In my life I’ve been in hundreds of fights. You know what? It’s all talk till it’s over. There’s nothing to debate.
I always figured that the Devil’s best strategy would be to convince people that he doesn’t exist. Let’s face it, if I were contemplating committing some sinful act and Satan suddenly appeared before me and offered to help me in exchange for my soul, my response would not be to accept the deal. Instead, I’d be amazed by this clear proof of the existence of the Devil and an afterlife and I’d immediately become a devout Christian who’d never break another commandment and would devote the rest of my life to getting into heaven when I died.
If Satan’s smart he makes sure to stay behind the curtains. He’d simply put opportunities to sin out there for people to act upon without fearing the theological consequences. They’re be no explict contract for their souls, but these sinners would be handing them over unknowingly.
I can.
As Al Pacino said in The Devils Advocate “With him (Satan) you know where you stand, Gods up there laughing his ass off”
and he was wrong…
I wish all countries had a social security system as good as yours. So I agree in your country the need is not so great. But in the rest of the world it is great. Religions in America provide the homeless with food and shelter along with many other works. It is what religions do, they were told to do so by Jesus, to feed the poor, and clothe the needy. Many of our school children need school supplies and lunches, etc. It is being done on a world wide basis, it is good works. Who else would do it?
Now it may be true that charity and religion needn’t have much to do with one another, but the reality is religions do most of the charity work.
Or lying. There are also sources illustrating Hitler’s antipathy for Christianity and the Church. My understanding had always been that his aim was to establish a uniquely German religion based on the “old gods” of the glorious aryan pagan past.
Whether or not he believed it, he knew that the German people would accept his tying of Christianity to hatred, and he was right about that. Obviously not all, but there was hardly a revolt of the Christians in Germany - if there was, he wouldn’t have been elected and wouldn’t have lasted long. It’s not like he ever hid his feelings, after all.
No doubt you have a bunch of cites for this understanding then.
But the Holocaust was carried out by Christians in a Christian nation and was the terrible culmination of centuries of Jewish persecution by Christians.
As Cecil alludes, it was also carried out by Germans in a German nation and was the terrible culmination of decades of Jewish persecution by Germans. Not picking on the Germans, just pointing out that there are lots of facets to the character of a man as well as a nation, and I suspect it was nationalism expressed as National Socialism that drove the Holocaust more than a religious motivation.
And I suppose it goes without saying that people who would perpetrate such a horror may *label * themselves as Christians when it’s convenient for them, but I seriously doubt that Christ himself would recognize them.
Christians had certainly made the ground fertile for Hitler. Consider Martin Luther’s cheery little tract, “On the Jews and Their Lies”:
To me Christianity is the teachings of Jesus, and while many many claim to be Christians only those that actually follow Jesus’ teachings will understand they are to love one another and not kill each other.
Atrocities have been committed in the name of religions, race, nationality, and every other idea that divides and separates the people of the world. But it is the master teachers preaching love one another that can stabilize and provide a place for all people to meet in harmony and love. That day will arrive when fear has been replaced by love.
Well, as far as I can tell, the master teacher is at the bottom of a 2,000 year slump. Let me know when we can expect this outbreak of love.
And were all the Germans implementing the policy in their tens of thousands also pretending? Or are we in ‘no true scotsman’ territory?
Jewish persecution in western europe is historically a christian project and the Holocaust a culmination of it.
I don’t think “no true scotsman” applies, as mass murder is pretty clearly antithetical to the Christian message. So yeah, I’m okay with saying that those who participated in the Holocaust were not living the Christian Way. And those who harbored Jews or resisted in any way they were able, were following the way. It’s that whole “by their fruits you shall know them” thing.
Interesting.
Would you say that a person who thought that killing was sometimes necessarily was a “true” Christian?
Sorry, but “by their fruits you shall know them” is basically a summary of the ‘no true Scotsman’ strategy. Go read Martin Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies. Nobody can deny that he was a Christian. But he advocated ethnic cleansing against the Jews. This is the historical and religious background against which we must understand the rise of Nazism.
I find it amusing when I hear some Christians proclaim that the devil is capable of fooling people, but not capable of fooling them.
Maybe, but there are precious few real Christians then. Plus, as far as I can tell, you are not mainstream - and that is a compliment, if you were wondering. 