The Horrors of christianity

Too often, christians only give what they consider the good side of their beliefs in support of their religion and ignore the horrors it has created. Anyone reading up on the subject would find so many documented events showing how evil the religion is.
Events like The Crusades, The Inquisition, numerous pogroms against the Jews throughout history, the infighting among the numerous sects within what is called christianity, are what I am talking about. Most of these events are not really appreciated for the horrific acts they were. Students today probably cannot totally comprehend the horrors people have suffered due to this religion.


The issue is this, if all these and other, similar acts are done in their god's name, and it (the supposed god) does not act to curb this sort of activity when it is presented as a “good, kind, benevolent, etc., god, then is it logical to assume that it is either being presented in a fraudulent manner, it lied to it's followers since it supposedly makes that claim of goodness in it's “holy book” (if it actually was real) yet allows, and even encourages it's followers to act as they have throughout history, or, is it more logical that we can assume that it actually does not exist, and the followers of christianity use it as a figurehead to their own ends.
Please don't resort to the “free will” escape route. If this entity actually existed, and acted as the bible states, then it would have either stopped these acts itself, or sent it's agent to correct what was going on before they happened, since a supposed omnipotent being would know ahead of time they were going to happen.

 

i guess i'm not completely sure what the question of this thread is?

i know you said not to use the free will escape route, but that's largely what it comes down to. god can't (or at least won't) stop what the followers of his religion do, because that would directly contradict the whole free will thing. unless you're talking about another biblical flood or something like that, but god also supposedly promised never to do that again.

i don't really see where the religion is lying either. it doesn't overtly deny that these atrocities occurred in the past, it just doesn't mention them because they aren't part of the religion, rather just horrible things done by the people who were unfortunately associated with the religion in the past. and it's been 10 years since i've been to church, but i have no recollection of being told to act as christians throughout history did.

 

Sorry, the question might be a little confusing. Originally, I had 4 pages of info I was going to post here. The "it" refers to the god of the people who follow this religion, not the religion itself. Obviously, the religion itself can't lie, being a concept.
Interestingly, " Torture was not removed as a legal option for church officials until 1917 when the Codex Juris Canonici was put into effect."

Christians now may not be told to act as others did throughout history, but acts of aggression continue to occur against people who do not follow those beliefs, so the question I put in the original post is still valid based on today's christian attitudes in regards to the aggressive nature of christianity.

 

If we thank of God as more of a creative life force and not a gray haired old man on a mountain top things might make a little more scence . If we see " free will " as the fact that we create our own reality , good and bad . Thoes who suffer and are punished by others on some level asked for that kind of treatment . The Bible and other books like it were written by men , not God . The God that spoke to Jasuha at Jerrico told him to kill all the people and critters , Jesus said all men were brothers . This link is a astral projection forum , I think it is a better picture of God . http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/w..._experiences/i_asked_to_see_god-t38258.0.html desert rat

 

This is an interesting theory, but christianity itself tells it otherwise, and this is kind of off the topic I started. I was looking for something that related to the religion itself.

 

Not to devalue your point, because it's a valid one... But all the major religions throughout history have done the same thing. Maybe not as part of it's doctrine but they have shown aggression against those that saw things or believed differently. Sometimes this does get recorded and may show up in their "holy" texts.

 

As I understand what you are asking is how could God let thoes that call them selve Christains do very bad things . You need to see the earth and what we call phyical reality as a short term thing . You can see the earth as a kind of play ground , God is just letting humans play . desert rat

 

No argument here.

A pig caused hundreds of Indians to kill one another in 1980. The animal walked through a Muslim holy ground at Moradabad, near New Delhi. Muslims, who think pigs are an embodiment of Satan, blamed Hindus for the defilement. They went on a murder rampage, stabbing and clubbing Hindus, who retaliated in kind. The pig riot spread to a dozen cities and left more than 200 dead.
Human sacrifice blossomed in the Mayan theocracy of Central America between the 11th and 16th centuries. To appease a feathered-serpent god, maidens were drowned in sacred wells and other victims either had their hearts cut out, were shot with arrows, or were beheaded. Elsewhere, sacrifice was sporadic. In Peru, pre-Inca tribes killed children in temples called "houses of the moon." In Tibet, Bon shamans performed ritual killings. In Borneo builders of pile houses drove the first pile through the body of a maiden to pacify the earth goddess. In India, Dravidian people offered lives to village goddesses, and followers of Kali sacrificed a male child every Friday evening.


