Posted on 12/03/2021 9:37:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Some 51% of Evangelical Protestants in the United States say they believe Jews are God’s chosen people, according to a recently released survey.
Titled “The Jewish Connection: Evangelicals and Israel,” the findings were announced this week by Infinity Concepts, a faith-based communications agency that co-produced the report with Grey Matter Research.
Drawing from a survey of approximately 1,000 Evangelical Protestant Americans, the report found that 51% of respondents believed that Jews were still God’s chosen people.
By contrast, 19% said they were unsure, 17% said they believe Christians have replaced Jews as the chosen people, 10% said they believe Jews were never God’s chosen people, and 2% held an “other” view.
There was a generational difference in this sentiment, with 59% of respondents who were 70 or older saying they believe Jews were still the chosen people, while only 44% of those aged 40 and below agreed.
The report measured priority status for Israel and the Jews, using a scale of 1 to 5, in which 1 meant not important while 5 meant very important.
This part of the survey found that 48% of respondents believe that “supporting Israel and the Jewish people to be important in their own charitable behavior,” ranking the issue as a 4 or 5.
The report also found that 20% of Evangelical respondents were “Israel loyalists,” which meant they not only believed Jews were the chosen people, but also placed “a very high priority on supporting them.”
“From the Jewish and Israeli perspective, the Evangelical community is often viewed as a monolithic group that is both pro-Israel and pro-Jewish,” said Mark Dreistadt, CEO of Infinity Concepts, in comments to The Christian Post on Wednesday.
“We knew this was not true, but felt it was important to quantify the diversity as best we could. By looking at theological viewpoints, charitable giving, and support priorities we were able to see the mosaic of diversity emerge.”
Dreistadt also told CP that he found the “number of people that do not have a specific perspective” on the issue to be interesting, adding that he believed it “represents important growth opportunities for increased awareness, education and engagement with regard to Jewish-Christian relations and cooperation.”
“My perception is that Protestant Evangelicals are embracing the Jewish community — and the Jewish community is embracing the Evangelical community — more than ever before,” he continued.
“This is a trend that I personally hope will continue as the two communities learn to understand, trust and value one another. Because of the benchmarks established in this survey, we will be able to objectively measure progress in the years ahead.”
The group Christians United for Israel had some issues with the report, emailing a statement to CP on Wednesday in which they said the findings were “somewhat sensationalized.”
“A majority of Evangelicals believe the Jews are God’s chosen people. In stark contrast, just 17% support replacement theology,” CUFI stated. “Imagine a politician with a 51% approval and 17% disapproval rating — would they be worried?”
Respondents who put interest in Israel and the Jews high on the 5-point scale were asked to rank multiple issues on their priority. These included: “Supporting Holocaust survivors,” “Helping needy individuals and families in Israel,” “Supporting pro-Israel politicians or political positions in the U.S.,” “Helping Jews outside of Israel return to their homeland of Israel,” “Helping people learn about the Jewish roots of Christianity,” “Supporting medical services and first responders in Israel,” “Helping preserve or excavate biblical sites,” and “Supporting Messianic believers and businesses in Israel.”
Of the respondents, “helping needy individuals and families in Israel” ranked the highest with 27% putting that as top priority, while 16% placed “helping people learn about the Jewish roots of Christianity” as a top priority, with the remaining options ranging from 7% to 11% of respondents.
Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research, told CP that he felt the survey showed that many Evangelicals in the United States prefer to help Israel and the Jewish people in non-political ways.
“So much coverage of anything having to do with Israel is from a political viewpoint that it’s easy to start viewing the topic primarily through a political lens,” Sellers said.
“But the vast majority of American Evangelical Protestants have higher priorities for helping Israel and the Jewish people than supporting pro-Israel politicians or political positions in the U.S. It’s a great reminder that no matter what may be going on politically, to Evangelicals, Israel is far more than a political topic.”
