Church History:Oppression & Violence 101

Who Said?

“The Old Testament accounts reveal God to

be cruel, vindictive, capricious, & unjust.”

Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p..115

http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson/pictures

Ken Schei, atheist

Christianity has been used throughout history as an excuse for some of the most brutal, heartless, & senseless atrocities known to man…the Crusades; the Inquisitions (there were 3): The witch-burnings; the Holocaust…. Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p.. 195

Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“The requirement of shared worship has been the principal source of suffering for the human race since the beginning of history. In their efforts to impose universal worship, men have unsheathed their swords & killed. They have invented gods & challenged each other!” ― 

“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things & evil people doing evil things.

But for good people to do evil things, it takes Religion.” ―  Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

Dr. Charles Woodbridge

There are many Christians in the church, but just because a person is part of a church doesn’t necessarily mean he or she is a follower of Jesus Christ. Some people are cultural Christians but not authentic Christians.Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p 200.

Matthew 7: 21-23

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven…. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

A Copout?

Were all the atrocities committed by non-Christians pretending to be Christians?

Dr. Woodbridge

•NOPE. Because of our sinful nature, we continue to do things as Christians that we shouldn’t. We aren’t perfect….

• Some of the evil deeds committed through history have been done by Christians & when that has happened, it is contrary to the teachings of Jesus.

Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p. 201

The Crusades: 1095-1291 AD

Men…cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from their towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into flames….It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of me & horses. But these were small matters to what happened at the Temple of Solomon (where)…men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed it was a just & splendid judgment of God that this place should be filled with the blood of unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies. Lee Strobel, The Case for

Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p. 205

Violence wasn’t the only problem….

Motivation

1215. Pope Innocence III actually instructed people that if they went on the Crusades, this could earn their salvation. And if they sent someone to fight in their place, this, too, would earn their salvation.

This counsel was an obvious distortion of true ChristianityLee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p. 206

Bad things happened…

• It needs to be confessed as contrary to the teachings of Christ.

• It is not Christ’s teachings that are at fault.

• It is the actions of those who strayed from God’s teaching.

• Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p.206-207

The Inquisition 1163 AD

Pope Alexander III instructed Bishops to root out evidence of HERESY!

Secret proceedings. No due process. No defense attorney. Torture used to extract confessions…. Refuse to repent and you were turned over to the government to be burned at the stake.Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p.207

The Inquisition: an anomaly or a pattern of abuse by the historical

church?Most think the average Christian is an American living far away from danger for their faith, Journalist David Neff said: The typical Christian lives in a developing country, speaks a non-European language, & exists under the constant threat of persecution—of murder, imprisonment, torture, or rape.Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p. 208-209

Salem Witch Trials: 1600’s19 hanged & 1 Pressed to death.

Beware tendency to be monocausational in sorting out events!

Witches exist.

Land schemes

Hysteria issues

Missionary Exploitation: Uninvited, culturally ignorant, Western imperialists, assuming native culture was defective/devilish. They bribe/coerce the people to “save” them as they wind up destroying

them.

• Missionaries were often associated with Mercantilism.

• Lots of bad stuff done by the Mercantilists/Missionaries.

Weigh the good Christian missionaries did against the evil.

• Many have a Rosseauist idealism that native culture was happy & perfect, not realizing that many were in dire physical & spiritual circumstances. Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p. 211-212

Luis PalauThe seismic shock of atheism sent tidal waves, accounting directly for the annihilation & butchering of more than 100 million this past century alone. Humanity has paid a steep price for the awful experiments in deliberate anti-theism carried out by Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung & others—each of whom was profoundly influenced by the writings of the apostles of atheism….After watching atheism proliferate…it’s clearer than ever that…without God, we’re lost. Lee

Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p. 216-217.

http://historysheroes.e2bn.org/hero/whowerethey/81

Thomas Paine in The Age of Reason

“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the work of a demon, than the word of God.”

Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, Zondervan Publishing Co., © 2000. p. 116

Dr. Norman Geisler

“A difference exists between what the Bible records & what it

approves.”

The Bible records Satan’s lies, but it doesn’t approve them.

Genocide

Deut 7: Totally destroy the Canaanites & 6 other nations.

Egyptian firstborn executed.

Worldwide flood that killed everyone.

Amalekite Genocide: “Now, go attack the Amalekites & totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men & women, children and infants….”

1. Amalekites were persistently vicious & warring. Their lived to destroy Israel, so God chose Israel as the instrument of judgment. Israel & God dealt with them for over 400 years.

2. People assume - What’s wrong for us--is wrong for God.

3. It’s wrong for me to take your life, because I didn’t make it or own it. It’s also wrong for me to pull up your bushes, cut them down, or move them. But I can do that in my yard, because I own the bushes in my yard.

4. God is sovereign over all life & He has the right to take it if He wishes. He takes the life of every human by DEATH. The only question is when & how, which we leave up to Him.

Caveats

1. In most battle situations the women & children left ahead of the battle.

2. Under God’s rules of conduct they were required to make an offer of peace first. They had a chance to accept the offer & live OR reject & die.

Remember God is just.

His nature demands that He deal with corrupt people who stubbornly and willfully persist in their evil.

Review

• Not all that was done in the name of the Church was done by authentic Christians, some were Cultural Christians.

• But some pretty evil things were done by Christians, because we area still sinners saved by grace. Crusades, Inquisition, Salem Witch trials, etc.

• Mercantilism & Missionaries watch confusing the two!

• Beware the temptation to look monocausational

• OT battle protocols meant most women and children left early. Peace treaty offered first and these people were pretty evil.