Posted on 01/15/2006 5:21:28 PM PST by DeweyCA
Conclusion
What if the law of Muhammad absorbed his pagan social environment too fully? He ordered the hands of male and female thieves to be cut off. He ordered the hands and feet of highway robbers to be cut off, along with crucifixion. He allowed sex with slave-girls and female prisoners of war. He and his community practiced the slave trade. He even tortured some hapless victims, such as an old woman. He reinstituted stoning for adultery, in his own way. He beat alcoholics. And as we have seen in this present article, he ordered assassinations and wars. So what kind of mission was this, anyway?
For the ten years that Muhammad lived in Medina (AD 622-632), he either went out on or sent out seventy-four raids and wars, ranging from small assassination hit squads to full-scale, large battles. After his death of a fever in 632, his leading Companions followed his example, waging wars on Arab pagans, forcing them either to convert or die. After that, Islamic armies stormed out of the Arabian Peninsula and conquered territories, north, east, and west. For the next four centuries Islam embarked on its own Crusades, long before the Europeans responded with their own. What kind of mission was this, anyway?
As for the mission of Christ, he gave us principles of dignity. Society can draw from them in practical ways, such as helping and restoring alcoholics and adulterers instead of whipping and stoning them. Jesus seeks to transform sinners from the inside out. He offers everyone inner freedom. All peoples have the choice to follow him. If they do not, then they are free to go their own way. Christians do not (or should not) harass and persecute them by legal or other means.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
In the archives at The American Thinker, there is also a great 2-part article on the Crusades.
I head back to school on Monday. I have it printed out and ready to post!!!
see my Profile page, about 4/5 of the way down, concerning this sort of "moral equivalency" nonsense.
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