I continue to study church history for the overviews that I have at church monthly. One thing that has struck me recently is that those under the general banner of "Christian" seem to be a historically violent lot...especially towards each other.
We see this in the first few centuries after Christ. We see several teachings labeled "heresy" and systematically shut down. Most of the time the Christians tried to erase the memory of that heresy if they could. Now, I'm not saying they were wrong, so don't hear that. I'm also not saying they were right...so don't hear that either!
During the Middle Ages we Western European Christians fighting Eastern (Byzantine) Christians as well as Muslims and Muslims fighting Christians of all sorts.
During the Reformation as well. We see Catholics killing Protestants, Protestants killing Catholics, and Catholics and Protestants killing Anabaptists.
These are just a couple quick examples to help us remember. So, what is it about "religion" or "faith" that drives people to violence?
I would argue that it is a belief in truth. Is it always truth?? Well, it can't be. See, if it is always truth, then the Protestants and Catholics couldn't fight each other. Only the group with THE truth would be fighting for it. No, it is the belief that one has truth, whether they do or not, that can drive the religious to violence.
Ironically, I don't see this in Scripture at all. I see Galatians 1:8-9 where Paul basically says that if someone teaches a Gospel (that is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ) contrary to what had already been taught by the apostles, they were cursed (GK anathema). Then in I Corinthians 5 we see "purge the evil person..." Now, without context that might encourage this violence that we saw...but it actually says, "purge the evil person from among you." This passage is within the context of sexual immorality but the idea is to take evil people who are in the church and get them out of the church. Not that you destroy the evil person.
I don't have any answers. I will not make the mistake of judging history when I am not living in the moment or within its context. There are too many factors to just say "that was wrong and should not have happened." The defense of one's faith is an important issue.
So, what has happened today?? The opposite. We are so afraid of being accused of being "in your face" with our faith that we often shrink back from even talking about it. For years I never talked about my faith at work because it is taboo to talk about religion at all.
....but if we DO have THE truth...then we have a responsibility to the world to let them know what that truth is. they are responsible for what they do with it, but Romans 10:14-17 reminds us that people cannot call on God without hearing about Him and they cannot hear about Him if no one preaches truth to them (Nate's translation). Again, this passage is not removing the responsibility of those responding. It is simply establishing the responsibility of those talking.
To God be the glory!
We see this in the first few centuries after Christ. We see several teachings labeled "heresy" and systematically shut down. Most of the time the Christians tried to erase the memory of that heresy if they could. Now, I'm not saying they were wrong, so don't hear that. I'm also not saying they were right...so don't hear that either!
During the Middle Ages we Western European Christians fighting Eastern (Byzantine) Christians as well as Muslims and Muslims fighting Christians of all sorts.
During the Reformation as well. We see Catholics killing Protestants, Protestants killing Catholics, and Catholics and Protestants killing Anabaptists.
These are just a couple quick examples to help us remember. So, what is it about "religion" or "faith" that drives people to violence?
I would argue that it is a belief in truth. Is it always truth?? Well, it can't be. See, if it is always truth, then the Protestants and Catholics couldn't fight each other. Only the group with THE truth would be fighting for it. No, it is the belief that one has truth, whether they do or not, that can drive the religious to violence.
Ironically, I don't see this in Scripture at all. I see Galatians 1:8-9 where Paul basically says that if someone teaches a Gospel (that is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ) contrary to what had already been taught by the apostles, they were cursed (GK anathema). Then in I Corinthians 5 we see "purge the evil person..." Now, without context that might encourage this violence that we saw...but it actually says, "purge the evil person from among you." This passage is within the context of sexual immorality but the idea is to take evil people who are in the church and get them out of the church. Not that you destroy the evil person.
I don't have any answers. I will not make the mistake of judging history when I am not living in the moment or within its context. There are too many factors to just say "that was wrong and should not have happened." The defense of one's faith is an important issue.
So, what has happened today?? The opposite. We are so afraid of being accused of being "in your face" with our faith that we often shrink back from even talking about it. For years I never talked about my faith at work because it is taboo to talk about religion at all.
....but if we DO have THE truth...then we have a responsibility to the world to let them know what that truth is. they are responsible for what they do with it, but Romans 10:14-17 reminds us that people cannot call on God without hearing about Him and they cannot hear about Him if no one preaches truth to them (Nate's translation). Again, this passage is not removing the responsibility of those responding. It is simply establishing the responsibility of those talking.
To God be the glory!
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