19 hours agoMolly Taaffe
12 hours agoVindawg Vinnie- That's a sad & unfortunate thing. However, everything in universe is cause-&-effect. If one wonders why that is happening, and y God allows it to happen, all one needs to do is look through history at how much discrimination, imprisonment, torture, kidnapping, death, Inquisition, burning-@-the-stake, genocide, Crusades, rapes, etc were committed by Christians in the name of Christ, and it all becomes clear.
9 hours agoVindawg Vinnie- BTW, we still go to Christian church and try our darnest to make the best of it, but the truth is the truth, and the truth is that Christians have committed more crimes against humanity than any other religion (incl Islam).
4 hours agoMolly Taaffe- The crusades were a sad thing. And I'm sad to say a lot of religions have committed bloodshed as well. It is very difficult to find those few who truly devote themselves to Christ. People have killed in the name of Christ and claimed to be Christians but their heart and motives were wrong and not the Christ of the Bible. And true Christ followers welcome Jews and still believe as I do that they are God's chosen people. I respect your search of truth and understand why you would share the link. But I do feel as though you are looking at one side of the picture and not the whole. The bible does not teach this violence. In Matthew 7, Jesus Himself warns of false prophetshttp://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mat&c=7&t=NIV#22
He also warns that not everyone who does these deeds are of the Father. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" He tells them to depart from Him for He never knew them. Many people confuse the tradition of Catholicism with Christianity. There are Catholics who are indeed Christians. All over the bible there are people who were martyred for their faith and did not fight back. The puritans and the leaders of the crusades thought they were doing what was right in God's eyes but were not following the teachings of the bible. I do have a problem with the comment on the link that in "Brazil and Guatemala it continues to this day." My sister lived in Brazil as well as her friend as a missionary and this was most definitely not the case. Throughout the bible, God and even Jesus speaks of Grace and Forgiveness. I would encourage you if you would like to read the book of Hebrews and Romans. The focal point of Christianity is that it is "by grace through faith that you are saved, NOT by works so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Eph 2:8-10. Georgia, my sister, also knows of people by name who are still persecuted for their faith. Thank you for your time in reading this I know it is a lot. I just don't want you to confuse my Jesus with tradition or other religions out there..
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Eph&c=2&v=1&t=NASB#top
4 hours agoMolly Taaffe
about a minute agoVindawg Vinnie- Hey, hey Molly,
I did read all of what you wrote. Thank you for taking the time.
In case you'd like to continue this discourse, see below.
And if u'd rather not, that's OK too.
As a form of intro, I'll tell u something about me that very few know in the Swing-dance scene. I am an ordained Christian cleric. I preached-in & pastored many churches. I have a double post-graduate degree from a fully-accredited Christian Theological-Seminary. I still have memberships in all the various Christian denominations that I fellowshipped with in my many moves. And as I said before, we still go to Christian church.
All that doesn't change the facts of history and even CURRENT events. When the numbers of atrocities are tallied, the Christians still take the "gold-medal" way, WAY above the "silver." And not just what was done to Jews, Muslims, and others, but also what has been done and is still done to each other.
So I shouldn't consider Catholics Christians?
1 Billion of them might disagree.
And are Protestants better?
There are thousands of examples; I'll just site 1:
Dr Miguel Serveto was condemned to death by burning-@-the-stake by the Catholics because he wrote a theological opinion that didn't agree with official Catholic dogma.
Somehow he was able to escape, so he fled to Geneva, Switzerland figuring he'd be safe with the father of the Reformed denominations, John Calvin. Turns out ol' Calvin didn't like Miguel's opinion either, so Calvin the GREAT anti-Catholic Protestant Reformer, had Miguel burned ALIVE @-the-stake?!? And this is the GREAT Calvin who is revered today by so many Christian-Protestants as a GREAT Christian reformer. Tit-for-tat, the Protestants tried their best not to be too far in horror, behind their mother the Catholic Church.
Even in our own PRESENT-DAY, South Korean Christian-Evangelicals are going around burning Buddhist temples, and are being praised by their clergy (pastors); what's up with that?!? And how about the never-ending revenge and counter-revenge between Catholics & Protestants in N Ireland? And how about the Christian Hutu clerics who committed genocide on the Tutsi's in Rwanda?
We got to call it like it is. Buddhists have a history 500 years longer than Christianity. They should have 500 years MORE of burning people alive. Where are those? There should be 1/5 MORE atrocities among Buddhists but they don't even have 1/10 of what Christians have done?!? That is an undisputed fact that has to be admitted to honestly and w/o bias. Before Christians go everywhere trying to teach everyone else "The Only Right Way to be," Christians owe the world a big, BIG apology for the HORROR & holocaust perpetrated during the last 1700 years since taking power during Constantine.
When I was a Christian missionary in Japan, they often asked me: "How is it that Christian-America has so much violence, dishonesty & crime, while Buddhist-Japan was so peaceful, polite, clean, & honest." (WWII was started by Imperial-Shinto which took over Japan like the Nazis took over Germany.)
That was a good question to ponder. I eventually figured out an answer, but it wasn't easy.
There is just something in Christianity that made it like Taliban in attitude. Perhaps it's the attitude: "We're the only ones that are right; all others are doomed to hell."
Friday, August 19, 2011
Conversation with Molly Taaffe
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