Chosen People

“I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?”

Chosen people rhetoric rises and falls regularly within religions. The New Testament is a great example of that within Christianity, since it went from strictly and exclusively the Jews to those Jews who chose to follow Jesus to anyone who chose to follow Jesus.

Within many religions and denominations it is strict and exclusive (“Only people who believe what we believe are chosen/can be saved.”), while others have inclusive, universal wording (Unitarian Universalist, Buddhism, etc.). Mormonism is a fairly unique combination of both (“We are chosen, but potentially so is everyone else who has ever lived – and we have no clue ultimately who will be chosen and who won’t be.”). We are closer to Catholicism in that regard than to mainstream Protestantism.

There also is a fundamental difference among religions about who does the choosing. There are those that teach God chooses (with the hardcore Calvinist idea that God predestines and the JW interpretation that narrows it to only 144,000 – a small minority of JWs); there are those that teach people choose (which some call a “work” and others don’t see as a work); and there are some who don’t call it a choice at all but rather just a universal process.

There are those who believe in a one-time choice that lasts forever, those who believe later choices can cancel earlier choices, and, again, those who don’t believe in fully free choice at all (because God does it for us: Calvinism, or because choice doesn’t matter in the eternal long run: Buddhism).

Mormonism is unique in that it can allow almost all of those views, since almost all of them have been taught to some degree by leaders at some point. I personally lean toward the idea that all people are chosen (symbolized in the War in Heaven narrative that says everyone who is born made a choice to accept God’s plan for them) and that God has “all eternity” to make it work in the end.

Other than not really believing there are chosen people, the problem I have with us being said chosen people is that it so often leads to pridefulness among some of us. While not always explicitly stated (but it is sometimes explicitly stated) I often hear that we are better than our Christian brothers and sisters (or any other religion) because we are chosen or we are members of the “true church.” That is the bad kind of pride.

The other issue I have is the prosperity gospel aspect of being chosen, and what it leads to when people figure it out.

This was a great reply to follow Old-Timer who talked about what it means to be chosen. I realize my issue is not the understanding who are chosen and why so much as proclaiming it. It sounds prideful and I think history shows it could lead to bad things. Just my opinion, with a better understanding of all this and my own feelings I can respond with a cautionary tone when I hear or see this happening.

Conversely – my cringe moment with the Chosen People mantra runs along Tevya’s line (Thank you Dande). In all of history, “The Chosen” person/people often suffer the most.

I hate suffering. I don’t do it well. I run from it when I can. When we sit in class and are pulling our invisible “I am Chosen” shirt I panic. It’s a great motivator when we are being driven from Nauvoo, but I really don’t want to be a target.

So many religious leaders were killed for being Chosen, whether it was translating scripture, creating scripture, living scripture, etc. Some times they were martyred twice. Bones dug up and reburned to make sure all the remnant was gone.

For me it’s a trigger phrase.

This is where I was headed.

^^^^^^^^^^^ Kipper – I say we make “Not Chosen” shirts.

You’re a rascal

[img]https://i.imgur.com/pgWk4qg.gif[/img]

Many are cold but few are frozen.

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