The persecution of Jews and the prosperity gospel
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1. Develop a long and detailed list of reasons why there has been long-standing and wide persecution of Jews.
2. Take a particular movement within Christianity which started within the past 200 years and explain its origin and distinctive beliefs.
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Solution Summary
This post really addresses two separate issues. The first is a discussion exploring why the Jews have been so systematically persecuted throughout world history. The second takes a look at the prosperity gospel movement and traces its origins, teachings and leaders. Over 900 words of original text along with links to sources used.
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1. The Bible speaks of the Jews as God's chosen people. Since Satan stands in direct opposition to God it would make sense that the Jews would be Satan's chosen target for persecution since they are God's chosen recipients of love. This explains the phenomenon of Jewish persecution from a spiritual perspective.
The Jews were dispersed from their homeland around 780 BC when the northern 10 tribes of Israel were taken captive by the Assyrians. The southern two tribes were taken captive by the Babylonians around 586 BC. Though some Jews were allowed to return to Israel, many of them remained scattered in foreign countries while others intermarried with local people.
Following the destruction of the temple in 70 AD the Jews became a people without a homeland and were scattered around the world. As strangers in the lands they lived in they were always a minority. Their strange language, customs and appearance set them apart from the very start. We typically tend to distrust people who are different from the majority. This was the experience of the Jews.
As strangers and immigrants they were denied jobs in traditional areas. Therefore they tended to fill the niche of small business men, merchants, bankers, money lenders, writers, and doctors. While these careers were lucrative and in most cases benefitted the communities in which they lived, their affluence tended to alienate them further from the regular people.
As an isolated, different and affluent part of society, they were easy targets during times of unrest and upheaval.
The Jews who fled to Western or "Christian" nations tended to fair worse ...
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