XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: donnellaf@gmail.com   
      
   AC wrote:   
   > On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 19:54:22 -0400,   
   > Andrew F. Donnell  wrote:   
   >   
   >>Joseph wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>Like the Crusades, or the Inquisition...   
   >>   
   >>Yes, sadly, those are very un-Christian things to do....   
   >   
   >   
   > Un-Christian by the standards of most modern Christians, but by the standards   
   > of Medieval Christendom, they were perfectly legitimate actions.  And it's   
   > not as if the Bible didn't provide examples of God-sanctioned acts of this   
   > kind.   
      
   Even though the medieval church thought they were legitimate does not   
   mean they were right.  The Bible is also replete with examples of God's   
   people behaving in terrible ways (in fact, most of the history of Israel   
   is characterized that way).  Sadly, Christianity does not make perfect   
   people, it recognizes that people are imperfect and loves them anyway.   
      
   As to the God-sanctioned acts of this kind, I think those were different   
   and do not set a standard for subsequent acceptible activity.  A lot of   
   the early Old Testament externalized many of the judgement-salvation   
   ideas, in the sense that they were played out in the earthly lives of   
   the people (speaking from a Christian point of view, and theologizing   
   the history).  So the conquest of Israel was an exercise of God's   
   judgment upon the nations.  I think that was a special occurance, since   
   God was physically establishing his people.  Since then, such things   
   have been spiritualized.  People still did bad things, people used the   
   law and the prophets, misapplied, to hate their neighbor.  God did not   
   sanction such things.   
      
      
      
   Andy   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)