Posted on 10/18/2003 1:02:52 PM PDT by nwrep
THE GREAT HERESIES
by Hilaire Belloc
Chapter Four
The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed
It might have appeared to any man watching affairs in the earlier years of the seventh century_say from 600 to 630_that only one great main assault having been made against the Church, Arianism and its derivatives, that assault having been repelled and the Faith having won its victory, it was now secure for an indefinite time.
Christendom would have to fight for its life, of course, against outward unchristian things, that is, against Paganism. The nature worshippers of the high Persian civilization to the east would attack us in arms and try to overwhelm us. The savage paganism of barbaric tribes, Scandinavian, German, Slav and Mongol, in the north and centre of Europe would also attack Christendom and try to destroy it. The populations subject to Byzantium would continue to parade heretical views as a label for their grievances. But the main effort of heresy, at least, had failed_so it seemed. Its object, the undoing of a united Catholic civilization, had been missed. The rise of no major heresy need henceforth be feared, still less the consequent disruption of Christendom.
By A.D. 630 all Gaul had long been Catholic. The last of the Arian generals and their garrisons in Italy and Spain had become orthodox. The Arian generals and garrisons of Northern Africa had been conquered by the orthodox armies of the Emperor.
It was just at this moment, a moment of apparently universal and permanent Catholicism, that there fell an unexpected blow of overwhelming magnitude and force. Islam arose_quite suddenly. It came out of the desert and overwhelmed half our civilization.
Islam_the teaching of Mohammed_conquered immediately in arms. Mohammed's Arabian converts charged into Syria and won there two great battles, the first upon the Yarmuk to the east of Palestine in the highlands above the Jordan, the second in Mesopotamia. They went on to overrun Egypt; they pushed further and further into the heart of our Christian civilization with all its grandeur of Rome. They established themselves all over Northern Africa; they raided into Asia Minor, though they did not establish themselves there as yet. They could even occasionally threaten Constantinople itself. At last, a long lifetime after their first victories in Syria, they crossed the Straits of Gibraltar into Western Europe and began to flood Spain. They even got as far as the very heart of Northern France, between Poitiers and Tours, less than a hundred years after their first victories in Syria_in A.D. 732.
They were ultimately thrust back to the Pyrenees, but they continued to hold all Spain except the mountainous north-western corner. They held all Roman Africa, including Egypt, and all Syria. They dominated the whole Mediterranean west and east: held its islands, raided and left armed settlements even on the shores of Gaul and Italy. They spread mightily throughout Hither Asia, overwhelming the Persian realm. They were an increasing menace to Constantinople. Within a hundred years, a main part of the Roman world had fallen under the power of this new and strange force from the Desert.
Such a revolution had never been. No earlier attack had been so sudden, so violent or so permanently successful. Within a score of years from the first assault in 634 the Christian Levant had gone: Syria, the cradle of the Faith, and Egypt with Alexandria, the mighty Christian See. Within a lifetime half the wealth and nearly half the territory of the Christian Roman Empire was in the hands of Mohammedan masters and officials, and the mass of the population was becoming affected more and more by this new thing.
Mohammedan government and influence had taken the place of Christian government and influence, and were on the way to making the bulk of the Mediterranean on the east and the south Mohammedan.
We are about to follow the fortunes of this extraordinary thing which still calls itself Islam, that is, "The Acceptation" of the morals and simple doctrines which Mohammed had preached.
I shall later describe the historical origin of the thing, giving the dates of its progress and the stages of its original success. I shall describe the consolidation of it, its increasing power and the threat which it remained to our civilization. It very nearly destroyed us. It kept up the battle against Christendom actively for a thousand years, and the story is by no means over; the power of Islam may at any moment re-arise.
(Excerpt) Read more at ewtn.com ...
"for we need a mighty faith to praise HIM (The LORD of Lords, KING of Kings, Ruler of the Universe in Great Majesty - Melech in Hebrew - THE LIVING LORD GOD OF ISRAEL)when we walk among men who mock at HIS WORD; we need endless trust to be patient in the vale of tears and we must find the strength to answer HIM when HE calls us to HIS work." IT MATTERS!
