Why did Christians B4 the Holocaust call Jews the "cursed people" and then after the holocaust the "chosen" ?

Question

Why did Christians change their nearly 2,000 yr theology so rapidly ?

Moreover, they are nothing but thieves and robbers who daily eat no morsel and wear no thread of clothing which they have not stolen and pilfered from us by means of their accursed usury. Thus they live from day to day, together with wife and child, by theft and robbery, as arch-thieves and robbers, in the most impenitent security.
--------Martin Luther

But for us Christians they stand as a terrifying example of God's wrath.-----Martin Luther

...but then eject them forever from this country. For, as we have heard, God's anger with them is so intense that gentle mercy will only tend to make them worse and worse, while sharp mercy will reform them but little. Therefore, in any case, away with them!-------Martin Luther


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Answer 1

Christians have been anti-Jewish since the very early days, I mean like the 1st century. The Romans who occupied Judea were very tolerant of Judaism because it was, even then, an 'ancient' religion, and because Jews didn't proselytize. But the Romans had less respect for early Christians because it was a new religion and they did proselytize, in fact they organized churches all over the empire.

So very early on the Christians claimed to be the 'new' Judaism. Jews, they insisted, had lost God's covenant by murdering their messiah and the Christians were God's new favorite.

So it's not unusual that Luther would say such things. Such opinions were very common in his day. After forming his church, Luther went to Jewish leaders in his country and told them they were wrong not to join the Catholic Church but now he had formed the -real- church and they could join. They said they only wanted to be left alone. That got Luther really angry!

After WWII, the modern nation of Israel was established, mostly because there were a jot of Jewish refugees from the war and nobody wanted them. But the Middle East was already very important to western powers and Israel was also seen as a foothold there for US and British power and hegemony.

Today Christian fundamentalists in the US believe that the creation of Israel is a harbinger of the final days. So they will fight for Israel, they will back them against the Palestinians and their unfriendly neighbors.

To me this is just another example of the corruption of religion by politics. It is useful for the 'powers that be' in the US to have a significant number of Americans believing that God created Israel on purpose as part of his plan. From my own Jewish-agnostic understanding of the scriptures, that's not true at all. But you know how people like to believe things.

And the irony is that these Christians who believe Israel's victory is God's Will, they have no respect for Jews or Judaism at all! They believe Jews are all going to hell.

Answer 2

The works of Martin Luther are hardly a representative sample of 1900 years of Christianity. I would like to see your accusation supported in Nestorian writings, for example. In the Middle Ages they numbered more than the Roman Catholics and Orthodox put together, so you should be able to come with at least one statement against the Jews. As for why they became the "chosen people," you are off by a few decades. That concept was advanced by dispensationalists some 100 years before WWII, and they are the same folks using that concept today.

Answer 3

Martin Luther was for some strange reason anti-Semetic, which is strange since Jesus and the disciples were all Jewish (excluding Luke). But many Christians were friendly toward the Jews. It was sorta a fifty-fifty thing.

Answer 4

Martin Luther = all Christians?

Answer 5

simply by fact Hitler achieved his aims. ultimately we can't villianize definitely all human beings who has ever had ill intentions, yet people who carry them out earnings a undeniable notariety. Martin Luther succeeded in coming up a rift between catholic and protestant (created protestantism truly) however the exterminations that got here from that have been regularly of catholics and protestants killing one yet another, and to no longer the music of six million. All Martin Luther truly achieved in this line grew to become into some call calling, and we do no longer likely villify human beings for that.

Answer 6

Martin Luther was old and cranky when he wrote that stuff, and he never spoke for all Christians.

Nice generalization.

Christians as a whole were never supposed to hate Jews.

Answer 7

Jews were always considered the chosen people of God. Jesus came to teach the jews first before the gentiles.

You can be cursed and chosen at the same time.

The only reason the jews were considered cursed is because they turned away from the teachings of God and the savior of the world, so they lost their protection from God. It was more of a loss of protection, not an actual curse for bad things to happen from now on. Anyone that turns away from God is considered cursed.

They are always going to be considered chosen because according to the Bible they always have and always will be chosen.

Answer 8

Martin Luther is not my god. I disagree with a lot that man said. Should I go and find terrible statements from atheists and do the same to you?

Answer 9

You seem to confuse the words of Martin Luther with the words of God.

Have you consulted a bible lately?

Answer 10

Reply to Cadisney...when you said "not an actual curse" I think your wrong about that. I think, sadly, the Holocaust and the troubles that Israel faces with all the bombings and wars in this day and age is indeed part of an actual curse steming from their ancestors...SO when it said a curse, yeah, I think it meant just that.