Violent Christians

[1hope]

Hi, I've been visiting this forum for about a month now. It took me that long to get up the courage to register. Something has been bothering me for a very long time? Where do people get the idea that Christians are Violent and cruel. granted there are some people who use Gods name to justify their wrongful action, but in general most of us are far from being Violent or cruel. I'm asking this on the Christian and Jewish only
forum because I am seeking earnest answers not religious slanders.

[IslandBreeze]

Others thnk we're cruel because we stand up for what we think is right. They don't want to be told what they do is wrong or immoral or anything else, and so they try to make us look bad so they don't feel convicted.

[Kristy]

Wow I hadnt heard before that we were violent and cruel . Now I have been told how ignorant we are for believe in a book that is written in the opinions of so many diffrent ppl.

[ZiSunka]

Well, think about it. We speak out against sins that give people a lot of pleasure, sex outside of marriage, abortion, stealing, etc. If we speak out against sins like these, it shows them to be sins, and sin is negative. People don't want to think that the thing that gives them pleasure is sinful, so they see our outspokeness as cruel. It's easier for them to point the finger at the messenger than it is for them to change their ways.

[Loser For Jesus]

I agree with what lambslove wrote.

Plus, it rather depends what you mean by "violent" and "cruel."

Jesus overturned tables in the temple. That could be seen as "violent."

Jesus called a woman a "dog," associated Peter with Satan, and insulted the Pharisees over and over again. That could be seen as "cruel."

Actually, He did all of these things in perfect love. But that's not how most people would have perceived it.

The fact is, there's a big difference between being "violent and cruel" in a worldly way, in our selfish sinful nature, and acting by the leading of the Holy Spirit in a way which others simply "perceive" as violent and cruel.

love in Christ,
Malcolm

[eldermike]

Hi 1Hope,

You must have been hanging out in the non-Christian areas. As you and all Christians know Christians are to be "Christ Like". In the areas of the forum where non believers are allowed to post you will find just about anything to justify rejecting God. Just hang out in the Christian only areas and remember to put on the full armor of God if you venture into the other areas.

Blessings to you

[1hope]

It wasn't the non-Christian forum that I started hearing this from. It has been on television and on the internet. I just wondered if there had ever been any solid evidence of true Christians acting in violence toward an innocent non-Christians or if it was all made-up as an attempted to hurt our Christian rights.

[IslandBreeze]

The media is VERY liberal. You will rarely hear anything good about Christianity or Conservatism from the media. That's why I went into journalism. We need more Christians in the media.

[Knight]

Cammie,
You continue to amaze me in that you seem to have a good grasp of Conservative Christianity. Especially for someone so young. (I mean no offense by that.)

You're right. The media as a whole are painfully liberal and anti-Christian. There are sources of news which are either from a Christian perspective or simply neutral.

The best Christian-perspective news source I've found is World Magazine. I just got a subscription to this weekly mag and I'm impressed at the clear and concise representation of Conservative Christianity.

A good fairly balanced source is the FoxNews network. They pretty much represent a fair and balanced news source. There are exceptions but for the most part they're ok.

Also Focus on the Family (www.family.org) is a good place to get Christian based info. Though it's not so much a news source as it is a resource.

I'm sure there are others as well.

[DaveKerwin]

Originally posted by 1hope
It wasn't the non-Christian forum that I started hearing this from. It has been on television and on the internet. I just wondered if there had ever been any solid evidence of true Christians acting in violence toward an innocent non-Christians or if it was all made-up as an attempted to hurt our Christian rights.

I am glad you decided to post !! :)

Some people will blow up abortion clinics and kill abortion doctors, and still claim Christ as their savior. This is why some people say christians can be violent, because they can be. We all know it is wrong to do that, because we make ourselves as bad as what we are fighting. But christians don't make the news when they do good things, only bad. How many flights go out each day? Probably thousands of planes fly a day. Do they report good flights? No. They only talk about the ones that crash. The world is looking for ways to discredit our faith, and for reasons to stay in a sinful lifestyle. This is why they claim we can be violent. Christians on a whole are not violent, only a select few are. It is a weak claim by non-believers to say that we are violent, if I was a non-christian, I would focus more on the hypocricy, which is a bigger problem altogether.

[ZiSunka]

Originally posted by 1hope
It wasn't the non-Christian forum that I started hearing this from. It has been on television and on the internet. I just wondered if there had ever been any solid evidence of true Christians acting in violence toward an innocent non-Christians or if it was all made-up as an attempted to hurt our Christian rights.

Violence is not a part of the faith, but there are some who call themselves by Christ's name who promote and commit violence.

www.keston.com has some info on this.

But much more violence and cruelty is committed against Christians throughout the world. www.persecution.com and www.persecution.org have much information about this.

Last year, there were four hundred crimes against Hindus and Muslims that are believed to be religiously-motived crimes by Christians. There were over 15,000 crimes against Christians, thousands of them resulting in death.

Christians are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. There are so many faith-based crimes against Chrisitans that Amensty International doesn't even report them anymore--it would take up all their resources!

So, if some are saying that Christianity is violent and cruel, they don't know what they are talking about.

[Jutsuka]

Northern Ireland? The crusades? The witchtrials? I could go on here...

[Andrew]

Of course Christians are violent! *LOL

Matthew 11
12From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. [NIV]

Matthew 11
12And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize--a [1] share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].
[amplified]

[didaskalos]

Originally posted by 1hope
Where do people get the idea that Christians are Violent and cruel. granted there are some people who use Gods name to justify their wrongful action, but in general most of us are far from being Violent or cruel. .

This is a difficult question to give a good answer to. It almost depends on who is asking. If you were a Jew in Polland in the 1939, then you would have wanted the Catholic church to be in favor of the war and whatever it took to save the lives of millions of innocent people(and you would have been right). But if you were a hippie in 1965 Ohio State, then you would demand that Christians be non-violent(and you would have been right). It seems a lot of people want to judge Christians according to their personal code or morals and situational ethics. It causes some in the faith to run in  circles trying to please everyone everywhere all the time. It is just not realistic and will not happen. I do my best to love and be as peaceful as possible with all men. When I have to stand up and be strong... then I pray God lead me. But I have stopped trying to please everyone who thinks I have to behave one way or the other. In the end I have to answer to God and my own conscience. Those who want to judge me and my actions will do so and see what they want. I cannot run my life by their approval or disapproval.

I hope this helps.         

[Extirpated Wildlife]

I agree with didaskalos.

Alot has to do with the experiences with Christians, or people they know who have had experiences with people.

[caley]

I think people call Christians violent mostly because of stuff that doesn't happen anymore, such as the salem witch trials, the crusades, and the spanish inquisition. These are the types of things I hear people referring to when they refer to violent Christianity. They also like to point to those who kill abortion doctors, but I don't hear this reference nearly as much as I hear the first three I mentioned.

I was on an anarchist discussion board a little while back, and there was a thread talking about the violence of religion, and someone made a really good point about religious violence. He said, "Hitler, Stalin, Mao; it seems the most dangerous religion of the twentieth century was atheism."