Isn't it amazing how many modern Christians like to forget about the past?

Question

When you ask a question about how the church rose to power and remained in power over forced conversions and coerced conversions and you mention the legality factor that was held for many hundreds of years in several European nations which banned all other faiths but Christianity, they quickly deny it and then point out how Christians were mistreated when it was still only a cult of a few thousand in the Roman Empire.They reject the notion that the rise of their belief system was done and kept by the blood of millions throughout history.From the crusades to witch trials to forced conversions of slaves and natives of the Americas, Christianity does have a bloody history.Why do many modern Christians either act like that never happened or pretend that those were just a few isolated incidents?

"If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development." -Aristotle

Those who refuse to learn history are destined to repeat history's mistakes

Answer 1

Because people hate to admit that they are wrong. On the other hand, it's excellent for the ego to ascribe views to the Almighty that directly correlate with one's own.

Answer 2

Nice rant, but it's you who needs to do the correct research. Times without number I have stated in this place the fact, undeniable fact, that christianity no sooner had emerged from Jerusalem's early adherents (which, by the way, were the early Jewish believers such as the apostles themselves) when the vatican just had to get it's slimy fingers in the picture and just screw it up. I'm not going to get into an involved debate on this because anymore, it's boring for me to do so. However, there is an unending wealth of information to support everything I ever assert on this matter, and the first source I always give to people who aren't just trolling for attention is to look up anything on a former, Roman Catholic Priest named Alberto Rivera, who revealed so much of the sordid and evil past of that "institution", and paid for it with his life when agents of Rome murdered him around 1984.
The only other helpful hint I will give you is this: stop confusing christianity with Roman Catholocism. The difference is night and day. The Crusades; the Inquisition- all of it instigated and financed by the vatican. Check out the only valuable source I gave you, and you will understand why making such enormously crucial distinctions are so very important. Only the willfully blind refuse to see.

Answer 3

I don't forget the past for one minute, but I am at a loss to understand how I can be held responsible for something that happened long before any of us was born. It is true Christianity has a bloody history, that is why Liberals made it a law that religion is no longer compulsory in most Western countries.
Now there are other areas in the world where people are not so lucky, where religion is compulsory. How about asking the question: Why are there places on this Earth where religious practice is still compulsory, in other words, why is there no universal freedom of conscience for every human being?

Answer 4

OK you get a three star rant. What exactly is your point? That Christians have not learned from their mistakes? I don't believe that is so. If we had not then the things you describe would still be going on and they aren't. And I am not real sure you can place the blood of "millions" at our doorstep. There were a lot of non-Christian folks out there adding to the death toll.

Observe our beginning and observe our development. Just don't stop observing at a point that is convenient for your position.

Answer 5

the problem here does not lie with christians denying the past.. the problem lies within you for having such a hard time trying to get the rest of the world on your page.. Go be what you want to be, believe what you want to believe.. and live as you wish.. what the heck difference does it make if people today don't feel guilty over something that happend 500 years ago.. who the hell cares? I don't.. why should you want to spend one minute on something that you and no one else has an answer for.. You can go through the rest of your life whinning about Christians being in denial.. or Muslims being scorned.. or rail about the Jews and how they control the Movie industry.. or you can get on with your life and leave all the philosophy to the philosophers.. You are wasting your time and energy.. there is no answer to your question.. "if you have two tails how you going to get ahead?" Donaldo Rickles..

Answer 6

This is why religion in and of itself is bad. It gives power over many to few. Though I am a Christian, my only real allegance in to Christ/God.

The examples you are giving are of a messed up heirarchy in the church demanding that Christians go on crusades, etc.

This is the same reason the violent factions of Islam are so dangerous. Their leaders tell the followers what is "of God" but is really just to fill the leaders desires. You make a good point that the Christian religion has caused a lot of problems. Most religion does.

