RE: No True Scotsman
June 20, 2014 at 12:34 pm
(This post was last modified: June 20, 2014 at 12:41 pm by Mudhammam.)
(June 19, 2014 at 12:15 pm)Lek Wrote: It's common for non-believers to condemn christianity for atrocities committed or perceived to be committed in the name of christianity. They use this to assert that christianity is an evil force in the world. A christian is defined as one who follows Christ. Therefore I ask if a nation or individual is truly following the teachings of Jesus Christ would they have committed those atrocities?
"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." - Jesus
"If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where
“ ‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’
Everyone will be salted with fire." - Jesus
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left... Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels'... Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” - Jesus
With such an exalted, dignified view of humanity, how could any follower of Jesus ever be encouraged to mistreat those who don't fall into line?
(June 20, 2014 at 7:41 am)jesus_wept Wrote: 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.
To be fair to the Christians, this probably wasn't intended to be taken as a call to arms or to insinuate aggression. In actuality, the writer is probably consoling Christians whose beliefs were causing them to be ostracized from their families, society, sometimes even facing physical persecution from the Jewish leaders. The writer is basically saying, "Yes, Jesus said this would happen."
