The Lady Julie said:
Rex, my love,
You said:
:If Christians (and Jews) are so terrible, why do you not see US advocating a return to Old Testament law?
>Well I can give you an answer for this. See, history tells us this has been tried before. Remember the Crusades? Where the valiant knights of Christendom went to slay the heathen and recapture the holy land?
My lady, God forbid thee critisize Hizzoner the Pope! My order, the Knights of the Temple, were founded in the blood washed streets of Jerusalem in the late 12th century. The facts of historical context:
1) The apostacy that began when the church evolved into a political entity was in full force. Do the acts of barbarity sound Christ-like at all? If not, then the perpetrators were probably NOT Christians
2) Did Jesus at anytime suggest that His followers would take up arms to bring his kingdom to the earth?
3) Does any New Testament writer advocate this?
4) Do you realize that the apostasized church forbid the reading of scripture, yes, and even kept practically anyone from doing any more than rudimentary reading and writing?
>Well where in the heck do you think they found the justification for that? It wasn't in the NT, no siree.
Very good, my love!
>That leaves the OT. And inasmuch as one could consider the era where the Crusades took place to be "barbaric times" I am sure all will agree they were still more enlightened times than OT times.
Just because they found justification, out of context, does that in of itself convict the author of the Book? After all, He reserves the rights to judgement, whether He does it Himself or delegates the authority.
>No Rex, we have seen Christendom try to implement some of the OT ways and it was a mistake. Unfortunately, though it is admitted by most believers that the things the OT condones are much too barbaric to be of any use in these "civilized" times, it is still not admitted by those same believers that the OT is one long tale of barbarism.
And it is totally irrelevant to the revelation of Christ Jesus as Messiah in this world, is it not?
>I guess I'll never fully understand the intricate dance that goes on in your head my dearly beloved.
Julie
Ah, but that is what so attracts you to me, the mystery within my madness and the method of my logic!
As Always,
Protector of the Temple
Geoffrey De Boullion
Jerusalem, 1156 A.D.