CUFI also took issue with how the “pollsters demanded respondents choose one top priority in the context of support for Israel,” believing that it “does not provide a great deal of insight.”
“Just because one chooses one item as a top priority, does not mean they ignore all other ways of supporting Israel,” the organization added.
“If one wanted to assess, for example, the impact of Evangelical support for ‘pro-Israel politicians,’ one should’ve asked a question about whether the respondent is more or less likely to support a politician with whom they agreed/disagreed on issues relevant to Israel.”
The Lord has a Covenant with Israel. That won’t ever go away and neither will His promises.
A shame you believe He just decided to hit a reset button and changed His mind…
🙄
So much assumption on what I have or have not read.
What I posted does not contradict Romans. But the responses I got are interesting.
Correct, but we Gentiles are grafted in to the believing Jewish Tree. The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31) is made with believing Israel / Judah, we are grafted in forming the Church. Jesus is coming back with the Church to reclaim His land and establish His kingdom. A remnant of unbelieving Jews will be saved (grafted back in) when they recognize who Jesus is…(Zechariah 12)
To quote another poster:
They always will be God’s chosen people, although they still need to be saved. All other believers are adopted in.
Being God’s Chosen People and salvation are not the same thing. Related, but not the same.
Correct.
When they mourn the one they pierced they’ll finally figure it out.
Hosea 5:15
Zechariah 12:10
A lot of projections made when folks post on religion threads.
Christians are good at scalping each other.
God chose the Jews for a particular role and made a Covenant with them and through them all the nations of the Earth have been blessed, for by their line God was incarnate. That is the sense in which they are His chosen people. However us gentiles are invited into His kingdom as well. This is nothing new, even in the days of Abraham there were already gentiles who worshipped God, for example Melchizedek King oof Salem was a High Priest of God as well as a King, whom Abram gave ten percent of his wealth to.
I’m embarrassed that it’s only 51%.
Which means half don’t study their Bibles.
Old Testament, yes. New Testament, no. There was that thing called Christ's Birth, Death & Resurrection that changed things dramatically.
*That's* why a big surprise awaits.
“chosen” (elect) in 1 Peter 2:9 does not refer to salvation?
In 1 Peter 2:8,9 there is a contrast made: “BUT” you are a chosen people (saved) contrasted from the disobedient lost people of v8. Not being of this ‘chosen’ is being lost.
Bernie Madoff, Harvey Weinstein, Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Adam Schiff, Al Goldstein, Ron Jeremy, Seth Rogan, Sarah Silverman, Howard Stern, Sam Harris...
All are eligible for a special “friends and family” deal from God not available to others.
I have read all of Romans chapter 9-11 many times. Paul knows God has cast the Jews off (Romans 11) so in Romans 9 Paul refutes the arguments he knew the Jews would have in God casting them off and refutes the errors the Jews believed.
In Romans 10 and 11 Paul shows us who have always been God’s people and that being the ones who obeyed God have always been God’s people as those who obeyed by not bowing to false god Baal. The Jews would not obey Christ hence broken off and not of God’s people.
Jews came from all over to be at Pentecost in Jerusalem in Acts 2 and Peter condemned them all for crucifying the Christ. Peter commanded them in the plural ‘you all repent’, all Jews as a nation were to repent and each one baptized. If the nation repented then that means each individual Jew was to repent.
Paul makes it plain the Jews were cast off Romans 9-11. God never changed His mind about the Jews for God never promised the Jew unconditional salvation. For though the Jews were chosen in one sense to being the people by which the Messiah entered the world, they still had to obey God to be saved and they would not, Matt 23:37.
Here is a video which may be of some use to your data bank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYBPhO7l2UM
or not.
I guess it depends on what He meant by “descendants”.
Evangelical Protestant AmericansThis poll assumes these are a homogenous group. Would be far more enlightening to see the demographic breakdown.
We all have a special deal with the Lord, but they do too given their status if they are indeed Abraham’s seed.
So long as they have breath.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.