Thursday, October 25, 2007

Here's my take...

Fits asked Is Christianity good for the world and points out a few "isolated instances" of so-called "Christian" atrocities.

Preemption aside, these are isolated instances which are recognized as not Christian behavior and are condemned by the Christian world at large.

The difference between Christianity and Islam is very clear. And here it is.

Christians are taught to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself."

Furthermore Christians are taught to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."

Whereas, Moslems are taught to go into all the world and kill everyone who doesn't agree with you, unless they submit to becoming slaves to their Moslem masters, in which case, it's still okay to kill them if you feel like it.

6 comments:

  1. But always remember you may not eat of the ox that dies of itself but you may sell it to the stranger at the gate.

    and all of Numbers 31.

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  2. That's Old Testament (Jewish) law. Not Christian.

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  3. Gotta agree, there. Jesus was more about the "Love God, love neighbor" aspect than he was about whether or not we can eat shellfish.

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  4. First off, Christians believe in the Old as well as the New Testaments. Ever heard of the Lord's Prayer? Christians still recite this prayer.
    Second, more people have died due to religious beliefs than all the armed conflicts that have happened since Genghis Kahn to date.
    Ever heard of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the witch hunts, the putting to death the scientists, mathematicians, astrologers, by Christian hierarchy?
    Lastly, you lump all Moslemic peoples into one group. Ever heard of Gamal Abdul Nasser, Bhuto Benazir, Mohammed Suharto, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Muhammad Ali, Sir Syed Ahmet Khan? None of them advocated what a small group of 'Muslems' are fomenting today.
    As far as the New Testament is concerned, you might want to do some extra reading as to exactly who and when this was truly written.

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  5. Morganlighter,
    Well, you have a rough taste of history. THough oddly you leave some very important parts of it out. Oh, and why are you listing a basketball player as a muslim leader?

    The Crusades, and here I am referring to the first two, were a Christian response to Muslim invasions and other assorted offenses, quite often of a violent nature. Yes, I am well aware of the Catholic Church's attempt to kill more than one bird and the Pope's hope that the Crusades would serve to bring the Eastern Orthodox Church back under control.

    However, at core it was a response to Muslim invasions.

    As you may recall a good chunk of Southern Europe was invaded by Muslims and eventually taken back.

    The Inquisition, anyone care to tell me why the Inquisition came into being? Yep, in response to those Muslim invasions. Seems that the followers of Islam have always had a problem with radicals who believe in killing all non-believers. Therefore, the Inquisition was created to root them out and destroy them. Yes, once the Muslims were caught and killed the Inquisitors had to find other enemies of the Church in order to survive. Very familiar here in the US after Prohibition. See, once certain people gain power they hate to lose that power.

    Interestingly enough, the discovery and exploitation of the North American Continent was a direct result of kicking the Muslim invaders out of the Iberian peninsula, currently known as Spain. See, 1492 was the end of the Reconquista and as the spice trade routes were blocked by Muslims Spain's Royalty had to take a long shot on that Columbus guy.

    Would love to know where you get your numbers since there have been a LOT of people killed in armed conflicts since Ghengis and are you discounting armed conflicts with alleged religious overtones? How are you counting the 30 years War? What about the English Civil War, or the Seven Days War, are those religious or armed conflict?

    Basically, from my study of history I have not seen that the followers of Islam have been much more than murderoous raiders and thieves. Yes, they managed a couple of nice scientific breakthroughs, or stole them. However, what positives have they given to our shared humanity? Have the muslims treated women as equals? Have they ever stated that all people are created equal? Have they ever suggested that all people be seen as the same under the law, regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender, or sexual preference? Have they ever taught their warriors to step back and allow women, children, the weak and infirm, and the elderly to go ahead and that the purpose of the warriors strength is to protect the weak? Oddly enough Christians have had to do all of the above.

    Look at the Christian nations and then look at the Muslim nations and tell me where people are better off.



    To the Blog owner, I most humbly apologise for having hijacked your Blog Sir.

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  6. Morgan, Christians are followers of Christ. We are not followers of Jewish law. "Believing in" and "following the law of" are two different things.

    Your comment about the Lord's Prayer puzzles me, because it's in the New Testament, and was part of Christ's teaching. However, this was merely a sample prayer which Jesus used to instruct his disciples on a method of prayer. It is no more or less sacred than any other righteous prayer.

    That thing about religion having killed more people than blah blah blah is wrong. Wars have always been fought over land, with very few exceptions. But of course you may believe what you like.

    P.S. Read Gregg's comment.

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