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Your view of history is skewed by inaccuracy. Evangelism is not the bad apple that has tainted the effort to share Christ with the nations. The true nature of the corruption is financial greed, sexual advantage, and the desire for political control on the part of the Church of Rome.
The darkest periods of western church history had at its root the desire of religious leadership for thought control, not expansion. Church leaders were desperately trying to wrest control away from emerging technologies of transmitting written ideas and nationalism, which by its nature tended toward political independence from the church of Rome.
The Crusades, as far as the west is concerned, was a series of defensive wars. Initiated by Muslim invasion of Europe in three different directions, the church responded to the subsequent brutality against Europe by engaging in retaliatory war against the Saracen. Initially successful, the wars of the Crusades soon collapsed in the mire of political corruption. The Crusades began with Muslim aggression and ended with Muslim success. Muslims have no problem with the Crusades because at the end of the battles they were the winners. Western discussion has continued to vacillate between justification and self-recrimination (as per witness of the lead post in this thread) because the West LOST THE WARs. Losers always have a problem with war. Winners don't.
Jesus Christ never promoted war on earth. Anyone who says He did is promoting a lie. ON the other hand, the Roman Catholic church has a long notorious history of debauching the gospel message. Despite the promotion of the current Bishop of Rome as a kind, forgiving and humble man he still presides over an organization that is terribly tainted with sexual indiscretion, financial corruption, and political indecisiveness.
To assume that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the same as the policies of the church of Rome is gross error if not a revelation of personal bias as well as historic illiteracy. Historic revisionism is the hallmark of a repressive society and America is full of it these days. In such a climate, truth is treated as a sickness.
and that's me, hollering from the choir loft...
Absolutely is. That anti-RCC is just as nauseating as Islamaphobia...
These sensationalist "grab you" headlines do a disservice to the truth of the matter.
The plain fact is that the document is not from Pope Francis.
It changes nothing at all inherent in the Catholic faith.
Here is the real document, if anyone cares to read it instead of
relying on misleading headlines.
It bears no Papal Seal. It is merely an interreligious commission.
May it also be recalled that preaching Christianity to Jews is
an illegal act in the current state of "Israel", and that the Vatican
is also a nation state.
These sensationalist "grab you" headlines do a disservice to the truth of the matter.
The plain fact is that the document is not from Pope Francis.
It changes nothing at all inherent in the Catholic faith.
Here is the real document, if anyone cares to read it instead of
relying on misleading headlines.
It bears no Papal Seal. It is merely an interreligious commission.
May it also be recalled that preaching Christianity to Jews is
an illegal act in the current state of "Israel", and that the Vatican
is also a nation state.
If it is against the Law, then why are the Mormons still there?...
Even though it is not against the law to proselytize in Israel, due to sensitivity over the issue, “the Church has asked the members here to keep a low profile,” Hansen said. “We were asked by the leaders in Salt Lake City [the LDS Church headquarters] not to answer questions about the Church or its doctrine in any but the most general terms, and on no account to do anything which could even remotely be considered missionary work.” - http://mormonsandjews.com/120/mormons-in-israel
If it is against the Law, then why are the Mormons still there?...
Even though it is not against the law to proselytize in Israel, due to sensitivity over the issue, “the Church has asked the members here to keep a low profile,” Hansen said. “We were asked by the leaders in Salt Lake City [the LDS Church headquarters] not to answer questions about the Church or its doctrine in any but the most general terms, and on no account to do anything which could even remotely be considered missionary work.” - Mormons in Israel | Jews and Mormons
When we were in Israel about 5 years ago, we were told that proselyting was positively NOT ALLOWED. The LDS Church has built what is known as the "Jerusalem Center" where BYU students go to study. There is even a Non-proselyting Agreement. I don't know. Maybe it's not technically "illegal," but when we went to LDS Church Services at the Jerusalem Center -- that is owned and operated by the LDS Church -- we were told that no proselyting is allowed on the center's own property. Even if a Jew or a Muslim went there with the intent of learning about Mormonism, the faculty and staff there would be forbidden from even answering their questions. The most they could do would be provide them with the LDS website. It's a policy that is very, very, very strictly observed.
When we were in Israel about 5 years ago, we were told that proselyting was positively NOT ALLOWED. The LDS Church has built what is known as the "Jerusalem Center" where BYU students go to study. There is even a Non-proselyting Agreement. I don't know. Maybe it's not technically "illegal," but when we went to LDS Church Services at the Jerusalem Center -- that is owned and operated by the LDS Church -- we were told that no proselyting is allowed on the center's own property. Even if a Jew or a Muslim went there with the intent of learning about Mormonism, the faculty and staff there would be forbidden from even answering their questions. The most they could do would be provide them with the LDS website. It's a policy that is very, very, very strictly observed.
Well, I just called my Chassidic brother and he told me it was not illegal, that if it was, the Mormon church would not be there because they are very law abiding folks and would have left if that were the case...But, they're there...So, IDK...
Proselytizing is legal in the country and missionaries of all religious groups are allowed to proselytize all citizens; however, a 1977 law prohibits any person from offering material benefits as an inducement to conversion. It was also illegal to convert persons under 18 years of age unless one parent were an adherent of the religious group seeking to convert the minor. Despite the legality of proselytism, the government has taken a number of steps that encouraged the perception that proselytizing is against government policy. For example, the MOI has detained individuals suspected of being “missionaries,” and required of such persons bail and a pledge to abstain from missionary activity, in addition to refusing them entry into the country. It maintained denunciations of such activity from antimissionary groups like Yad L'Achim in its border control databases. The MOI has also cited proselytism as a reason to deny student, work, and religious visa extensions, as well as to deny permanent residency petitions. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) promised the Knesset in 1986 to refrain from all proselytism voluntarily in conjunction with receiving a building permit for its Jerusalem Center following protests from the Orthodox community."
— A 2010 US State Department report on religious freedom in Israel
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Roflmao!
