Christians, do you Know the History of your Religion?

Question

No, I'm not talking about when Jesus was born. I'm talking about the millions of peoples that Christians had killed less than a century after. How do you justify those Christians' behavior? Do you smile when you hear about how they forced the Mayans and the Aztecs to convert or die? Do you applaud when you hear the tragic story of how the Native Americans got killed and kicked out of their own land just because some "Christians" did it in the "name of God?"


Not to offend anyone, but witchhunts, holocausts, and crusades sound demonic at best.


As for the Muslims' holy wars...well they aren't much worse than what the Christians had done.

Pitt: Thankyou for showing the average attention span of a Christian

Stephen: the Native Americans only did that in defense to protect their land. Shame on you for not realizing that.


How would you feel if someone kicked you out of your house?

Answer 1

Holy Crap!

Of all the atrocious historians I have seen on Y!A, you take the cake!!!

I hope you are being sarcastic. You are really shaking my confidence in our educational system.

Witch hunts, Inquisitions, Crusades - the Europen aristocrasy (less than 2% of the Christian population) were responsible for only 800,000 deaths over 20 centuries. And that is a liberal number taken from non-Christian sources.

Good God, man - read a fricken book!

Oh those evil Christians - stopping the South Americans from murdering 120,000 people a year - what nerve! Who do they think they are?

Oh, oh - I forgot about the Crusades. Imagine those evil Christians - waiting until the Turks had overrun the Middle East, Asia Minor, Palestine, North Africa, Spain, Greece, and southern France before attempting any kind of military response! Those wicked, wicked Crusaders!

The funniest part is how you think that Christians had already murdered 'millions' by the end of the first century! Thank you, thank you! I needed a good laugh!

The population of the Roman Empire didn't even number in the 'millions' in the first century! Those Christians were so evil that they exterminated the entire population of the Roman Empire and then some - and they did that when they numbered in the thousands! They must have had an atomic bomb... that's it!

Oh geeze. I need to send a copy of this question to my history professor - he will love it.

Answer 2

Ok, this is the truthful answer- We don't place a huge weight on studying our history among new Christians. When someone comes into the faith, our focus is on them learning the Word of God from the Scriptures and in being taught how to grow in that person's relationship with Christ. As that person begins to grow beyond the basics, they may begin to be interested in the history of our faith and study to that end. I have been in churches before that offered classes on our Christian history, but most of that has begun with the Reformation. My own knowledge of Christian history- both the good and the bad- is the result of my own interest in historical events and some fine documentaries presented by the History Channel. Any time I have the opportunity to learn, I listen. I can not say that all Christians have an interest in history any more than all atheists have an interest in stellar physics. But history of the western world is a subject taught in every high school and university. To complete one's education outside of the church without gaining at least a superficial understanding of the crusades, the rise of Catholicism and the reformation, and the witch trials of Europe and America (and other relevant events) must simply be an individual's choice to refuse learning.

Answer 3

Not a Xian, but went to a Fundie Xian School.

Know the History (Had a whole year of chuch history)

You obviously don't.

Weren't millions less than a centruy after...it closer to 400ad, when the emperors were Xians, and it became the policy of the empire.

Aztecs and Myans was mostly the Spaniards searching for treasure, the converting was an afterthought...

Native Americans was US Govt policy...

Please do some research, try Wikipedia, or encyclopedia britannica...Read. Knowledge is power.

Answer 4

You are confusing Christians with those who claim to serve God in His name. There's an old saying, "All of Jerusalem are not Jews"... same idea applies to many who claim to be Christians. Mark 13:6 says, "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
Matthew 7:14 says, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
So does it stand to reason that all the different "Christian" denominations are correct in their various interpretations of the Bible? Of course not! Another scripture says the Bible was not given for "private interpretation". In other words, it means only what it says, no more and no less.
The atrocities committed during the crusades were committed by those who do not represent my faith. You should read Fox's Book of Martyrs sometime to get a perspective of the barbarism against true believers committed by others who claimed to be Christians.
Those who act on their own ideas and theology in their own best interest for political and monetary gain do not represent the God of the Bible, the God of my faith. Their history is not the history of my faith. Read Acts 2... that is my history, that is the beginning of the New Testament Church.

