Why would God get involved in the middle east?

[Zarith]

Following the story of the Bible, why would God have no involvement in the world, then all of a sudden participate in life in...the desert? With a populous that was uneducated? Wouldn't it make more sense, if God were to reveal himself to anybody, that he would show himself to the people that were educated in the world at this time? The Chinese? The Mayans?

How do you know He did not contact them, and they just thought themselves too smart to need God?

Why would he involve himself with these people? After nearly a hundred thousand years of not doing anything (assuming we're taking the Bible metaphorically) and then suddenly in the last two thousand years, interacting with the people of the middle east, sending Jesus to them? Why? Why them?

Because God's qualifiers are not the same as ours. The Jews or rather Abraham received Him and did what he was told, thus qualifying him to receive God's blessing.

Obvious answer: because they wrote the Bible. Why were they chosen?

Again, because Abraham was obedient, and God like him over everyone else at the time.

Obedient? You mean, because he damn near killed his own son? Great fucking kick-off to a system of timeless and absolute morality, huh?

[Minimalist]

Yeah -

If a person would follow the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would strictly follow the teachings of the New Testament, he would be insane.

Robert Green Ingersoll

[Ryantology]

How do you know He did not contact them, and they just thought themselves too smart to need God?

The Jews had to have it imposed on them, and even they didn't seem all that eager.

If your appeal among your own creation is that dismal that only one group accepted you and only by force (and this in a world full of gods every bit as tyrannical and malicious as he is), then you're doing something wrong.

[ronedee]

Following the story of the Bible, why would God have no involvement in the world, then all of a sudden participate in life in...the desert? With a populous that was uneducated? Wouldn't it make more sense, if God were to reveal himself to anybody, that he would show himself to the people that were educated in the world at this time? The Chinese? The Mayans?

Theorethically life sprang from this region. And....

Imperial communication: 522-486 BC
Many different tongues are spoken in the Persian empire, from Egypt to India. But all the official messages travelling on the imperial roads are in one language, Aramaic. This Semitic tongue, deriving from a tribe in northern Syria, first spreads through Assyria. Then Babylonian merchants carry it further afield until, by the 6th century, it is in general use as a Lingua franca throughout Mesopotamia.

As a language for the Persian civil service, Aramaic also has a practical advantage. It uses the Phoenician alphabet, a language to which it is related. So its letters can be written on papyrus (easily portable) instead of needing to be pressed with a cuneiform stylus into wet clay.

Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plai...z2Vw8CcTWJ

Why would he involve himself with these people? After nearly a hundred thousand years of not doing anything (assuming we're taking the Bible metaphorically) and then suddenly in the last two thousand years, interacting with the people of the middle east, sending Jesus to them? Why? Why them?

Obvious answer: because they wrote the Bible. But I'd like a Christian point-of-view. Why were they chosen?

There is much in the Bible about God's "chosen people"...

But I would suggest that this was the passage way to the East. Rome pretty much owned the world at that point. So there was a whole lot going on in this region. And it was pretty much the "civilized world".

Communications was about to go world-wide in the next millenium. Seems like a good time for that to happen.

And the story had to transcend the times. I mean lets face it: much before that and Jesus would be writing His message on cave walls; and in modern times they would be trying to sign Him to a contract.

It seems to me that Jesus' time was perfect for His message.

Again, as for the Jews being the chosen people?

Personally, I think its because of their nomadic nature. They are a people without a home! Jesus' says: "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Whether being persecuted throughout history was the result of being the "chosen people"? I don't know. But there seems to be a correlation.

And through history, they were not only at odds with humans, they were at odds with God! And still are...with both!

[Ryantology]

Theorethically life sprang from this region.

However, in the real world, we have no idea from which region life originated, as the earth has undergone so many radical transformations in the last 3 billion years that virtually all of the very oldest evidence of life has probably been obliterated.

[Zarith]

And through history, they were not only at odds with humans, they were at odds with God! And still are...with both!

Christians say this about Jews. Muslims say it about both Christians and Jews. How are those ideas working out? It's just 1 rip-off after another. Here's to hoping we are never subjected to another version of Abrahamic superstition.

[Minimalist]

Theorethically life sprang from this region.

However, in the real world, we have no idea from which region life originated, as the earth has undergone so many radical transformations in the last 3 billion years that virtually all of the very oldest evidence of life has probably been obliterated.

We do know it wasn't the fucking middle east, 6,000 years ago, though.