Why do Christians worship the God of the Hebrews?

Why do Christians worship the God of the Hebrews?

I rarely ever post on ATS, but since I've been reading the bible I've come upon many questions, and here's one of them.

I've found many instances in the Old Testament where God refers to the Hebrews as "HIS" people. This is just one example.

Exodus 3:7 KJV

7 And the LORD said , I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters ; for I know their sorrows;

18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come , thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go , we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go .

21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go , ye shall not go empty:

22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.

The God of the Hebrews doesn't care about any other people except the Hebrews. This God will go so far as to steal from, destroy and kill any people that aren't Hebrew.

So, why do Christians chose the Hebrew God to worship? If they believe that Jesus/God/holy spirit is one in the same, then they are worshiping a God who clearly only cares about his chosen people. Did this God have a change of heart, and if so, how do you know? You would think if this God created ALL mankind, he would not intentionally harm any of his creations.


I almost hate to even ask this on ATS because I don't want to start a huge Christian hate thread. That's not my intention at all, so please don't reply if you have nothing but hatred to spew. I'm not a Christian, but I'm curious and I think you should be able to maintain maturity and civility while discussing topics.

Simple answer to the OP's question: because religions, like technologies, entertainment, cutsoms, and other human activities, spread.

Why did the Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese adopt Buddhism, which started in India? Why did the North Africans or Indoneasians become Muslims, which started in the Arabian pennensula? Why did Roman soldiers in Northern England join the Cult of Mithras, which was probably inspired by Persian thought, or Cult of Isis, out of Egypt? Why did a large number of middle-class Americans in the 1970s become, say, Hare Krishnas? Because ideas spread and mutate and change. "Information wants to be free," they say. This was no less true millenia ago than it is today.

It's easy to exoticize and idealize a foreign religion because you can cherry-pick its attractive elements and ignore its more negative or tedious sides. New religions provide new ways of looking at timeless ideas when old religions seem exhausted, faded, jaded, corrupt, or just plain don't work anymore for whatever reason. Every time a new religion enters a new place, it mutates to adopt to local culture. Japanese Buddhism is very different from Thai or Tibetan Buddhism. Episcopalian Christianity, Ethiopian Coptic Christianity, Russian Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism, and U.S. Pentecostalism are all very different creatures, too.

In the specific case of Christianity, the Hebrew God was "internationalized" by the the theory that the "chosen ones" were no longer a small group of people or tribes, but rather anyone who accepted Christ. God was said to have offered a "New Covenant" through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this "new deal," so to speak, re-defined those who were chosen or saved to include anyone who accepted salvation through Christ. Variations of this idea have been used down through the ages to ease the spread of the religion into new areas.


[edit on 2/7/10 by silent thunder]

my parents are Christian and i have never thort about that thanks , and maby religon is like a big game of chinese wispers and now because its years later religon is every where and diffent people have said it in meny cultures

During the time of Christ there was not that many people on earth. After the time of Christ the Roman Church went around killing innocent people for not believing in their God. Even made Christianity the legal religion. So after you go around the globe killing people for not believing and making the new religion the main religion you get others to follow you through fear. Then those people have babies, their children have babies, and so on until you have Christianity as the new global religion.

reply to post by Schleprock

The Lord of the Hebrews became Jesus who was The Christ (Messiah)...
...but most Hebrews didn't recognize who He was.

Don't forget that Jesus was a Jew/Hebrew; the God he spoke of, according to the New Testament, was the same God of the Hebrews.

Christians are more likely to accept the new testament God, i.e. the loving forgiving God than the wrathful God of the old testament. I think that was one of Jesus' main message: God only saves his wrath and judgment for those who refuse to ask for forgiveness and live lives of sin.

I really can't believe how anybody could believe in the God of the old testament; Torture, wrath, murder, plague, disease, starvation, genocide; half the time this God sounds ironically more like a Nazi than a God.

God as i'm told to explain your question, chose a people to meant to to survive his wrath he wil exteminate mankind with. Mankind is punished because they learned about the existense of evil. they eat fruit from the tree of knowledge you know.
Simply aware of evil makes one to choose between them.
Hebbrew are to be demanded they never doubt.
If you not with him you;re against him. They shall not praise other gods because he 's a jelous god.

Chritians praise another god but the first christians were hebrew so the told their new gog is the son of the old.and even to be one.

This new god is told to be the oly way to be back in in touch with the old one. because when the time comes to punish peoply for knowing evil a few will live

Iroicly i'v heard of the most diehard believers to be the absolute toppers for the use of evil.

Everything contradicts the other.
Muslim also believe in the god of their eartfathers coincidently being the the same as those of hebrew and christian faith. But they say their god is another god

It's all so incomprehandable

Originally posted by Monts
I really can't believe how anybody could believe in the God of the old testament; Torture, wrath, murder, plague, disease, starvation, genocide; half the time this God sounds ironically more like a Nazi than a God.

If you caefully look into the actions of this OT God...
...you will realize that all the atrocities were pitted against hybrid species (Nephiyl)...
...and the hard laws toward His people were to caccoon them...
...and stopped them from being destoyed.

The Lord God of the OT is the Jesus of the NT but the circumstances are different.

reply to post by Schleprock


Christians worship the God of the Hebrews, or YHWH, because, Christianity came from Judaism. The first Christians were Jewish. The God didn't change. Christians simply recognize Jesus as the Messiah while Jews don't.

