[debeguiled]

Ok, I get you.

I was thinking more along the lines of the E. Michael Jones concept of Jewishness:

I have only come across his writings recently, and his theory of what it means to be Jewish hangs together pretty well.

His main point is that the Jews were the chosen people because they had the first relationship with the true creator of the universe.

When their messiah came along, they rejected him, turning them from a beacon for humanity into a revolutionary, rebellious people because they rejected their own messiah.

So for him, the primary character of the Jew is one of rebellion and subversion because after you have rejected the messiah, what else is there to do besides seek earthly power?

And as for the Jews who converted to Christianity, well, they just became run of the mill Christians, just like any other Christian, because the point is for humanity is to become united under one god.

But then Jones takes his Christianity seriously, so you either accept or reject it, and if you reject it, especially if you are a Jew, because your own culture has been priming you for it for thousands of years, then you become nothing more than a renegade, and subversion and self aggrandizement are your only real choice.

He also argues that Judaism is actually younger than Christianity, because the old Jewish religion involved the temples and sacrifices and the ark of the covenant. Once these things were gone, so was the religion of the Old Testament.

He sees Judaism, which has no temple for sacrifices, as an upstart kind of debating society that is only a shadow of its prior self, which would make sense because after the original rebellion, most other choices are superfluous.

So that is what I meant by the spiritual aspect of the Jewish character. Not merely what they practice or what they believe; more along the lines of, what sort of spiritual forces are in play when an entire culture and people are formed in opposition to their own god?

They would be motivated by something stronger than a garden variety lack of awareness. There would be spiritual forces behind them in their opposition which would explain their superhuman abilities to influence the world.

In fact, when you look at all of the qualities Jews tend to possess: Superior intellect, high verbal abilities, the understanding of what makes people tick, and a strong sense of themselves as a common people with a common interests, a power of will bordering on stubbornness, the subtlety of mind to massage reality (subvert) rather than openly confront, you are looking at excellent qualities for a chosen people.

If they had accepted their messiah, all of these qualities would be valuable in bringing the message of the good news to the rest of the world.

It's just that after the original rebellion, all these qualities became corrupt, and were put to use denying their own savior, and gaining control in a vain attempt to make sure they never experienced the consequences of their original rejection.

If you believe that there is a spiritual aspect to all human character, even if the individuals are not consciously calling it that, the rebellion of the Jews, and their subsequent attempt to control worldly reality to evade consequences, could be seen as a deeper reason why they stay coherent as a people, and find such a cohesion and success despite their small numbers.

I like Jones' idea that while the Jews were once a people, they are now simply a spiritual concept: people who reject Jesus. That is what really binds them together.

The new Israel is the church, and is open to whoever joins.