Quote from Misthos:
My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before in the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.... When I go out in the morning and see these men standing in their queues and look into their pinched faces, then I believe I would be no Christian, but a very devil if I felt no pity for them, if I did not, as did our Lord two thousand years ago, turn against those by whom to-day this poor people is plundered and exploited.
-Adolf Hitler, in his speech in Munich on 12 April 1922
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Let me guess peil - your christianity is the "right interpretation" and Hitler's was the "wrong interpretation."
How about this: both "interpretations" are based on mythology? And therefore - worthless.
Let us explore the concept of "interpretations" a little farther.
I most heartily agree that when man begins to "interpret", as defined by "....to explain the meaning of...." the Word of G-D, division and indeed "religion" itself is the by-product. The Word of G-D, as I believe it is contained in Scripture, cannot be "interpretated", it is to be believed and obeyed or discarded and scorned, nothing more.
The subject of your comments, Mr. Hitler, who you are using as an example of a follower of Christ, would have done well to cleave to the words and commands of his Redeemer, and failing that, to have followed the good example of his fellow countrymen and fellow followers of Christ, Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, as contained in the "Heidelberg Catechism [1576 A.D.]". Specifically questions 105, 106 and 107, which "interpret" the sixth commandment "..Thou shall not kill....":
105. Q. What does God require in the sixth commandment ?
A. I am not to dishonour, hate, injure, or kill my neighbor by thoughts, words, or gestures, and much less by deeds, whether personally or through another; [1] rather, I am to put away all desire of revenge, [2] Moreover, I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself, [3] Therefore, also, the government bears the sword to prevent murder.
106. Q. But does this commandment speak only of killing ?
A. By forbidding murder God teaches us that He hates the root of murder, such as envy, hatred, anger, and desire of revenge, [1] and that He regards all these as murder,
107. Q. Is it enough, then, that we do not kill our neighbor in any such way ?
A. No. When God condemns envy, hatred, and anger, He commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, [1] to show patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness toward him, [2] to protect him from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies.
Regarding your example of a christian, Mr. Hitler and his "interpretation", the words of Christ ring true:
"..For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. ........."
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