Answer 5

I do know the history of my religion. Yes, many horrid things were done in the name of Christians. But this was the work of misguided man using Christ to justify truly wrong things. This does not excuse such things but there is no way to undo what was done. Just as today there are many ignorant people who try to push their form of Christianity onto others. But Christians are not the only ones who have done this; other types of religion have done the same. So it's not just the Christians. It seems that people have been dying in the name of some sort of religion since man began to have some need to praise higher powers(maybe blame).

Answer 6

Do you know the history of organized atheism? Russia and China have the systematic murder of millions under their belt this century alone!! The Holocaust was based on the theory of evolution, which according to Hitler's sources, the Jews were the lowest form of human, and in order to create the "master-race" Hitler tried to speed up the evolution of mankind through the annhilation of the inferior races(survival of the fittest) Speaking of native peoples , how about the slaughter of Australia's Aborignes around the turn of the century? The Smithsonian bought their skulls to use as "proof" of evolution!!!!

Answer 7

oh you mean the Catholics, you know there is a big difference. BTW I'am a native american who follows Jesus. Yes He came to set the captives free. The truth of the matter is the people your talking about aint Christians at all. I'am sorry but Jesus and evil are a paradox that will never go together.

Answer 8

Less than a century later, there were not millions of Christians. Do you not remember Christians being fed to the Lions in Rome?

But you are right; early Christianity did spread quickly.

While the "gospel" (good message) was simple and somewhat pure, the message of Jesus seemed to spread like wild fire. Historians, then and now, are puzzled by how strong and fast the message seems to spread.

How could a small group of people, in a remote part of the world, carry a simple main message with a few instructions that would almost immediately spread, and change the whole world? (Well, not the whole world, only about every continent except Asia.)

You know who they were. They were hunted criminals, bums, outcasts, alcoholics, tax collectors (pariahs of the day), fishermen, radical zealots, TV exercise equipment demonstrators, and a Sanhedrin named Saul, who later changed his name to Paul.

What happened to these Christians when they were caught by the Roman soldiers or church leaders? They were imprisoned, tortured, and fed to the lions. But, I will tell you one thing that never happened to these Christians when they spread the Gospel to their friends, neighbors, fellow fishermen, and gathering crowds.

They were never ridiculed. How can you, objectively, ridicule someone who tells you;

"You have hurt me, but I forgive you."
"If I have hurt you, I am sorry, please forgive me."
"I am not afraid to die, because I know that if I am nice to you, I will go to Heaven."

If you ask a person, "How do you know you will go to Heaven after your death here on Earth?" How could you ridicule their answer, if their answer was, "It's easy, Just close your eyes and ask (God) for the Holy Spirit to prove it to you".

If you were serious about your request, and the Holy Spirit came to you mentally and physically, and convinced you of eternal life, how could you ridicule the messenger? At that point you could hardly ridicule the messenger, because you had or have become the messenger of that simple Gospel with those few instructions of forgiveness.

But then in 325AD and then again in 1611 Religious Empires corrupted the original scrolls and threw out any scroll that did not lead toward the building and growing of selfish empires.

You asked for it. The early history of Christianity.

PS: I am a Christian, but I do not attend church. I bet you know why?

Answer 9

I think every belief system/religion has some of this in their history. Didn't pagans feed Christians to the lions, use Christians as human torches on crucifixes (Rome)? Emperor Nero, a pagan, set fire to his own city and played his harp as he watched the chaos and blamed it all on Christians.

Take the 2 by 4 out of your eye before you try to wipe the speck of saw dust from mine.

Why don't you say White people should change their skin color because of slavery. It might be a simpler idea to defend.

Answer 10

You know a tree by their works.
But for the simple minded as I once was it is easier to blame Christians and God and Jesus for all that, right :)
The reality is, Christianity starts off here and now, it is a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. My history started the day I was reborn, the rest is commentary.