The Assassins were a sect of Ismaili Shi'ite Muslims whose faith required the stealthy murder of religious opponents. From the 11th to 13th centuries, they killed numerous leaders in modern-day Iran, Iraq and Syria. They finally were wiped out by conquering Mongols.


In the 1200s the Incas built their empire in Peru, a society dominated by priests reading daily magical signs and offering sacrifices to appease many gods. At major ceremonies up to 200 children were burned as offerings. Special "chosen women". comely virgins without blemish, were strangled.


---Just to name a few.



It's amazing what people do when they lose touch with reality.

 

Sort of what I was asking.

I do see our reality as a short term thing, since we have no proof it is anything else.

I don't see the Earth as any kind of play ground, rather, I see it as the place we live, how we got here will probably always be a question, and we need to learn how to live on it in a manner that will keep it livable for as long as possible.

I have to disagree with your last statement, as we have no real proof any such supernatural being exists.

 

Any phenomena has it's pleasant and unpleasant aspects. The sun provides energy for life and yet a certain level of exposure will fry your skin. There are acts of religious minded persons inspired by their religious ideals that are uplifting beyond the brutal conditions of life and for the same reasons, seem at times to be the cause of the brutal conditions of life.

I think the point of a thread pointing to the horrors of christianity can only be a distorted perspective. Indecent carnage, man on man, is not the sole propriety of christianity or of religion and are not the cause in any fashion of mans inhumanity toward man even though some would make the claim themselves.

The cause is the propensity for some members of any culture to become zealous, thinking their own interests should rightly take precedence over those of another culture or groups, less legitimate interests. We can take the hegemony of the united states as an example. We can take the radical fringe of any political party as another.

 

What he said ^^^

 

Still Kicking:

Short term as long as possible? What's wrong with playing? Is life such serious business after all?


thedope of christianity:

Even if they are horrors? Is your interest in christianity more legitimate than the very least? How did you overcome disgust?

 

Nothing wrong with playing, but there needs to be responsibility that goes along with that.
None of which has anything to do with the point of the thread.

 

The issue was:

"if all these and other, similar acts are done in their god's name, and it (the supposed god) does not act to curb this sort of activity when it is presented as a “good, kind, benevolent, etc., god, then is it logical to assume that it (the supposed "god")is either being presented in a fraudulent manner, (by those adhering to the tenets of the religion)it lied to it's followers since it supposedly makes that claim of goodness in it's “holy book” (if it actually was real) yet allows, and even encourages it's followers to act as they have throughout history, or, is it more logical that we can assume that it actually does not exist, and the followers of christianity use it as a figurehead to their own ends."

 

Aside from the the wisdom and proverbs stuff, the Bible could be used as a tool to teach people what happens when one man--Moses, as an example--becomes the voice of deity. Atrocities soon follow. But rather than hold one man responsible, we can broaden our scope of view and see that the lesson may be to teach us what happens when the masses allow one man to become the voice of deity.

 

Still Kicking

The latter. But if it really is an issue, the ends that the followers of christianity use it for today are what? Keeping god in heaven? Preventing a god on earth?

 

Storch:

Or what happens when they don't, as per the case of Jesus.

Religion is the state of being submerged in the "responsibility" of becoming ourselves?

;-D

 

Thank you for actually reading what I posted.
I was interested in exploring the avenues that:

If the god of the christian bible really existed, it would not be worth following as it condoned the horrors done in its name.

It could not be real since, if it was, it could not have allowed the horrors done in its name to have occurred when it was supposedly this all knowing entity and could have prevented them, yet did not, so it was a made up thing used by people in the religion for their own ends.

 

In playing with this idea, I would go further and say that the story of Moses and the story of Jesus is to teach us that one must back their claim of special relationship to deity with decisive force and fear if one is to keep one's followers from nailing you to a cross. You know, like if some of your followers make an idol out of molten metal while you're out of town, you stoke up the fires for the purpose of forcing the sinners to drink something altogether too hot to be anything even close to refreshing.

 

We're all submerged in the "responsibility" of becoming submerged in our own beliefs rather than borrowed ones.