Why don't Christians see how much harm their religion has done to the world??

Question

Christians have been starting wars for the last 2000 years. The idea that they can be forgiven for their sins seems to make them feel justified in what they have done.

Answer 1

Wow.

You don't understand Christianity at all.... good job.

Answer 2

Hmmm.... Lets see; those evil Christians have taught the equality of all genders long before American society woke up to the fact (this is taught in Galatians chapter 3). And those horrid Christians taught equality of the races 2,000 years ago (Paul said this on Mars Hill in Athens, Acts 17 in the Bible). Throughout the Old and New Testament the Bible teaches peronal accountability for ones own actions, principles to being a good person (Book of Proverbs) and countless other things. Gee, these are a terrible bunch of people.
Like many anti-Christian/anti-religion people, you are ignorant of many facts. And what you have posed as a "question" is simply a simple, illogical sweeping generalization. Did Christians start the current violence in Lebanon. No, Hezbollah, they are Muslims, you know, did. Did Christians start the Middle East wars of 1967 and 1973? No, the Arab states did. And you might be interested to know that they, too are Muslims. And, just for your benefit, Muslims are not a branch of Christianity.
The conquest at Masade; of course that was started by Christians, right? Wrong again. The Jews (not a Christian denomination, by the way) rebelled against Roman rule in 122 AD.
The Moors invaded Spain, and they are also Muslims. Hmm... seems like there is plenty of blame for starting wars; that would include "Christian" nations.
But where you are deceived (or more correctly, one of the many places you are deceived) is in thinking wars are started for "religious reasons" The foolish Catholic/Christian Crusades were "religious." But Germany did not start World War 2 because their neighbors were not observing the Sabbath. Nor did Hezbollah sneak over the Israeli's border and take hostages because the Jews would not have ham sandwiches.
No, wars are started by people who want to expand their domains. If you take the time and make the effort, you will find that almost NO wars in the last 2000 years were started about any religion. Other than the Crusades, FIND ONE. YOU HAVE A CHALLENGE; FIND ONE AND POST IT. BUT IF YOU READ YOUR HISTORY YOU SEE WHAT A SILLY POSTING YOU HAVE MADE.

Answer 3

Wow! well , I am a Christian and I see how much harm has been done to the world in the name of Christianity, unfortunatley, supposedly intelligent , rational minded people are blinded to the fact that it is NOT true Christianity that behaves this way. Dig a little deeper behind the fascade and you will find that what is done often in the name of Christianity is acutally motivated by greed , pride and a quest for power.
There is no excuse or justification for sin and poor behavior- that is not true Christianity ot think that you can behave any way you choose and ask forgiveness later- that is foolishness and pride.
How much more harm has been done to the world by prejudice, stereotyping, and hatred and persecution towards Christians, because you don't agree with them and because of the false notions spread regarding what they believe and how they live their lives.

Answer 4

Here is your problem which is a part of your answer. Your clumbing in all Christians into an idealogy saying that ALL Christians start wars. This is untrue. People who claim to be Christian and people in power start wars. A real Christian tries their best to obey the 10 Commandments and one of those is Do not Kill. If you really try to follow the teachings of Jesus, you do everything you can to follow them. No one is perfect and everyone screws up, hence... why we need to be forgiven of our sins.

A war is between world leaders, not the civilians in the middle. Everyone wants to live in peace and in harmony but some people don't. Just because some Christians are wrong doesn't mean that all of them are wrong.

In Islam, most of everyone wants to live in peace and in harmony with each other BUT some people, who claim to be islamic kill people. DOes this make everyone who studies the Koran want to kill others not of their faith? Nope, same thing here. Most people want to live in peace and harmony, to help their neighbors and help the world. Religion and belief in God helps most of us to live a better life. There is always someone who misconstrues the teachings of any religion for their own benefit and that is the problem with war

Answer 5

Are you referring to Bush in the modern era? What wars have the modern Christians started? I'm an atheist, but to blame Christians today for what their ancestors did in the past isn't logical. It's like the blacks today trying to get paid or compensated for slavery. No one today in America was ever a slave and no one today ever owned any slaves.

