The battle -- the ONLY battle that matters, and the one at the heart of the Great Awakening -- is between Good and Evil.
- Love versus hate
- Kindness versus cruelty
- Compassion versus indifference
- Brotherhood versus racism and tribal hostility
- Honesty versus lies and corruption
- Emotional health versus emotional damage
You'd think the choices would be obvious, yet an entire society can be drenched in cruelty, corruption, and emotional damage -- which is exactly the direction that America and the West in general have been pushed towards.
Even a glance at the Aztec civilization is a reminder of how important this is, and of how far from grace a culture can fall. For an emotional glimpse of what I mean, sttart with this: The disquieting, even terrifying sound of the Aztec Death Whistle
What the Hell kind of society would create and widely USE such a thing?
Answer: a society that used frequent, publicly displayed human sacrifice.
Tens (and possibly hundreds) of thousands of human beings were sacrificed PER YEAR by the Aztecs
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture --
Michael Harner, in his 1977 article The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice, cited an estimate by Borah of the number of persons sacrificed in central Mexico in the 15th century as high as 250,000 per year, which may have been one percent of the population.[24] Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl, a Mexica descendant and the author of Codex Ixtlilxochitl, estimated that one in five children of the Mexica subjects was killed annually. Victor Davis Hanson argues that a claim by Don Carlos Zumárraga of 20,000 per annum is "more plausible".[25]
Neither Christianity (or other compassionate religions) nor the American (and Western civilization generally) emphasis on freedom has created a perfect world, because serious emotional damage warps viewpoints and behavior regardless of one's religion or culture -- and until all parents are able to follow Jesus' command to not offend young children, there will always be emotional damage.
But religions and cultures that prioritize love and freedom are FAR better than those which do not -- and with the Great Awakening, we have another chance to get things right.
That's what I said, and I didn't think it would need explanation. The Inqusition, the Salem Witch Trials, the many and various colonial wars and occupations -- all that and more happened under the guise of Christianity, not because any of it WAS Christian -- Christ neither behaved that way nor exhorted His followers to -- but in a world with far too many neurotics and sociopaths, bad things ARE going to happen.
As far as "telling the story" of the Aztec culture of human sacrifice, I didn't actually tell much of a story; I just pointed out THAT IT HAPPENED.
A LOT.
Often in public, where everyone, including children, could see it.
I clearly misread the intent of your post based on what you responded with. Point taken and well put. I appreciate the follow for what was meant and clarification.
No problem, fren. Thank you for the response.