The early Christians did persecute the original pagans in Britain. Well even the word pagan is a religious word meaning savages. They were not savages they were simply non-Christians and not interested in Christianity until it was forced upon them, mostly by the Roman Invasion.
Throughout English history the Christians even tyrannised each other and there were endless Protestant v. Catholic conflicts.
If you give any religious group any kind of authority then eventually you end up with public beheadings because you wore the wrong headdress and insulted the gods.
Oh what tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to ..... define everyone else according to our own definition.
(I am strongly sympathetic to, and (with caveats) in agreement with, what you say here.)
However, I would also like to suggest that the only real definitions that work are the ones that are mutually agreed upon.
A person who calls themselves a Christian doesn't really get to define what is and isn't a Christian except for himself and others who agree with him. Accordingly, there will, (kek, by definition) be others who call themselves Christian and who have a different definition than the other who says they aren't.
At that point, it becomes a fight for "orthodoxy", and that I would say is a fight that should ONLY be fought by the power of love, and not by the love of power.
In short, he who loves the most is the one whose definition is the most orthodox and authoritative. Which is also why God's definition is the one that counts, because God loves the most. Perhaps if one could love others MORE than God does, then maybe God would evan acquiesce and say, sure, your definition is the orthodox one.
Because above all things, God is true and God is love, and true (that is, unconditional, unselfish, principled and constructive) love is the most important authority in the universe.
They certainly are here in UK they have same stuff as other Christians (crosses etc.) Even today it's Christians v. Christians with AR-15s in Northern Ireland.
The early Christians did persecute the original pagans in Britain. Well even the word pagan is a religious word meaning savages. They were not savages they were simply non-Christians and not interested in Christianity until it was forced upon them, mostly by the Roman Invasion.
Throughout English history the Christians even tyrannised each other and there were endless Protestant v. Catholic conflicts.
If you give any religious group any kind of authority then eventually you end up with public beheadings because you wore the wrong headdress and insulted the gods.
kek. updoogle.
Oh what tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to ..... define everyone else according to our own definition.
(I am strongly sympathetic to, and (with caveats) in agreement with, what you say here.)
However, I would also like to suggest that the only real definitions that work are the ones that are mutually agreed upon.
A person who calls themselves a Christian doesn't really get to define what is and isn't a Christian except for himself and others who agree with him. Accordingly, there will, (kek, by definition) be others who call themselves Christian and who have a different definition than the other who says they aren't.
At that point, it becomes a fight for "orthodoxy", and that I would say is a fight that should ONLY be fought by the power of love, and not by the love of power.
In short, he who loves the most is the one whose definition is the most orthodox and authoritative. Which is also why God's definition is the one that counts, because God loves the most. Perhaps if one could love others MORE than God does, then maybe God would evan acquiesce and say, sure, your definition is the orthodox one.
Because above all things, God is true and God is love, and true (that is, unconditional, unselfish, principled and constructive) love is the most important authority in the universe.
They certainly are here in UK they have same stuff as other Christians (crosses etc.) Even today it's Christians v. Christians with AR-15s in Northern Ireland.
Dude.... Ad hominem.