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The Forum > Article Comments > What the world owes to the Protestant Bible > Comments

What the world owes to the Protestant Bible : Comments

By Brian Holden, published 23/5/2011

Atheists should respect the historical role that the Bible has played as the first step towards the technology that we have today.

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Firesnake,
Obviously you have little knowledge of reality. Christian Reformers and their followers in the 18th - 19th century have been leaders in the advance of technology. Nations influenced by Christian values in this last 50 years have had great developments in technology.

Before Christ entered the human thought circle the Romans had developed some of the cruelest means of death to prisoners and opponents - hense the crucifixion of Christ. The Bible had no influence on Babylonian, Assyrian, Roman behaviour before the Christian influence - they all were brutal agressors. Early Christians suffered death by torture at the hands of Roman guards, so to make a claim that the Bible caused inhumanity to man is false. You said "What a horrid, appalling book still dividing people and cultures today." NOT True. I can go anywhere in the world and be immediately among friends of different cultures and nationalities. So to claim the Bible divides people on cultural or racial difference is false. I suggest you be informed by visiting a large Church near you and observe the diversity that exists.

The bible has been translated into over 1800 languages and dialects using the local culture and customs to give understanding to its message. It transforms warring head hunters into peace loving Saints.
Posted by Philo, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 4:57:16 PM
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Dear Philo,

Belief in a humanoid god and all the other mumbojumbo did not make the Nazis less cruel than the Romans. By and large the Christian churches supported Hitler. Although there has been a great attempt to rewrite history and deny the Christianity of Nazi Germany because some of the Nazis rejected Christianity it was primarily a product of Christians. The Nazis had a concordat with the Vatican, support of most of the Lutheran churches and Christian chaplains in its armies.

"THe Arrogance of Faith" by Wood tells how the slaveholders in the southern United States supported and justified slavery by appealing to the Bible where it is not only accepted but had Paul telling the slaves they should serve their masters.

The Spanish justified their genocide in the New World by their bringing of Christianity.

Christianity has time after time suported violence and oppression by citing the Bible. Primitive belief in a humanoid god has justified barbarous behaviour.

It might be a better world if we got rid of Christianity and realised that the Bible fairy tales are no more to be believed than the Greek, Roman, Norse and other legends.
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 5:43:32 PM
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david f,
Same old ignorant nonsense from you. The topic is the protestant Bible. The English protestants were not NAZI as you imply, nor does Paul endorce slavery. Paul was encouraging a work ethic worthy of Christ among his followers. If you were enslaved Christian by a Roman general you would act in a way that impressed your master. That is not an endorcement of slavery but of good work practices. Joseph was once an Egyptian slave but by his devotion exhalted to chief minister of Food in the Egyptian Government. Daniel was captured as a slave by the Babylonians and by his devotion became an advisor to the King. Our Australian soldiers were often enslaved to perform for the enemy. To be a good worker was worthy of recognition.

You continually quote this misinformed mantra. Please check context and Christ teaching and mission to free the enslaved. He says he came to set the captive free [Luke 4: 18].
Posted by Philo, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 6:40:39 PM
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OK John j

...What the world owes the protestant bible is a road map of a “moral code” for all humanity. Its centre piece is compassion (metaphysical empathy):…

“It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice”.

….Shakespeare.
Posted by diver dan, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 10:04:09 PM
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Dear Philo,

I nowhere implied that the English were Nazis. I wrote that the Nazis were mostly Christian and were mostly supported by both Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany. Christians of good will admit their religion's horrible past and try to work for a better future.

From the website of the Evangelical Sisterhood of St. Mary, a Lutheran sisterhood:

http://www.kanaan.org/international/israel/israel4.htm

After the age of the apostles, the theory arose that God was through with the Jews, that the Church was the New Israel and that the Jews were being punished for the crime of killing God. Later, when Christianity became the state religion, this theology was used as the basis for anti-Jewish policies … In time, the Jews were blamed for every calamity. A case in point is the Black Death, said to have been caused by the Jews poisoning the wells. In the name of Jesus unimaginable atrocities were committed: Jews were humiliated, deprived of their rights, baptised by force, burnt at the stake -- thousands upon thousands of them. Christian festivals, such as Easter, were sometimes chosen as a time to attack Jews. While burning the Jewish population in the synagogue in Jerusalem, the Crusaders sang 'Christ, We Adore Thee'.

Whether it was the Crusades, or, more recently, the pogroms, or, most horrific of all, the Holocaust -- Christian anti-Semitism paved the way for these atrocities. Is it any wonder that the name of Jesus is not loved by Jews -- and that the cross is, for them, a symbol of persecution?

Anglican Bishop Spong finds the roots for hate in the New Testament:

http://johnshelbyspong.com/sample-essays/the-terrible-texts/

ANTI-SEMITISM:

And the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children’” (Matt. 27:25)

No other verse of Holy Scripture has been responsible for so much violence and so much bloodshed. People convinced that these words conferred legitimacy and even holiness on their hostility have killed millions of Jewish people over history. Far more than Christians today seem to understand, to call the Bible “Word of God” in any sense is to legitimize this hatred reflected in its pages.
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 24 May 2011 11:35:26 PM
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david f,
What you are showing is not the teachings and attitudes of Christ and the apostles in your posts but attitudes of a Roman State Church and those influenced by its attitudes and teachings. Both Jesus and Paul were both Jewish by heritage and nationality and Jesus wept for his brothers and Paul said of himself he would be willing to be a cast away if his brothers came to faith. They were not vengeful or angry as those attitudes are carnal and reflected much as the Roman State.

The Protestant faith taught:
All men are equal
All men are sinners
All men are loved by God
All men are worth redeeming
All me are free to believe
Go and tell this message to the World

This view of man included their persecutors. "Bless those that persecute you.' Jesus.
Posted by Philo, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 4:42:47 AM
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