if christians believe life is precious, how can they justify the inquisition?

Question

putting people to death for not believe in jesus christ? i don't understand how Christianity has so many followers. how do you guys feel about all the blood on your hands? and don't give me the "that was the catholics" line just because that was before your little sect of Christianity broke off.

Answer 1

"They weren't real Christians."

That's how they excuse...well, pretty much the entire history of Christianity up to the present day.

Of course, the Inquisitors would most assuredly have said the same thing of them - and would've burned them for it! And the rub is that we have no ultimate means of determining who the "real Christians" are, because the entire position is based on "faith" rather than reason.

Answer 2

They blame it on other people not "being true Christians", which is ironic because the people who were the persecutors during the inquisition had far stronger convictions about Christ than just about any Christian alive today. The general evasiveness that Christians exhibit when faced with questions about the Inquisition is part of why I left the church. Your typical fundamentalist Christian can place blame on other people with some of the maddest skillz0rz you're likely to come across, and no, they don't feel one bit bad about it.

And, for those of you who claim that Catholics aren't Christian: Catholicism is one of the few branches of Christianity that actually survived the initial scramble; they might not be the originals, but they're nearly the oldest, a few tiny, Aramaic speaking sects aside. The ONLY way to practise any form of genuine Christianity is to do only what Jesus says in the gospels. Not the epistles, not the letters, but the gospels, because those are the ones with Jesus and not some other guy who claimed to have some sort of Divine whatever writing a bunch of stuff that, when examined, turns out to be nearly the polar opposite of the loving teachings that Jesus professed. (Read, Paul.) Love Jesus, can't stand the fanclub.
EDIT: I might also deign mention here that anyone who is genuinely Christian should probably be moved to tears when considering the incredible loss of life during the Inquisition.

Answer 3

I don't think anyone in their right mind can justify the Inquisition. I do have a few points on it though. The early church around this time was waaaaaaaay too political. They had their noses in just about everything. I believe thew Inquisition was a politically motivated power play to serve a couple purposes. One was that with this event going on, you could pretty much get rid of anyone in any type of position just by saying they were a heretic. The second was that it allowed the church to flex it's muscle so to speak.

I happen to believe most religions in the west (Islam, Judaism and Christianity) have a certain amount of "rule by fear". You do something God doesn't like, and watch yourself. I guess the fact is that when you have any group of people that are fanatically following anything, you are going to get some that will do just about anything out of blind faith.

And don't get me going on the whole Christianity thing. It was a great idea until man got his dirty hands on it and turned it into one great big guilt trip/persecution complex.

Answer 4

The inquisition, and scores of other excesses, are all examples of what happens when politics and religion become bedfellows. (Amen to separation of church and state!) I haven't met any christians who justify these things. The people you seek to flog are long-since dead, the crimes done and acknowledged, and the blame laid. Naught else can be done, save to explore the facts and the causes, and, learning from history, avoid their being allowed to happen again. Unfortunately, mankinds history is repleat with examples of religious-based genocide, and to this day. Before you go waving a psychological whip at christians for the Spanish inquisition, perhaps you should take an active role in supressing the religious-based slaughter in parts of the world today. What you do not openly oppose, you give tacit approval to. Walk the walk if you're going to talk the talk. An Atheist.

Answer 5

In·qui·si·tion
noun
Definition:
tribunal for judging heretics: a former organization in the Roman Catholic Church established to find, question, and sentence those who did not hold orthodox religious beliefs. The Spanish Inquisition lasted until the 19th century and was known for its harsh punishments and use of torture.

Religion is man made rules, legalism, rituals and regulations regarding God. Christianity in its purest form would never do such a thing. The inquisition was promoted by evil men harming others in the name of God (kinda like osama). It had nothing to do with real Christians or God. Christ said to love God and love others. The inquisition didn't love others.

Answer 6

I can't see how anyone can justify the Inquisition. However, one should not blame a Christian today for an event that happened five hundred years ago. That would be no different for blaming all white people for slavery; or all Germans for the Holocaust; or all Muslims for 9/11.

Answer 7

No that is the point. The Catholics were putting people to death who believed in Jesus Christ, the Authority of the Scriptures alone, who called the Pope the Anti-Christ, and who rejected the Catholic Church as the Church of Satan.

This is what you need to learn. It was my people dying. They died at the hands of those murders and liars whose Spiritual Father is the Devil.

Answer 8

Just as any religion, Christianity is not immune to people who will get on a power trip and use the name of Christ to persuade others into following them. All throughout history, we have seen examples of men who have defiled the name of Christ. Not everyone who calls themself a Christian is really "in Christ." To be in Christ, one must live according to the Word and have the Spirit of God living in them. If one says that they are a Christian, then curses his neighbor, he is not "in Christ." Likewise, if one says that the Inquisition was perpetrated by "Christians," then they must realize that those people who did these atrocious acts were not 'In Christ."
And don't be so quick to say, "Christians are hypocrites." Christians do not claim to be perfect. We are human, and we make human mistakes. People will always disappoint you, because people are flawed and IMPERFECT. But just because one "Christian" or group of "Christians" sinned greatly by killing all those people, does not mean that all Christians are like that one group. You can't judge a whole religion based on one historic event.

Answer 9

Christians believe life is precious. The past is the past, nothing we can do about that. There are 1 Billion Muslims that have different beliefs, and thousand of others. If you were in North China, you can be beheaded for speaking out.
God Bless America, it gives us the right to believe in any religion, without persecution.

Answer 10

No doubt, some horrid things occurred, but it is more accurately understood as the unfortunate result of the weaknesses and sin of individuals, not the official teaching of the Church.

Additionally, the Inquisition never asserted authority at all over non-Christians, unless they were pretending to be Christians. The Inquisition was aimed at eliminating heresy within the Church, not at the conversion of non-Christians

Answer 11

Not all christians try to justify the inquisition. If you want to know what the God of the christians wants from their behavior, the bible itself is a much better source than the history of the inquisition. You have to understand that in those days, the pope was in control and assumed ultimate authority religeously, militarily AND politically - even over the bible. To presume one's life as higher and more perfect than the writings of God is a notion that is highly unbiblical. That is called heresy. That type of mentality in part, is what the 10 commandments were designed to combat.