“Be Consistent in Your Criticism”

“Be Consistent in Your Criticism”

Here is a question to ponder!

Ever notice that those who embrace all roads leading to God conveniently find fault with Christianity and yet explain away the practices even extreme practices of other faiths?

For example there are those who refer to Hizb’allah,  Hamas, the Taliban and Al-Qaida as deviant excesses of Islam, and yet generalize that all Catholics are bad because of the pedophilia of a few priests.  Another example is the notion that all television ministries care about is money because of the fundraising of a few in the media.  Those same people make no such criticism of PBS stations when they seek to raise funds.

Here is another one.  What about those who would argue that if Islam is your religion then things such as Sharia Law and Jihad are acceptable and yet point to those who oppose abortion on religious grounds as extremists and fanatics? 

Then there is this one?  There are those who propose that Sharia and Jihad are the exception to what Islam teaches while at the same time pointing out that mere witnessing about one’s faith in Christ Jesus is imposition one’s faith on another.  Then there are those who characterize Christians by the Crusades and conveniently forget that with brief exception, they were largely in response to the Muslim Crusades.[1] 

Why do you suppose this is so?  What is so objectionable in the Christian faith that critics think it their duty to distort the behavior of a few and then label the many with that distortion?  Why is a religion that has done so much good been so denigrated?  One would do well to consider that question.

I for one would ask those who verbalize these inconsistencies to be a little more consistent in your treatment of all religions.  All have their excesses, all have their deviants, all have problems.  The only exception is the brand of Christianity that is very basic and has taken seriously the command of Jesus Christ to come (away from your previous life) and follow (and keep following) Him.  The reason this is so is that all other forms of religion to include some other forms of Christianity have a high component of the human “self” which is as they say “fallible.”  More about that in another post.

So here is the deal. When you choose to defame Christianity and lump those who follow Jesus into your defamation just remember this one thing.  It is where Christianity and those who take seriously the Scriptures have gone and served, often at great personal loss, that there is a decided difference in quality of life, care for the weak and the infirmed, and other advances of man.  Think about it.  Where in this world do you find the quality of life that is present in cultures that have been influenced by Christianity?

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[1] Truth be told millions and millions were killed in the Muslim Crusades while fewer than 100,000 were killed in the Christian Crusades and in that number there were those judge by Rome as being heretical Christian sects.