It is only fair that in order to form opinions on an important matter; one should weigh both its past and its present. Logical minds can only be justified with facts and figures; matters of history, words of the book. The beliefs about the world’s most populous religion’s peacefulness or violence are a matter of great concern, for not only the near 5 billion non-Christians but to the 2 billion Christians, too.
If we want to decide where Christianity stands between peace and violence, we must first go back to its core; the history and Bible. The history of Christianity is not just black or white on certain issues. One such issue is what we have at hand. Critics and advocates of religion have gone back and forth on this debate innumerable times heeding nothing, but we still have some facts straightened up for us.
According to the popular belief, Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for the sins of his people. He bought forgiveness for them. The Messiah and his acts towards his populace never showed the slightest signs of aggressiveness –in fact, the kindness Jesus was extended to the non believers too! How a religion with such a Prophet can be violent or aggressive in nature, we ask ourselves.
Looking at the Old Testament and the New Testament, we find certain matters that create excitement if not confusion, Critics are of the opinion that both the Old & New Testament do not go in line with each other. For instance, the Old Testament refers to events that would be more violent than the ever famous Holocaust itself. An example would be where God, in order to keep believers separated from non believers, orders complete cities to be slaughtered at the point of the sword or where the principle of “an eye for an eye” is advocated. These and many such matters are non-existent in the New Testament, making it more on the lines of peace and love.
Moving on, we now look at what practices are being followed by the mainstream Christians. Though virtually every Church spreads the word of God, striking out hatred and calling for peace, but still were not there instances when clinics were burnt for they facilitated abortions (something out rightly against Christian teachings). Looking at matters of today, we do see the advocacy of freedom of speech in the Christian world but the tolerance and peacefulness towards people of other faiths is somewhat dimming out.
Jesus Christ’s religion in its real form is something that portrays nothing but love, difference comes when the followers tend to go astray from it. The word of God has justice, and justice does demand detriments and favors –that is the rule of nature. It does not matter which religion we are talking about, what matters is the choices that the followers make.
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