You are free to hold anti-Semitic views in defiance of the evidence that should show you the error of such thinking.
I don’t think the KJV is a very good source when you’re talking about specifically Jewish doctrine. On the other hand, I don’t know what the mainstream translations of the Torah are.
Interpreting what modern Jews believe by looking at stuff in Joshua (rather than at what actual modern Jews say or do) is anachronistic. It is also, sadly, a common theme in anti-Semitic writings.
I don’t think you are disagreeing here, but what I’d add is that a lot of anti-Semites quite deliberately display ‘selective deafness’ when confronted with the (actual) interpretation of (real, modern) Jews - insist, in fact, that modern Jews are likely to behave like Joshua in Genesis given the chance. To my mind, that is in fact “slander”.
Sort of like how modern Englishment are likely to go all Beowulf on us. 
I did look at other translations. They were all essentially the same.
What you are missing (no fault to you) is that modern Judaism is not, in fact, based solely on the OT - in whatever translation. It is based also on the oral law, which is recorded in the Talmud and Midrash.
What you have in the OT are, in part, holy legends, myths and history. It is not a straight-on guide to what “Jews” actually believe.
I know it’s madness for me to wade into this, but what the heck.
The above quote is pretty far off the mark on both points. The chosen people thing isn’t about being better. It’s more akin to people who chose to become priests because they had a calling from god. It’s not quite the same because you are born into it rather than choosing the priesthood, but it’s closer to that than it is to your take on it. No one thinks Priest, or Nuns or other people who have “hear the call” think they are better than the people who haven’t. Same basic idea…sort of kind of. The Jewish relationship with God, the entire Jewish perspective on God is really pretty different than the gentile view in terms of paradigm. You can’t really view it through a Christian perspective and get anything like a proper picture, and I personally think that’s one of the big reasons for continued anti-semitism. People tend to dislike and fear other people with different world views.
The second part is you not understanding what was being said, because it is nothing at all like saying “You can also be spared life. Just accept Islam.” It’s nearly the opposite. It’s saying that unless you were born Jewish you don’t have to worry about following all the stupid shit we Jews have to do. Just be a good guy (ie follow the Noahid laws, which are pretty basic and even less extensive than the 10 commandments. Don’t steal, don’t murder, don’t blaspheme, don’t commit incest or adultary, off the top of my head. Stuff you are probably not doing anyway) and God will love you.
Malthus, I am not offering an opinion on what modern Jews believe. I am trying to explain where Christians, reading the Bible, get the “chosen people” idea. And why, in my opinion, it is not a “slander” because they have a reasonable basis for that understanding. A misunderstanding is not a slander.
It is if one maliciously persists in it in the face of expaination to the contrary, no?
Yes. But most Christians who say it have never heard such an explanation.
Those who spread the notion usually do so deliberately - to stir up hatred of Jews. I can’t believe those types know literally nothing about Jews, and are simply riled up by an innocent error they happened to pick up from their spare-time readings of the Book of Genesis.
Isn’t it rather more likely that those who hate are spreading falsehoods deliberately (or indifferent to the truth) based on age-old anti-Semitic standard canards? How else would the average person (who is not in point of fact likely to be all that conversant with the OT) even going to make the connection?
I looked up the Noahide laws in case anyone was interested. I got most of them right but missed a couple. Don’t commit idolitry, establish a system of justice in your society (or live in a society with a system of justice rather than just living in a world of vigilantism), kill animals before butchering them for food and don’t eat animals that were killed by other wild animals. Again, it’s all pretty much stuff you are going to be doing anyway unless you like eating the flesh of still living creatures, dispensing vigilante justice, and sleeping with your Mom. Blasphemy and Idolitry can get sort of tricky depending on your interpretation I suppose.
If you google the term you can find several hilariously anti-Semitic websites on the dangers of the horrible Noahide laws.
Malthus, I think you have a misconception. Most Christians I have known do not hurl “chosen people” as some sort of sarcastic epithet. Most people first encountered the notion in church, and they are not about to second-guess God, if he has (in their understanding) chosen the Jews as his favorite people. That, and not eschatological obsession, is a big part of why evangelical Christians tend to be so supportive of Israel.
I’m not aiming my comment at “most Christians”, but at those who portray the “chosen people” theme as sinister. As in the topic of this thread (Why are Jews still hated … ?).
The problem here is that some Christian demoninations, ironically enough, take the OT far more literally than Jews do - some Christians sects, primarily evangelical, are more likely to be into Biblical literalism. Such folks may well have religious reasons to disregard Jewish interpretations of the OT (even if they have ever heard of them).
However, the prominence of the “chosen people” theme in Christian polemics far predates evangelical Christianity, which is itself a relatively recent phenominon. And the use Christians tended to make of it was not positive - it fed into the narrative of the nasty Jews, thinking they were better than everyone.
However, this does point to a recurring irony - that anti-Semitic tropes are often a two-edged sword: the same themes and stereotypes can be cited for both liking and hating Jews. See the article above on Japanese anti-Semitism.
Huh? There are studies and everything showing that blacks, on average, have larger flaccid penises than whites.
Are you telling me they are putting on a uniform and a show for nothing?
Come on now. Their whole higher standing in society is based on the idea of their “dedication” and “closeness” to an invisible deity and the distinction with respect to ordinary people.
What’s next you will claim to attenuate the issue being discussed? That religion has no impact on a given society culture? That clerical class in a given society is only for a show?
I don’t know man, this is some basic history stuff.
I went to Anglican schools as a child and I picked it up from the forced Bible readings. I didn’t think it meant Jews were dicks, though; I thought it meant Christians were weird for retaining the Old Testament.
Eh, I guess. In a way it’s probably true that you can’t separate yourself without claiming special status. Like I said, it’s a worldview type of thing though and I guess don’t really know how to explain it properly because the idea is very much to separate but not to elevate Jews. Maybe nuns and monks are better examples than priests since the priesthood is fraught with abuses of power. Maybe there just isn’t a proper analogy in gentile society.
You are ignorant of the definition of the word you’re using. Believing that something is true does not change the fact that it’s slander.
Of course, your claim that they have a reasonable basis for that understanding is more than a bit odd. “A bronze age book says something, therefore millenia later, disparate traditions of people who follow multiple sects based on that and other books, oral tradition as well as contemporary interpretations thereof, must believe exactly what it says.” That’s reasonable?
Well, maybe. Republicans all over the country demonize Muslims by cherry-picking violent quotes from the Qu’ran, and it doesn’t get them in trouble.
Folks who do that are slandering Muslims.
The fact that it doesn’t get them into trouble is a problem.