"Yes and no. This "christian" practice was extra-Biblical, and, in fact, similiar early practices were criticised as unnecessary and distracting by St. Paul. (Although he did say to tolerate them, to a limited degree.)
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Nevertheless, Christians did them. That's my only point on the subject. I'm not making a judgment on whether the practice had Biblical support...only pointing out that such practices are not so alien, after all.
"Christians did them. That's my only point on the subject. I'm not making a judgment on whether the practice had Biblical support...only pointing out that such practices are not so alien, after all."
And that is a fair point, and quite correct.
I am just cautious to make the distinction between what Christians DO and what they are commanded to do.
In particular, I am sensitive to the tendancy of people to make equivolent how the Roman Catholic Church forced Christianity at the point of the spear/rifle with how Islam does the same today.
The distiction to be made, of course, is that what the RCC did was directly contrary to Christian scripture (with its emphasis on free acceptance) vs. forced conversion being a direct mandate of the texts of Islam.
I have no illusions of how far Christians fall from their mandate.