Ryan Thunder wrote:
Why would I as a Christian ever elect Nazis? They're nothing but violent, murderous, war-mongering thugs. Why would I as a Christian ever support something like the Spanish Inquisition? They're nothing but violent, murderous, war-mongering thugs who burn folks for reading their bloody Bibles (where they'd find that the lying bastards were full of shit, anyways.) Why would I, as a Christian, support a crusade to 'recover' Jerusalem from the Saracens?
Why would I support any of these things, when my Bible tells me to love my enemies and turn the other cheek?
Clearly you haven't read enough of your bible:
Matthew 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
See, anyone who speaks against Christianity is evil and should be punished.
Matthew 10:34-37 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Jesus says himself that people should turn against each other for his sake.
Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
So anyone who is not Christian should be shunned.
1 Corintians 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
i.e Christians are allowed to judge everyone else (so they can find people evil/deserving of death/etc), yet they cannot be judged by men. (So other people telling them they're wrong is right out.)
Sure, Hitler might've talked a lot about Jesus and said he was a Christian, but I think it's pretty obvious that he wasn't trying to actually be one.
This has been said before: all that is required to be a Christian is to believe in salvation through Christ. Someone could go around killing babies all day, but so long as they believed in salvation through Christ, then they are Christian. (Note, I dislike the idea of salvation through Christ, since it contains the a priori assumption that everyone is evil. It's actually one of the main reasons I like someone less once I discover they're Christian: On principle I am not fond of people who consider me to be evil.)
I'm sure you'd have no trouble rejecting a man who claimed to be an atheist (for the sake of example) and yet regularly attended church, attempted to perform miracles, etc. How is this any different?
All that is required to be an atheist is a lack of belief in God, just as al that is required to be a Christian is belief in salvation through Christ. If this person actually believed in god, etc., then he would not be an atheist. On the other hand, if he attended church and attempted yet still didn't believe (perhaps since he was doing so as some kind of experiment), then he would be an atheist.
A quick review of what I've been taught tells me that there's no good reason for me as a Christian to support such a regime at all.
You know, I've been to a fair few Church services. Anecdotally, I'd say that about 40% of all sermons are based on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. What does it tell you about the quality of your teaching when out of 66 books, 40% of all sermons are on the SAME SEVEN VERSES?
So why would you try to say that they're Christian?
Did they believe in Salvation through Christ? Yes.
Therefore they are Christian.
Have I merely misunderstood you?
Quite frankly, you seem to have misunderstood Christianity. Since you don't get it, I'll give it to you in dot points.
1. EVERYONE is evil.
2. So evil, in fact, that God (who cannot abide injustice) thinks they all deserve to suffer for all eternity*.
3. Nothing you can do in this life can make you not-evil. YOU'RE JUST THAT EVIL.
4. Jesus is God/God's son/The Holy Spirit (all at the same time). HE'LL let you in, if you repent.
5. Don't forget that you're still REALLY, REALLY EVIL. Jesus is only letting you in because he's super-swell. Do everything the preacher (Jesus's Voice On Earth) says, so you can REALLY, REALLY prove that you're sorry. 6. Do this all the time, and make other people (who might mistakenly think that they're not evil :rolleyes:) understand that THEY are EEEEEEVIL, and have them spend the rest of THEIR lives apologising to Jesus too.
Note how in a Christian framework, killing people could be justified as ok, because, well, they're EVIL.
*Now, at the moment, there is a school of thought that says that hell is being "outside God's love". If that's the case, then I have to wonder why Christians want so badly to be friends with someone who DOESN'T ACTUALLY LIKE THEM.[/b]
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- PeZook