3 ms·

You have a grave misreading of the history of Christianity. It was used as a control device when it was centrally controlled and delivered (like all religions).

You have a grave misreading of the history of Christianity. It was used as a control device when it was centrally controlled and delivered (like all religions)...the invention of the printing press changed all of that with the Reformation. Once the knowledge was spread through the people and open to interpretations, the general direction of Christianity (despite all the faults of modern movements) has trended towards equality and freedom, which is much in line with the Gospels. Martin Luther and John Calvin had a profound impact, and once you saw those movements you began to see all the modern western values emerge, from economics to political freedom.

Fricken 8y ago
In Chinese history it's a little different. The Taiping rebellion was a militant uprising against the ruling Manchus by a Christian Millenarian sect known as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in the mid 19th century. It was the bloodiest war of the 19th century, and the bloodiest civil war in history, with an estimated 20-70 million killed. You don't have to agree with China's response to these chruches, but maybe you can understand why they get nervous when Christians start getting uppity. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion
- tivert 8y ago
  > In Chinese history it's a little different. The Taiping rebellion was a militant uprising against the ruling Manchus by a Christian Millenarian sect known as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in the mid 19th century. > You don't have to agree with China's response to these chruches [sic], but maybe you can understand why they get nervous when Christians start getting uppity. That's just a pretext, if anything. This oppression isn't some challenging but benevolent attempt by the Communist Party to protect China from a bloody civil war based on past historical experiences, it's part of systematic campaign to protect the personal and institutional power amassed by China's unelected leaders and keep the country submissive to them. This is clear when you look these actions in context: the repressive actions against democracy activists before, after, and on June 4th 1989; as well as more recent actions against human rights lawyers (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/magazine/the-lonely-crusade-of-chinas-human-rights-lawyers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/magazine/the-lonely-crusa... ); and even Communist true believers acting outside of party control (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/asia/china-student-activists.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/asia/china-student-... ).
samhain 8y ago
>equality and freedom How do you know that there are not scriptures in the Bible that could support the opposite? >Martin Luther and John Calvin Didn't Martin Luther give rise to the thinking that ultimately resulted in WWII? And the Calvinists that I personally know still hold to the ideas that women cannot wear pants and are not allowed to go to college.
- 1123581321 8y ago
  The answer to your second question is no, unless you believe that a unified Catholic Germany would have stayed out of or won the First World War. I believe you are referring to some quotes by Martin Luther that no Lutheran church propagated or even remembered for the most part. The portions of Luther’s writings that spread through Germany were his large and small catechisms, Smalcald articles, etc., that were contained in the Book of Concord compiled shortly after his death. As for the Calvinists, I hope you know you associate with very unusual people. There are a lot of Calvinist-founded colleges.

Fricken 8y ago

In Chinese history it's a little different. The Taiping rebellion was a militant uprising against the ruling Manchus by a Christian Millenarian sect known as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in the mid 19th century. It was the bloodiest war of the 19th century, and the bloodiest civil war in history, with an estimated 20-70 million killed. You don't have to agree with China's response to these chruches, but maybe you can understand why they get nervous when Christians start getting uppity. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion

tivert 8y ago
> In Chinese history it's a little different. The Taiping rebellion was a militant uprising against the ruling Manchus by a Christian Millenarian sect known as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in the mid 19th century. > You don't have to agree with China's response to these chruches [sic], but maybe you can understand why they get nervous when Christians start getting uppity. That's just a pretext, if anything. This oppression isn't some challenging but benevolent attempt by the Communist Party to protect China from a bloody civil war based on past historical experiences, it's part of systematic campaign to protect the personal and institutional power amassed by China's unelected leaders and keep the country submissive to them. This is clear when you look these actions in context: the repressive actions against democracy activists before, after, and on June 4th 1989; as well as more recent actions against human rights lawyers (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/magazine/the-lonely-crusade-of-chinas-human-rights-lawyers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/magazine/the-lonely-crusa... ); and even Communist true believers acting outside of party control (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/asia/china-student-activists.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/asia/china-student-... ).

samhain 8y ago

>equality and freedom How do you know that there are not scriptures in the Bible that could support the opposite? >Martin Luther and John Calvin Didn't Martin Luther give rise to the thinking that ultimately resulted in WWII? And the Calvinists that I personally know still hold to the ideas that women cannot wear pants and are not allowed to go to college.

1123581321 8y ago
The answer to your second question is no, unless you believe that a unified Catholic Germany would have stayed out of or won the First World War. I believe you are referring to some quotes by Martin Luther that no Lutheran church propagated or even remembered for the most part. The portions of Luther’s writings that spread through Germany were his large and small catechisms, Smalcald articles, etc., that were contained in the Book of Concord compiled shortly after his death. As for the Calvinists, I hope you know you associate with very unusual people. There are a lot of Calvinist-founded colleges.