Ruminations on question from previous post

The question: What about all the wars that have been caused in the name of Christianity? [Keyword: many conflicts/wars were caused by religious disputes. Why did God allow this?]

After an afternoon of searching for answers, and thinking of answers of my own, I wrote them down on my electronic notebook. Free feel to critique and question it, actually, please do! I have already been asked this question two times: once from the girl I met at the Christmas party and second from my dad.

Many conflicts/wars were caused by religious disputes. Why did God allow this?

[Begin thought process]
i. Well, you can't blame God. People are all prone to make mistakes. God is a just and loving God, he advocates love, fellowship, and forgiveness...he would never support war, violence, murder...it's all written in the 10 commandments

ii. Adam and Eve; God gave us free will out of love. That is why humans are prone to sin because we were give free will to make choices of our own. That is the risk God took because He loved us too much. Sometimes our choices are bad, but sometimes our choices are good.

-If God knew that free will would cause so many problems, why did he allow it? (Very stupid question, maybe they won't ask...). Or why did God set up the tree in the garden of Eden? It seems like a trap.

Answer: Because love without freedom/free will is not truly love. If someone is forced to love you, would you be happy? Would the other person be happy?

iii. *Remember that we should not judge the teachings or the truth of a religion or philosophy by the conduct or behavior of those who are not following those teachings.

iv. Jesus warns of this in Matthew 24: "For many will come in my name, claiming, "I am the Messiah," and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars…such things must happen. Nations will rise against nation…all these are the beginning of birth pains…Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved." We learn from the mistakes of the past, and we all try not to let history repeat itself. Nowadays, do you hear of major wars in the name of Christianity? No. We have learned from our mistakes.

v. We have to consider that many wars/atrocities committed in the name of Christ were carried out by people who weren't really Christians or were Christians but didn't follow the teachings of Jesus- judge Christianity by the teachings of its founder and leader, Jesus Christ, not by the actions of those people. In the New Testament of the bible, Jesus says "If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also," and "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," and of course "love your neighbor as yourself."

vi. Remember that war is not a problem just for Christianity. It is a problem for all religions and ideologies. Also remember that more murders have been committed by atheistic regimes in this century than have been committed by any "Christian" organization/government over the past 2,000 years.

vii. Don't forget the positive impact Christianity has made on society. Other than charity, donations, fundraising, volunteering, etc. One must remember that most of our educational institutions came out of Christianity (if I'm not wrong, Berkeley's motto is "Fiat Lux" though that probably doesn't mean much]. "Many of the founders of modern science were Christians." Philanthropic organizations such as the "Salvation Army, the Red Cross and the YMCA came out of these revivals [ of the 17th and 18th centuries]." I think the article I am reading is referring to the Christian revival=> the two great awakenings. (Wiki it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revivalism)

[End thought process]

Love,
Lily

P.S http://powertochange.com/questions/qna5/

P.P.S I finally bought Mere Christianity!!! I also went to church today, man I missed Covenant Life, and my pastor's awesome sermons.