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Originally Posted by BHughesNC
Spot. I appreciate you very thorough approach to my post. Believe it or not I enjoyed reading it. I guess a lot of people think that Christians are very one sighted, narrow minded people. My observation is that "Christainity" has been blamed for wars, death, destruction, and other horrible outcomes. I would like to submit that it is not a belief in Jesus as the only way to know God and an aceptance of His gift of life that causes this distortion. I think it is the pursuit of power that such an idea might give those who profess it that causes the trouble. There are many ordinary men with extraordinary ideas that have led to hatred and destruction. (Hitler for example). Just imagine how his (Hitler's) followers must have thought what they were doing was right. Jesus' teachings do not condone such activity. IMHO Jesus could have put an end to it long ago, however He does not want to be our dictator. In the Old Testament days God's chosen people destorted the will of God to the point that it had to be fulfilled by Christ's death and resurrection. Christians need to realize we are not here to rule the world, we should be seeking a higher Kingdom. We are taught to be a humble people, but some even so called "Christians" cannot let go of their humaness.
Bobby
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It's all very well trying to dodge Christianity's responsibility for interpreting the bible in such an extreme way but the results you describe are a consequence of the interpretation. If nobody comes to the Father save through the Son then where do these non-Christians all end up? In hell, of course. What do we do with the hell-bound wherever we find them on earth? Convert them or send them on their way. This isn't a Hitlerian response as you suggest, this is what the Godly do to the Hell-bound (for their own good, you understand). They go out and evangelize in order to save them.They convert those who would otherwise be damned. If any refuse salvation, why on earth not kill them? They're actively preventing the conversion of others by their example and they're worse than worthless because they're not going to Heaven, they are not destined for the Choir Celestial, they are demonic.
Now, if Christians were capable of accepting that there are other paths to God besides Christianity all this slaughter and mayhem disappears, the future becomes rosy and we no longer end up wanting to nuke devil-worshipping Iranians back into the stone age. Who's stopping them? Bloody George is, that's who, and I don't for one moment care who bloody George was, he called it wrong and he reaped the most ungodly consequences from opening his big mouth. The least his modern-day co-religionists can do is to apologize on his behalf.
Christians "need to realize we are not here to rule the world, we should be seeking a higher Kingdom"? That's perfect when the internal rules are applied internally. Reading what George wrote, though, you feel a burning desire to go out among the unsaved and salvage souls, and that's where wars start.
Why can't you simply contradict George instead?