So has every other group of human beings on the planet, whether the group is religious, political or otherwise, except maybe the Quakers. And I'm not sure about them
Not sure if you meant to imply otherwise, but the violence done by Christians does not have its cause in Christianity. Humans do this to each other all the time--it's a species thing--and of we course invoke the highest values of our respective cultures to justify our actions. I've seen rival groups of Buddhist monks beat the crap out of each other.
What an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
and accurate-to-life observation, truth.
Thanks tons.
Zimbardo, PhD writes an excellent intro to Psych text. He's famous for the prison experiment where during a holiday period, he randomly assigned students paid for the experiment to GUARDS or PRISONERS roles.
The only instruction was something like TO KEEP ORDER or something else fairly mildly worded like that. I think the experiment was scheduled to run for a couple of weeks but had to be shut down after a few days.
The guards became ruthless and viscious--even former prisoners who were switched to be guards became similarly.
Zimbardo noted, in reminding the reader about the War Crimes trials after WWII that after an exhaustive bunch of tests, the findings were conclusive. The worst war criminals were . . . . . essentially . . . . .
NO
different from the average citizen.
And that that was more frightening. It's one thing if the MONSTERS are OUT THERE. We can gang up on them.
It's quite different, if THE MONSTER is within each one of us.
Which is what THE GOSPEL is about. Christ died to prove He won over the monster of sin pollution within each individual since Adam. Apart from Christ's Blood and forgiveness from accepting The Blood's application/covering; and Holy Spirit's helping us become more like Christ and leave sin's deadliness increasingly behind
all
of
us
given the right circumstances and background,
could do virtually any deadly, horrid, hideously destructive thing.
Perhaps, DollarC would be wise to consider his own heart attitude toward God and others
MORE
and the sins of hypocrite others less.
And, as a teen pastor used to say . . . IF a hypocrite is between you and God, he's closer to God than you are.
Mr Dollar will not have to give an account for the deadly deeds of others. He will have his hands full with his own life to answer for, as will we all.
Thankfully, The Blood of Christ is a thorough Cleanser--legally, spiritually and slowly experientially.