Posted on 01/12/2018 9:52:18 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
As you may have gathered, many of the accusations against Christianity are based on the misconstruing of its teachings or its historical legacy. Fulton J. Sheen once observed that there are not “one hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly perceive the Catholic Church to be.’ What Sheen said over fifty years ago about the perception of Catholicism in America can now be said about Christianity in much of Western society today.
1. Biblical patriarchy is little more than a mask for men’s will to power.
Christian teaching on the sexes has nuances that elude the mind of modern man. On the one hand, Christianity affirms the full spiritual equality of the sexes; on the other, it speaks of a division of labor or a hierarchy of responsibility within the family and in divine worship. Modern man, who worships the idol of equality, loves the former teaching but despises the latter. To say that one person is subject to another is not to say that one person is inferior to another. To be “subject” or “subordinate” is simply to be placed under the authority of another; it is a statement concerning a distribution of rank or responsibility within a team, not of worth or excellence. So, when the New Testament speaks of a wife’s subjection to her husband, it is not implying that she is an inferior specimen. On the contrary, there is a way in which she is called to a nobler task than her husband, for she is called to something far more important than career or politics or money – she is called to be the life and center of a home.
2. Christians view the Bible as something which allows them to keep their power and privilege – it’s a product of its times.
Of course the Bible is a product of its times – in a certain sense. Its books arose out of particular historical, geographical, and linguistic contexts, which is why biblical scholars study history, geography, and Greek and Near Eastern languages. So, Christians take into account human agency and historical context when interpreting the Bible. But, because of the divine agency behind the Bible, Christians also recognize that the Scriptures are more than a product of their own times, that the Bible is a transcendent set of writings that are as relevant, as reliable, and as true today as the day they were written.
3. Christianity is the Enemy of Science.
From aeronautics to zoology, Christians have contributed to existing branches of learning and created entirely new disciplines in their search for knowledge. If that weren’t enough, we have an even bigger bombshell to drop: Christianity made science possible in the first place. That’s right. Were it not for the Christian belief in an intelligible order created by a supremely intelligent God who also created human reason, there would have been no faith in reason. And without faith in the power and reliability of reason, there can be no science.
4. The Spanish Inquisition was a bloodbath motivated by religious fanaticism.
The Spanish Inquisition has become a favorite bludgeon to use against the Catholic Church in particular and against Christianity in general – to “prove” that Christians who care about sound doctrine are repressive, bloodthirsty, and insanely power-hungry. Reports of its atrocities are greatly exaggerated. Indeed, the methods of the Inquisitors were more human than those of any contemporary secular court. One historian has compared the level of brutality of the Spanish Inquisition’s interrogation methods to American police departments in the 1930s. Of the 44,701 Inquisition cases on record, only 2 percent involved the use of torture. The Spanish Inquisition never executed a single individual: as a Church tribunal, the most it could do was declare someone guilty of a capital crime and then hand him over to the State, which wielded the power to execute. In fact, Planned Parenthood kills more people every six days than the Spanish Inquisition did in 350 years.
5. Christianity promotes Victimhood Culture
There is a supreme irony in disqualifying Christianity from victimhood status, for: 1) it is Christianity that gave the world concern for the victim in the first place, and 2) the Left is ruthlessly scapegoating Christianity by accusing it of being an oppressor. Christianity began with the recognition that Jesus was an innocent victim and that the many were guilty; the Left now teaches that the many are innocent victims and that Jesus and His followers are guilty.
If so, why don't they giver up all science discovered by Christians? Genetics, for example...
***”The Spanish Inquisition never executed a single individual: as a Church tribunal, the most it could do was declare someone guilty of a capital crime and then hand him over to the State, which wielded the power to execute.”***
Pure dishonest Sophistry. They are acting helpless to stop the state. Did the inquisition and papacy do anything to stop the torture and murder by these “states”? Nope. And make no mistake, these “states” were part of a Vatican centered order. These monarchs were not doing something they thought the Vatican even slightly disapproved of.
***”In fact, Planned Parenthood kills more people every six days than the Spanish Inquisition did in 350 years.”***
Saying you murdered fewer people in 350 years than Planned Parenthood does each week is not exactly something to brag about. It certainly has no basis in anything taught by Jesus Christ.
The article is good, but it would be better to simply say that as a Catholic of 2018 you have no explanation for the heresy that was driving these butchers. Instead of making excuses for them, it would be far better that the modern church disowns these monsters that far strayed from the faith of Christ.
It's like the claim "Galileo wasn't really treated all that badly. It was more like house arrest." a) He was an old man b) He was forced to humiliate himself c) His freedom was restricted and you had NO RIGHT to do that and d) (small point, I know) He was telling the truth.
Better to have left that particular one out, than have tried to spin it. It's unspinnable. The Inquisition was an outrage and a crime against humanity.
Seems they already have done that.
The Templars?
Is it still opinion if New Testament Scripture support it?
You beat me to it. Roman Catholicism runs from that point of history faster than a rabbit.
“. The Spanish Inquisition never executed a single individual: as a Church tribunal, the most it could do was declare someone guilty of a capital crime and then hand him over to the State, which wielded the power to execute.”
What’s the difference??? Their actions knowingly resulted in execution, so no one cares who carried it out.
Well, this has a scriptural basis. The Jews didn’t kill Jesus, it was the Roman government that did the deed.
Somehow that really does not let the Catholics off unless like the Hebrews of Christ’s time they respond obediently to Peter’s answer. See Acts chapter 2 especially verse 38
Because he came on at 5:00 on Saturday afternoon, and you’re right, there was absolutely nothing else to watch (I’m talking more 60s early 70s). We were Prots too, but there was just something about that strangely dressed man with the kindly eyes who talked like a regular joe and gave it to ya straight. Making me tear up a little. I loved him.
In the fifties, he came on in prime time.
I did not know that. On Saturday or another night of the week? I always thought it had something to do with Catholics going to church on Saturday evening, as many were wont to do.
It was on a Tuesday night. And now, I’m the one confused. He was on opposite Milton Berle! I can’t believe we picked Sheen over Berle. Surely not...
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