I've decided to combine these 2 chapters as they in a way deal with similar topics. Chapter 4 deals with Christianity and the slaughter of innocents and chapter 5 talks about the 3rd reich. Now in the Bible it talks about when God instructed His people to go in a destroy another nation. This was not a random act of violence, in that time there were battles and wars going on constantly, they were simply defending themselves or getting their lands back.
Now for one of the most controversial issues of Christianity, the crusades. One cannot hold all of Christianity responsible for the wrong doings and wrong teachings of one period of time. The church became corrupt and world centered and were telling them that if they died on the crusades that they would skip purgatory and go straight to heaven. Now look at how good that would look to the poor people of the villages who had no good works, they had nothing to lose if they went on a crusade but their poverty, so they would go and fight. The church was also saying one way to be forgiven was to pay the church and they would be forgiven, this is a way they were corrupting the minds of their people. They were also telling the people that the muslims that occupied the holy land were evil people and telling lies about how they were acting. This resulted in the slaughter of many innocent people
Friday, October 28, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Chapter 3 Christanity and Science
First off I would like to start off saying, it does not really matter to me your opinion of how the world was created, everybody has their own, and honestly it does not matter just as long as you believe that God was behind it. For example if God wanted the big bang to happen and create the world then fine, if he created it a billion years ago or 3 thousand it does not matter, its the main basis that the one true God created it that ultimately matters.
Now in the book, they state that the early church banned the teachings of Galileo, that the earth revolved around the sun. Now I do not really see this as a big deal, they just got that detail wrong, they never said that God was not involved in it. They also taught that the world was flat, so what? they just got some fact wrong, it doesnt change the basis that God created it.This however does not change the fact that they hindered the learning process of the people. This is one of the main reasons why the Middle Ages is seen as a "intellectual slump" so to say. People were not being taught the correct things. Now don't get me wrong, there are positive things that came out of the Middle Ages, I will cover that later.
The book says "There were many in the ancient world who believed that man's fate was simply written in the stars"(p. 59). This is talking about astrology. Now I not a person that believes one can find out anything about the future of your life through the study of nature. I don't let that dictate whether or not I got out or not. Astrology is nonsense. There is nothing you can predict about your life or who you are by the stars and space.It also mentions cyclical time. This is the belief that history and the world are on a cycle. The world will come to an end and nature will be rearranged and it will start all over again. Christians rejected this belief on the notion that Jesus would not come back and just keep dying and rising again for the same fallen society. Also in the Bible it says that Jesus has died and conquered death forever, so if Jesus has defeated death forever he won't die again.
There were also some people who thought that God was in nature. That he was in the trees and plants and everything. What differs from Christianity is yes they see God in nature because he created this great world, but they don't see Him IN nature. The people saw a plant and they wouldn't want to cut it down because they see God actually in it and that the plant is holy, a Christian wouldn't see it as holy but rather created by a holy God.
Now for the positive effects the church had on the Middle Ages. One of the most important inventions in the world came from the Middle Ages, the clock. The clock was the first complex device made of metal. The clock had "...effects on human psychology and habits"(p. 66). It organized everything in the world and as Lewis Mumford said they "dissociated time from human events"(p. 66). The clocks were for the Monks to know the exact time for them to pray because they have 6 prayers a day and need to know when. Another great of the Middle ages is the university. They came from the cathedral school and most were schools of theology.
Now in the book, they state that the early church banned the teachings of Galileo, that the earth revolved around the sun. Now I do not really see this as a big deal, they just got that detail wrong, they never said that God was not involved in it. They also taught that the world was flat, so what? they just got some fact wrong, it doesnt change the basis that God created it.This however does not change the fact that they hindered the learning process of the people. This is one of the main reasons why the Middle Ages is seen as a "intellectual slump" so to say. People were not being taught the correct things. Now don't get me wrong, there are positive things that came out of the Middle Ages, I will cover that later.
The book says "There were many in the ancient world who believed that man's fate was simply written in the stars"(p. 59). This is talking about astrology. Now I not a person that believes one can find out anything about the future of your life through the study of nature. I don't let that dictate whether or not I got out or not. Astrology is nonsense. There is nothing you can predict about your life or who you are by the stars and space.It also mentions cyclical time. This is the belief that history and the world are on a cycle. The world will come to an end and nature will be rearranged and it will start all over again. Christians rejected this belief on the notion that Jesus would not come back and just keep dying and rising again for the same fallen society. Also in the Bible it says that Jesus has died and conquered death forever, so if Jesus has defeated death forever he won't die again.
There were also some people who thought that God was in nature. That he was in the trees and plants and everything. What differs from Christianity is yes they see God in nature because he created this great world, but they don't see Him IN nature. The people saw a plant and they wouldn't want to cut it down because they see God actually in it and that the plant is holy, a Christian wouldn't see it as holy but rather created by a holy God.
Now for the positive effects the church had on the Middle Ages. One of the most important inventions in the world came from the Middle Ages, the clock. The clock was the first complex device made of metal. The clock had "...effects on human psychology and habits"(p. 66). It organized everything in the world and as Lewis Mumford said they "dissociated time from human events"(p. 66). The clocks were for the Monks to know the exact time for them to pray because they have 6 prayers a day and need to know when. Another great of the Middle ages is the university. They came from the cathedral school and most were schools of theology.
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