The Soviets and
Khmer Rouge believed such stuff.
Civilized to you?!
We might note that the "Arian Heresy" is known as a heresy only on the word of it's opposition which won the "war".
Then, along comes Mohammed, who failed to conduct universal conquest, so his gnostic tradition became known as a different religion rather than just another Christian heresy, which it was.
And if anybody missed it, all of these guys used armed conquest to advance the cause of their respective religions, or heresies, or orthodoxies.
It's truly incredible that we will be joined later on by folks who believe that only Islam has ever used armed might to force conversions.
There has ALWAYS BEEN a physical Symbol of "Islamic Faith" in Mecca--the STONE!
Remove "The Stone," & Let's see "What's Left!!!"
Doc
The Dark Ages begin about 538 AD. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Ottoman Empire which didn't come around for another 800+ years!
In fact, the Dark Ages are so dark that we know about their "early years" from few sources. One source are ancient Irish royal annals (from which we derive our "King Arthur" stories). Another source are tree rings. The suggestion is that the weather turned very nasty for about a decade. This resulted in the death of almost everybody in Northern and Western Europe as well as the loss of all ancient knowlege. Southern Europe fared better, but "better" does not mean "well", just "better". There was general economic collapse throughout the Mediterranean, Central Asia, Western Europe (to the extent there was any economy at all), China and so on.
Some folks came out of the Dark Ages sooner than others. The Chinese, for example, survived through total collapse for a mere 300 years. Byzentium (the city itself) seems to have had total collapse for only 84 years ~ of course they ended up fairly alone in the world for a long while.
The Western Arabian peninsula seems to have begun recovery within just a few decades! We know they recovered because they had this interesting story about Mohammad and messages from God when they conquered Damascus and kicked out the decadent Persian regime. They then went on to recover as much ancient knowlege as they could, and once contact with India was made, they expanded the scope of the Indian knowledge base (which is, among other things, the number system we now use).
The Ottoman Empire did not yet exist while this recovery was going on.
Finally, about 1000 AD Western Europe recovered economically, but not socially. That's when the Age of Jihad began! Europeans had armed knights who lived under monastic orders (for a start), wore crosses into all battles, etc., etc., etc. It was truly horrible. In the end they conquered just about the whole world. Until oil was discovered in the Middle East most Western Europeans didn't care one way or the other about Islam.
You might try cruising through some of their websites concerning the matter.
They can quite readily trace their origins to Jerusalem itself, right into the Temple!
Say what??
For example, when the Britons began relocating to Brittany (to escape Anglo-Saxon barbarians then invading their homeland) they discovered that there were no people living there although this had been one of the most populated, progressive and productive regions in the Western Roman Empire.
This was a common situation throughout Northern and Western Europe. Note that the Dark Ages begin about 538! Some claim they began precisely that year, or in 535. We really don't know because they lost track of their calender at that time!
There was massive loss of records. In fact, there was massive loss of everything. Life was never the same after that time.
Did you imagine that people just forgot how to do stuff and retreated to a neolithic lifestyle?
People died in large numbers. The survivors faced a far less populated world. It took Europe half a millenium to begin to recover!
The Mohammedan temper was not tolerant. It was, on the contrary, fanatical and bloodthirsty. It felt no respect for, nor even curiosity about, those from whom it differed. It was absurdly vain of itself, regarding with contempt the high Christian culture about it. It still so regards it even today.
snip
Millions of modern people of the white civilization_that is, the civilization of Europe and America_have forgotten all about Islam. They have never come in contact with it. they take for granted that it is decaying, and that, anyway, it is just a foreign religion which will not concern them. It is, as a fact, the most formidable and persistent enemy which our civilization has had, and may at any moment become as large a menace in the future as it has been in the past.
Still, you don't believe any of them do you? Frankly, I have my own doubts about the Rome business.
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