Lindsey-Loo
Steel Magnolia
...if it meant it would "rid the world of evil"? This question came up in another thread, here where someone believes that if it was in our power as Christians to do so, we would try to carry out another Inquisition.
It surprised me that people feel this way, and I almost feel stupid for asking. I'm fairly sure all Christians here would answer "no" to this question, but now I'm curious. Whaddya think?
The only reason Christians don't still murder innocent people who, like me, have the brains to smell the coffee, is that the power to do so is no longer in their arsenal.
I assure you that I'm not confused in the least. With great justification I can make a blanket statement to cover an entire group of people and say that they would kill me if they could. That for the most part is all you Christians did when you had the power to do as you pleased. You point out that Christians are commanded by a god to love everyone and be peaceful. In truth, as history attests, the only thing that stopped the slaughter and torture of innocent people by the Christian church, century after century, after century was a bigger army of rational (moral) people like me. You retort that today's Christians are different. But these Christians, who are also commanded by their god to love thy neighbor, have never apologized for their church's vicious tortures and murders. Indeed, these peace-loving Christians continue to uphold the Office of the Inquisition to this day.
Fortunately, you people are policed under the watchful eyes of moral people living in a democracy where human rights are acknowledged and respected—where specific laws are designed to separate Church and State to prevent another theocracy from taking root.
It is reasonable to assume that today's Christians, like you, for example, have the same strong religious conviction as those who lived before you. Like you, they too wanted to rid the world of all that is "evil". So, it is not unreasonable to assume that if today's Christians ever gained the power to prevail over a perceived "evil" by eradicating it, they would carry out their mission with the same enthusiasm as their predecessors.
It surprised me that people feel this way, and I almost feel stupid for asking. I'm fairly sure all Christians here would answer "no" to this question, but now I'm curious. Whaddya think?