a gentile dying in the street, then it can cast an ugly stain on their religion, and imo it is obvious why Jesus was pointing his finger at the hypocrisy within those who practice the religion. (Again, I am not calling all Jews hypocrites.) The point I am making, to answer your question, is yes the Jews are also held to a standard and in fact they believe they are held to a higher standard. The problem is that you get individuals within their religion, just as within all religions, who cast an ugly stain on it.
Can those Jews who are not dedicated and worthy be expelled from Judaism?
A Jew by birth is always deemed a Jew no matter how sinful he is. In this sense, being Jewish is similar to "race" and is not just religion. So, he could never be "expelled." As far as what happens to him.... there are differing opinions, and this goes back to differing views on the afterlife in Judaism. Some believe in reincarnation and that a "bad" Jew will be born over and over again until he gets it right. A "bad" Jew could even be born into a gentile body until he can rectify himself. But I would say that reincarnation as a belief is probably within the minority opinion. Jews, similar to Muslims, also believe in a purification by fire after death. Perhaps a very bad Jew is purified longer and greater?
and what made jewish people the chosen people as opposed to other people?
I once saw a Jew say, "Chosen people? Chosen for what?" And then go into a long explanation of all the laws and all the burdens placed upon the Jew. (He was an Orthodox Jew.) To listen to some Jews, it sounds almost like a burden placed upon them. They were "chosen" to carry this burden-- they did not choose to carry it. To find out why God originally "chose" them you would have to study the Torah. The explanation is very long.... very long.... otherwise I'd write it out here. LOL
If you look later in the Bible, in Jeremiah 3, God issues a certificate of divorce to Israel, because she "played the harlot." And then he called the people back to repentance. All through the Bible we see the prophets calling the people back to repentance. In the NT when Jesus said he came first to the Jew (and then to the gentile) the significance of that was once again God calling the people back to him. This is one reason Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy so much. Of course, many did not come back to repentance and we see where Jesus is rejected by the Jews. There are actually two main differences in Christian opinion on the Jews when it comes to their rejection of Jesus.... replacement and grafting. Some Christians still see Jews as the chosen and believe Christians are grafted into the vine and must support Jews no matter what. Other Christians believe Christians replaced Jews as God's people, because the Jews rejected Jesus, and so they are no longer in the fold unless they accept Jesus. (There are other beliefs, but those are two main ones.)
In Islam Allah bestowed upon the bani-israel a great deal of favours but they earned the wrath of Allah when they became boastful, arrogant and went astray. Do you not think that due to all the prophets sent to the bani-israel that they should have taken as a warning instead of taking as we were chosen by god?
Salam
I guess your last questions were kinda answered by my previous answer also. Except that I did not give my own personal opinion on the matter.
(I do not often give my own personal opinions. LOL)
To answer your question: I think that the Jews should heed the warnings and messages of the prophets, and turn from their wicked ways, and come back to God. But.... I am not going to say the Jews as a whole, because I do believe that there are Jews who do live in a right relationship with God. Personally, I believe that if a man is already living in a right manner, then he is not the one who is the subject of the prophet's messages (any prophet), because the prophets come to bring the people back who have gone astray. This does not mean that all people have gone astray, but usually when we see a prophet being given a message to call a people back to repentance, it is a great number of the people needing the message. So, the message is for most, but not for all, and a small number would still be following already. If you walked in a room of teen girls during a slumber party and told them to get to sleep and quit giggling-- your message would only apply to the girls who are still awake and giggling. Those who had already fallen asleep earlier are already doing what you are instructing them to do.... for example.
So, yes, I agree that all people, Jews and non-Jews, should be careful not to think of themselves as "chosen" and fall into pride, thinking that they can live as they want and will always be held in grace. We should all humble ourselves before God and before each other. (Now you have my personal opinion.
)
(He can answer also. )