Answer 7

In my lifetime I have seen young people leave traditional churches in which they were raised and start their own churches. These churches predominate today and they care nothing about what my generation believes, how we worship or why. If you can understand this, then you can understand all the rest. Basically it is a lack of respect for older generations of Christians. Of course there have always been bad Christians, but there have also always been good and devout Christians, and you would not have a Bible or know about Jesus today at all were it not for the faithful Christians of every generation. Be thankful, then for all the history of the faithful in the church.

Answer 8

I do not follow the church. And neither does any true christian. I follow the lord. I know that the church is completely screwed and that they have done some very very messed up stuff. But look at it now ... seriously look at it. Mostly what i see is good deeds, charity and giving people - no matter who they are - a helping hand.

People can change and so has the church. But i am not a man of the church. I am a man of god.

Answer 9

You must be referring to the Roman Catholic Church of course.......During the reigns of the Abbasid caliphs, a major clash occurred between Islam and Catholic Europe. With the expansion of Islam into the Iberian Peninsula and the attempt to conquer France, there had already been conflict between the two, but the wresting of Jerusalem from the forces of Islam on July 15, 1099, was the beginning of a long and protracted period of rivalry between the two religious forces.

The European Crusaders pillaged, raped, murdered and enslaved the peoples of Jerusalem in a frenzy of carnage that both Jews and Muslims remember to this day. The sacred Dome of the Rock was taken over and turned into a church, with the Christian cross replacing the Islamic crescent. Muslims were incensed and vowed to retake the city from the infidels (meaning "unbelievers," originally a Latin word used by Catholics to label Muslims).

Not until Oct. 2, 1187, were Islamic forces able to take back control of Jerusalem, under the leadership of Saladin (Salah ad-Din, meaning "Righteousness of the Faith"), the sultan of Egypt and Syria. Saladin proclaimed jihad (holy war) to retake Palestine from the enemies of Islam.

The golden cross at the top of the Dome of the Rock was replaced by the Muslim crescent, but Saladin did not seek revenge on his opponents. Instead, he treated both enemy soldiers and the civilian population with mercy and kindness—a stark contrast to the Europeans who had slaughtered tens of thousands when they took the city.

There were to be more Crusades for another century, briefly retaking Jerusalem from 1229 to 1239 and 1243 to 1244, but the forces of the cross eventually had to leave the Holy Land to Muslims. Not until 1917, during World War I, were Western Christians again able to retake Jerusalem, and then they kept control of the city for only three decades......

This is Satan's Counterfeit Christianity.....http://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin/tw/booklets/print-bk.cgi?action=print_item&category=Booklets1&item=1140203084&print=yes, not the True Apostolic Christianity that Jesus Christ taught. God's "True Church"; http://www.ucg.org/booklets/CJ/index.htm ...His many "little flocks" who did not pollute the teachings of Jesus Christ, are alive and well, and by the Hand of God managed to survive through the ages and are flourishing today!

Answer 10

What do you expect me to do? Make an apology? I was not alive back then, I neither supported or could stop the Crusades, I am not responsible for the death of anyone, so why should I apologize for long-dead people who killed other people? I am part Native American but I do not expect anyone to apologize to me. If there is a hell, then the people who committed evil acts in the name of Christ will be served their judgment. But I find no reason to waste my time making apologies for things that happened hundreds of years ago. If I personally make a mistake, I will apologize. If another Christian makes a mistake in my time, I will not apologize on their account. We are all responsible for our own faults, one Christian is not to be blamed for another Christian's acts. One Muslim is not to be blamed for the acts of another Muslim. And so on.

Answer 11

A small band of mostly Hebrew Christians was persecuted in the first century.

The Non-Hebrew sects later wiped them out, and have done much to wipe out the Samaritan sect that Jesus spoke kindly about.

It's all about power and manipulation.

If Germany had won WWII, the same people who think Christianity is a kindly religion that rose to prominence because of gentle spiritual conversion would think Adolph was just a great all around guy who saved the world from itself.