Judaism as the Oldest Monotheistic Religion - Essay Example

Jews Introduction With more than 18 million adherents all over the world, Judaism is the oldest monotheistic religion that has been able to survive, claiming history going back to more than 3000 years. Despite the fact that Israel is the biggest state of Jews, and was acquired as a Jewish state; however, statistics indicate that United States is the home of more Jews than Israel. Moreover, France, Canada, United Kingdom, Russia and Argentina are the states with some considerable number of Jewish populations as well (Jospe, Madsen & Ward, pp. 52-59). However, more than their demographics and any other factor or variable, it is one of their religious beliefs that is more attention catching and debatable than anything else in the case of Jews. It is an observation that Jews have repeatedly emphasised on their superiority over all other creatures based on their religion. In specific, they call themselves as the covenants of God. According to the definition of the term ‘covenant’, it refers to any mutual agreement or understanding between two parties in the light of some terms and conditions enclosing some do’s and don’ts (Jospe, Madsen & Ward, pp. 52-59). Quite understandably, Jews hold the belief, based on religious historical events and their scriptures that they have an agreement with the God, which binds the God to prefer them on others. In return, Jews would have to follow the laws, rules, and regulations of the God through the prophets that He sent. In this regard, this paper is an attempt to analyse and examine the same belief of Jews as God’s chosen people based on scrutiny of the concept of covenants. In addition, this paper would not merely discuss the reasons for this belief but would also try to explore the alternative views and criticism on this idea. Discussion Like any other monotheistic religion of the world, quite understandably, Jewish people believe in one God. However, they, at the same time, also are of the view that there is some sort of special pact or agreement between them and God, and that Jews are obliged to abide by the laws of God than any other people. The major reason of such belief being that it would be the Jews, leading from the front when Messiah would come back to bring order in the world near the Day of Judgment (Solomon, pp. 256-260). Moreover, for all this activity, Israel would be the center and Jews would be the vehicle. According to Jewish traditions, Abraham was first one with whom God made a covenant. According to the chapter 12 of Book of Genesis, God told Abraham, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing” (Breslauer, pp. 74-79). However, after the death of Abraham, God passed this special blessing to Abraham’s son Isaac. The fourth verse of Chapter 26 in the book of Genesis in this regard says, “I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Breslauer, pp. 74-79). Moreover, Jacob the son of Isaac, after the death of Isaac found himself with these God’s blessings. The fourteenth verse of Chapter 28 of the Book of Genesis says, “Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south. In you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Breslauer, pp. 74-79). Analysis has identified various other reasons for such belief of Jews as well that include their superiority over others. In specific, Christianity agrees to the fact that Jesus was the savior of the world and will come back before the end of this world. Even all Muslims acknowledge the fact that Jesus Christ was a blessing for the world since he was one of the few prophets that brought a book from God. However, technically speaking, Jesus himself was a Jew since he was born to a Jew woman, Mary (Abrahams, pp. 36-39). Therefore, one can say that Jesus was a Jew by flesh. This leaves Jews in a position to say that the “savior of the believers” came through the Jewish people. Jews obviously feel proud in this regard since they see the roots of Christianity and other religions in their religion. No other religion has this credit neither claims it. God says in the Book of Luke (2:7) and the Book of Romans (1:3), “And she (Mary) brought forth her firstborn Son (Jesus), and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn”. At another place, God speaks, “Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed (Jewish people) of David according to the flesh” (Breslauer, pp. 74-79). Besides, it is an observation that salvation is one of the most important concepts in all religions existing in the world. Jesus Christ’s greatness lies in salvation because he died for abolishing and pardoning all the sins of people on this planet. However, the Bible in Book of John clearly mentions, “(Jesus told the Samaritan woman...) you worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews” (Breslauer, pp. 74-79). Therefore, Jews also end up taking this credit as well. Further scrutiny indicated that Jerusalem enjoys the credit of having first church ever as well. However, more important is its construction. Holy books indicate that God was working with the Jews while they were building this Church. God says in the Book of Acts, “And the Lord added to the church (in Jerusalem) daily those who were being saved” (Abrahams, pp. 36-39). Teaching the Gospel to all the gentiles also is a credit that Jews claim to have on their side. People like John, Peter, Paul, James, and Barbanas were all Jews who took the gospel out of the Israel and spread it all over the world (Cohn-Sherbok & Cohn-Sherbok, pp. 98-99). As the book of Acts says in the tenth chapter and forty fifth verse, “And those of the circumcision (Jews) who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also” (Abrahams, pp. 36-39). Jews have also been talking about the fact that according to the Book of Amos, Chapter eighth and verse fourteen and fifteen that the God has all the plans to restore the national Israel in the last days of this world (Dosick, pp. 5-11). Besides, Israel would also be a focal point where Yeshua would return and Israel would be the place where he would make his Kingdom. The great progress of Israel as a nation since its existence is more of a proof of the same (Jospe, Madsen & Ward, pp. 52-59). However, even amongst Jews, there are different groups who interpret this concept differently. The modern orthodox Jews say that “being chosen” does not guarantee superiority over others; however; everybody “is chosen” from God for some purpose or the other (Jospe, Madsen & Ward, pp. 52-59). For instance, Greeks “were chosen” for making important contributions to art and philosophy, the Romans for giving a new structure of law and governments, British for bringing parliamentary system into the world, and the Americans for giving the world an idea of a pluralistic society (Seltzer, pp. 141-142). However, conservative Jews still hold the belief that being covenant marks their superiority in all lifestyles, especially in the life after death. In addition, all others groups in Jewish have agreed to the fact that all souls have been created in the image of God and since all of us are God’s creation, therefore, no distinction on the basis on religion or any other criteria is a good option. However, many other religions especially Islam and Christianity have been involved in opposing the Jewish concept of ‘being chosen.’ Although various other religions have somewhat similar beliefs of “being closer to God”; however, for some reasons, this Jewish concept has been under debate and attack since decades. Quite understandably, as mentioned earlier, it is not Judaism only but every other religion has been claiming the same concept of ‘being chosen’, ‘the covenants’, or ‘the blessed people’ (Breslauer, pp. 74-79). One would have to accept that every religion would do this because in absence of this element, any religion is incomplete and does not have enough mileage for attracting adherents. On logical and neutral grounds, one can accept and digest this Jewish claim but it is still important to identify the reasons of so much retaliation from other all religions regarding this Jewish concept. In these last few lines of this paper, we would examine a few of these arguments. On theoretical, rational, and general grounds, it is usually the concept of God, put forward to counter the concept of covenant in Judaism. For all monotheistic religions, God is supreme and is One. Additionally, the concept of God has been derived from several variables like divinity, purity, oneness, perfection, supremacy, powerfulness, faultlessness, truth, rightness and others (Dosick, pp. 5-11). More importantly, in every monotheistic religion, as well non- monotheistic religions, God is always sinless and not doable of any sin. It is also imperative to note that this does not mean religions restrict or limit God with His powers. However, it refers to the choice of God of keeping Himself away from any sins (Dosick, pp. 5-11). Critics of Jewish concept of covenants argue that on logical grounds, giving inherited supremacy to one race of people is incorrect both on ethical and moral grounds. How can God distinguish between people on the basis on race, when He, Himself is the symbol of love and His love is the same as the love of a mother who would love all her children under all circumstances? (Abrahams, pp. 36-39) In specific, Islamic critics argue that God will not distinguish amongst people based on criteria that is uncontrollable or outside the human powers. Religion, one would born in, is not anybody’s choice. Moreover, a person may pass away without even knowing the teachings of Judaism, and at the end of the day, he may found himself inferior than Jews only because he was born in some other religion, and did not get the chance to know about Judaism (Solomon, pp. 256-260). Besides, critics further argue that deeds and acts of any person make him or her superior or inferior in the eyes of God. Humanity, truth, service and helping others, faith in God, religious rituals and similar factors create the basis of differentiating between others and that is how God distinguish between His creatures on the Day of Judgment (Dosick, pp. 5-11). These arguments mainly come from Muslim and Hindu critics. Although these arguments are rationally and logically correct but they fail to cater the technical aspects of this debate since religion is not about rationality and logic but it is more about faith, scriptures, belief and others. In this regard, Christianity presents critics on this Jewish belief in the light on scriptures. They conclude that this Jewish belief is incorrect not because that it fails to prove itself on logical and rational grounds but because there is some problem with interpretation of the religious scriptures (Dosick, pp. 5-11). This evokes a healthy possible argument as the religious experts agree the all the religious scriptures can have different interpretations depending on a number of factors. For instance, let us consider the verses from the book of Genesis presented earlier in this paper that form the basis of this Jewish belief. However, Christian interpretations have interpreted it focusing on the fact that all these verses have one thing in common and that is the line that says “and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Breslauer, pp. 74-79). Therefore, it is not only Jewish people “who are blessed” or “will be blessed” and not only their families but also all the nations on earth will have the blessings from God. Since the Jewish religion is very old, therefore, most of the people in some way or the other have their roots and ancestors in that religion, and indirectly, are a part of their family. Thus, God has indicated that Jews are the vehicles through which all the humankind would receive the blessings of God and not only Jews alone (Breslauer, pp. 74-79). Furthermore, if there are verses in the bible regarding chosen attributes of Jews, then there are also verses indicating the fact that God has also set other criteria as well for distinguishing the creatures. For instance, God says in the book of Romans, Chapter 10 verse 9 and 10, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made to salvation” (Jospe, Madsen & Ward, pp. 52-59). It is also imperative to note that there are also conflicts on the definition of Jews as well. A number of biblical experts have put efforts to say that “Jew” is any individual whose ancestors are Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac or who believes in them. Therefore, Jesus himself was also a Jew by flesh (Solomon, pp. 256-260). Works Cited Abrahams, Israel. Judaism. First World Publishing, 2005. Breslauer, S. Daniel. Covenant and community in modern Judaism. Greenwood Press, 1989. Cohn-Sherbok, Lavinia, & Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. Judaism: a short introduction. Oneworld Publications, 1999. Dosick, Wayne D. Living Judaism: the complete guide to Jewish belief, tradition, and practice. HarperSan Francisco, 1995. Jospe, Raphael, Madsen, Truman G., & Ward, Seth. Covenant and chosenness in Judaism and Mormonism. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2001. Seltzer, Robert M. Judaism: a people and its history. Macmillan, 1989. Solomon, Norman. Judaism: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, 2000. Read More