The reason the Jews are, in the Old Testament, referred to as "his people" is because, the Jews were/are God's people. The Jews were God's chosen people from which the messiah was to come into the world, from which all nations and tribes would be blessed. (That's not to say that God didn't care about anyone else though. Even in OT times one could get saved.) Once the messiah came and returned to heaven, God's focus, for the time being, turned more global and universal, as history transitioned from the time of Law to the age of grace.

reply to post by troubleshooter


"Destroyed" probably isn't the best word to use. The Law of the OT, I would say, is probably better described as a means to preserve the faithful remnant, so that the messiah could come into the world. After all, there were many Hebrews that were destroyed during those times. (A whole tribe [some say two!] basically is no more.)

Originally posted by bputman
During the time of Christ there was not that many people on earth. After the time of Christ the Roman Church went around killing innocent people for not believing in their God. Even made Christianity the legal religion. So after you go around the globe killing people for not believing and making the new religion the main religion you get others to follow you through fear. Then those people have babies, their children have babies, and so on until you have Christianity as the new global religion.

I agree with you...
...Jesus was mostly rejected as the Messiah by the majority of Jews...
...so Christianity became predominantly Gentile quite early...
...Greko/Roman concepts of law and worship shaped Christian history...
...but while messing things up they also preserved the documented history...
...so we can go back and work it out now...
...and the history is there to warn us of things that are coming.

There's a lot of interesting replies.

I know that Jesus was Jewish. I also know that the first Christians were Jewish.

I am going to continue reading the bible and try to draw my own conclusion, but it is very interesting reading your replies. Lots to think about.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas

God as i'm told to explain your question, chose a people to meant to to survive his wrath he wil exteminate mankind with.

No, God chose a people from which the messiah would come.

Mankind is punished because they learned about the existense of evil. they eat fruit from the tree of knowledge you know.

Man brought that punishment on himself. It wasn't God's fault that man ate the fruit. Beyond that, it's not because of that that man will be punished. Man is punished because of his own sin.

Hebbrew are to be demanded they never doubt.

Heh?

If you not with him you;re against him.

Yes, Jesus said that when he sent the disciples out into Judea. It's true though, is it not, theologically speaking? If you're not consciously with Christ, you're not in his Kingdom and thus in the kingdom of the enemy. There are no Switzerlands in spiritual things.

They shall not praise other gods because he 's a jelous god.

Yes, God is jealous for his people, much like a husband is jealous for his wife. Something wrong with that?

Chritians praise another god but the first christians were hebrew so the told their new gog is the son of the old.and even to be one.

No, the Christian God is the same. He never changed. Jesus claimed to be the God that the Jewish people knew (I AM). Him being the "son" shows his role within the Trinity.

This new god is told to be the oly way to be back in in touch with the old one.

Where'd you get that? Christ came to bring the lost sheep of the world back into fellowship with the one God. Not with the old one who saw the new one and so on.

because when the time comes to punish peoply for knowing evil a few will live

And...? Many will end up living for eternity.

reply to post by Schleprock

I am going to continue reading the bible and try to draw my own conclusion

The New Testament in particular will best answer the questions that you have about this particular issue.

Originally posted by octotom
reply to post by troubleshooter

 

"Destroyed" probably isn't the best word to use. The Law of the OT, I would say, is probably better described as a means to preserve the faithful remnant, so that the messiah could come into the world. After all, there were many Hebrews that were destroyed during those times. (A whole tribe [some say two!] basically is no more.)

Yes that's a reasonable view.

Following the original disconnect in Eden, Eve and the Serpent were given a promise.
"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Genesis 3:15

The rest of the OT is the history of the original 'seed' or genetics of men running the guantlet of attempts to destroy the line...
...so that the One who was to put things right could not be born from among men.

The deluge was one way of destroying the opposition...
...and many campaigns that slaughtered hybrid tribes...
...the giant Goliath was one of these from the tribe of Gath.

Once the Lord incarnated into the human line...
...the hybidization almost stopped because it was no longer needed.

The Messiah defeated death and has made transphysical transformation available to anyone who will accept it.

May I suggest that you please read the New Testament... in fact, to grasp why...do some indepth studys of the Bible, maybe read a few commentaries. Look at a series of indepth videos...
Your question shows a lack of basic understanding of Christianity and it's Judaic roots. That's not a bad thing, you are merely beginning a journey of insight and enlightenment and peace.

reply to post by Schleprock


First, your showing your age with your avatar!!

Second, (imho) Christianity really never was. JC was a jew (I can hear southern baptists screaming now LOL). He wasnt a Christian. His ways were Jewish. He modified them (new covenant?).

His teachings became horribly coopted by Rome. I doubt he would recognise his teachings in most of what happened even 300 years after his death.

Leave it to humans to screw something up, huh.

reply to post by Schleprock


You know now that you mention it. That sure does bring things into perspective don't it.

In any case. I've always felt that if there is a god it is so incredibly alien to us that we could never ever begin to understand it.
God's perspective would be alien. And probably in higher dimensions.

If you ask me. I don't think God is rooting for anyone.

Originally posted by Schleprock
so please don't reply if you have nothing but hatred to spew. I'm not a Christian, but I'm curious and I think you should be able to maintain maturity and civility while discussing topics.

S & F because of your respectful approach to the question and, apparent, receptiveness to opinions.

Unfortunately, I predict your request, quoted above, will be ignored, quickly. Sadly, there will be the usual cast of characters who will not be as respectful as you.

Also, it is very interesting to read the varied opinions presented in response to your question. Thanks for posting.

reply to post by felonius

His teachings became horribly coopted by Rome. I doubt he would recognise his teachings in most of what happened even 300 years after his death.

In some churches he may not recognize the teachings, but in general, I truly think he would. We have manuscripts of the New Testament that date back to decades after Christ's teachings would have been given and the New Testament manuscripts are pretty well attested to. There is something like one or two percent variation, mostly coming from spelling errors/differences.

My point is, we can be fairly sure that the New Testament, especially the Gospels, with presuppositions and denominational baggage set aside, contain the teachings of Christ.