51%의 미국거주 Evangelical Protestants(복음주의자들), "Jewish들은 하나님이 선택한 사람들"로 믿고있단다. 성경에 그렇게 명시 되여 있는데, 하나님을 믿는 신자들로서는 이를 거부하기가 쉽지 않을 것이다.
미국시민의 51%의 신교복음주의자들은 유대인들은 하나님이 선택한 사람들로 믿고 있다고 최근의 성향조사결과에 따른 발표다. "유대인들과 복음주의자들과 이스라엘은 서로 연결되여있 다" Grey Matter Research보도가 주선하여 관련 단체들과 복음을 바탕으로 조사한 것이다.
개신교 복음주의를 신봉하는 미국인들 약 1,000여명의 의견을 물은결과 설문에 응한 51%의 개신교신자들은 유대인들은 하나님께서 선택한 사람들이라고 믿고 있다는 것이다. 이와는 반대로 19%의 개신교 신자들은 확실히 말할수가 없다고 했고, 17%의 개신교 신자들은 우리가 하나님을 섬기고 믿기에 유대인들과 마찬가지로 선택된 사람들이라고 믿고 있었고, 10%의 개신교 신자들은, 유대인들은 절대로 하나님이 선택한 사람들이 아니다라고 했으며, 2%는 이와는 관련이 없는 선택을 한것이다.
https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25028890
그런데 하나님을 믿는 보수성향의 기독교방송국 "데이스타 텔레비젼 네트웍'의 설립자이자 최고경영자였던 '마커스 램이 코로나 바이러스에 감염된후 사망 했다고 보도했다. 그분은 하나님만 믿으면 모든게 해결되는것으로 과신했었던 과오를 범하면서, 이를 용납하지 않은 윗분께서 목숨을 거두어 버린것으로 생각되는 것이다. 램은 Covid19백신접종을, 하나님을 믿는다는 이유를 들어, 하지 않았었는데, 내생각으로는 그점을 하나님께서 그냥 지나치지 않으시고 거두어 가버린것으로 이해됐다.
연령별로 느끼는 영역도 대단히 달랐는데, 설문에 참여한 59%는 70세 또는 더늙은들이었는데, 그분들은 유대인들은 하나님의 선택을 받은 사람들로 믿었는데, 40대 또는 그보다 젊은 세대들에게서는 겨우 40%만이 그말에 동의 한것으로 나타났다.
보고서에 따르면 20%의 복음주의 사람들의 응답은 '이스라엘에 충성하는 사람들'이라고 했는데, 그것은 유대인들은 하나님의 선택을 받은 백성들일뿐만 아니라, 그들에게 정성을 쏟는것을 첫번째 덕목으로 치고 있다는 것이었다.
"유대인들과 이스라엘의 관점에서 보면, 복음주의 사람들은 가끔씩은 이스라엘 또는 유대인만을 숭상하는 수구골통으로 보여지기도 한다."라고 인피니티 콘셉트의 CEO인 Mark Dreistadt씨가지난 수요일에 The Christian Post지에서 지적하기도했다. "우리는 이런것들이 사실이 아님을 알고 있지만, 우리가 할수있는 최고의 방법에서 다양성을 측정하는데 아주 중요하다고 느낀다는 점이다. 신학적인 관점에서 보면은 자선단체에 기부하는것, 그리고 다양성의 모자이크를 볼수 있기에 우선순위를 정해서 지원하는 것이긴 하지만....
Dreistadt씨는 CP와 인터뷰에서, 그자신은 많은 사람들이 특별히 그점에 관심을 갖고 있지는 않다고 하면서, 그자신은 사람들이 그렇게 생각하는것은 자각심 증가, Jewish-Christian간의 서로 협력하는 관점에서 볼때 교육, 성장할수있는기회에 동참하는 기회가 중요하다는것을 보여주는 것이라는 점을 강조하기도 했다.
"복음주의자들은 유대인사회를 껴안는 것으로 이해하고 있으며, 유대인 사회역시 복음주의 사회를 껴안는 관계를 갖고 있는데, 이러한 경향은 요즘에 더 많이존재하는것"이라고 설명한다.
한국에서 처럼, 교회간에 신자확보를 위한 집안싸움을 하기위한 냄새가 나지 않는다는 점에서 깊이 생각해 볼, 한국의 복음주의자들에게 경종이 아닐까?라는 자성의 기회가 됐으면 좋겠다.
더 자세한 내용은 아래 기고문을 참조하면 좋겠다.
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.”
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