I'm not saying that religion as a whole isn't at fault because it is. Religion teaches intolerance. Think their way or you're doomed, shunned or worse.

In the end, it's not religion that causes strife and suffering, it's people. A person chooses what path to take, religion, politics, etc are all vehicles for what feels right to them. How far they take it is a personal choice.

Answer 6

They probably do, but can look at all the harm other religions have done. Religion does accomplish many good things. But faith is something deeply rooted in each person. I don't believe you can change another person's faith. If you have a faith in God, that is a personal thing, while all the bad things are the politics of religion. It's especially hard for Americans to understand the rifts between religions and sects because we have grown up accepting these differences.

Answer 7

Monotheism generally has a certain built-in intolerance factor, because the assertion of One God is taken to imply One Correct Doctrine, not that it necessarily follows. Ancient polytheism was never "organized" like an army or bureaucracy ... and worshipping this or that God never required renouncing other Gods. Comparatively, within Hinduism today, there is wide diversity of beliefs and practices, without much strain. Of course, when people have been attacked or have reason to fear attack, they can become "intolerant" in turn, obscuring the origin of the conflict. I have learned not to pay so much attention to the "label" people wear, but consider the person as an individual --- beliefs can enhance their goodness or tarnish it, depending on the deeds motivated by the belief.
It seems to me that good people are good without respect to group identification.

Answer 8

It is exactly the opposite of what you think.

Follow this logic for a moment. Darwin gave intellectuals a basis to believe in natural, biological creation. Biology will never be able to show how "new" genetic code is created, versus adapted in some way. It is purely a hypothesis, even today. Do some research.

Worse, this hypothesis has led to godless political philosophies that have been and are the most oppressive that have ever existed. The Nazi’s were given a scientific justification for ethnic cleansing (Jews), and many nations use this justification today. The godless Marxists eliminate (kill) capitalists and (kill) believers and (kill) anyone else who gets in their way to create a dreary and oppressive society. Open your eyes, would you like to live in Cuba or North Korea, or during Stalin's programs and Mao's revolution. 10's of millions of people suffered and died.

Yes, fanatical believers do exist, and they are as bad as the godless groups. However, the message of God is to love God with all your heart, and love others as you love yourself. That is a good message. The islamic terrorists are not on this message, and neither was the church during the inquisition.

Some people do go off message, and that is what is focused on like you do. In these cases it is politics that is involved with religion used as a tool by people who say they are religious, but they are not.

Philosophically, since God is a creator, he created each of us for a reason. Thus, government should protect each of our individual rights and allow each of us to find our destiny. This aligns with a society that believes in a creator and freedom of religion. That is a good thing.

I deeply fear Godless societies. Government should respect the free expression of religion of people and communities. Belief in a creator is vital to the health of a society.

Here is my test for you: when you have a child, just look in their eyes and tell them they are a random quirk of nature and in the grand scheme of nature, their life is meaningless. I dare you.

Take care my friend!

Answer 9

No War,since the time of the founding of The Church of which Jesus The Christ is The Head, has been a "christian" war... history is clear, mans history, that all attempts by men to use God to justify their aggression have failed... best example... the crusades... Big time failure... God did not allow that mis use of His name to succed... and He never will....

Far more...FAR MORE...war and destruction has been caused in the last 2000 years by non christians in the name of their "religion" than have been wrongly carried out in God's name by false professors calling themselves christian.

have ones of the Christian Faith gone to war in the last 2000 years... yes... there is no prohibition in defending ones home and country or in defending ones neighbors from attack. But those times can not be claimed to be a "holy war" as most "religions" claim for theirs...

Answer 10

Wars have happened all the time regardless of Christianity. That's like saying money or politics has done harm to the world. It's people who corrupt things, not the thing itself that causes bad things to happen.

Answer 11

You know.. Miriam is right. It's not the entire Christian Domain that is doing it . Everyone has their beliefs and ideas as to what a true Christian is
Our world is going down the tubes. There is NOT a thing you can do to stop it, it is going to continue to happen, so either hop on or miss the boat.

Why moan and groan about something that you cannot stop?