[Leica] Christianity dead? Cause of the Holocaust? No way!

["BIRKEY, DUANE" <dbirkey@hcjb.org.ec>]

Disclaimer: I know this thread has gone far enough and religious beliefs 
on this list are quite varied,  so if you disagree or wish to comment, 
please E-mail me privately.  dbirkey@hcjb.org.ec

But as a defender of true Christianity, I'd like to clarify a couple of 
things.

Christianity by definition means Christ-like and is used to describe a 
follower of Jesus Christ.

However, a popular definition today in western civilizations is that you 
are Christian (or Protestant) since you believe there is a God, unless of 
course you are already identified as being Catholic, Jewish or Muslin 
etc.  Unfortunately, many who call themselves Christians have no concept 
of what the Bible says takes to be one.  Most, as surveys have shown, 
have little personal experience of reading what the Bible says is moral 
or immoral.  Instead they rely on oral traditions and subsequent 
interpretations.  Christianity has become a cultural identifier more than 
spiritual identity.

It's rather obvious that true Christian Biblical values were not being 
followed or the Holocaust and many other atrocities would not have 
happened nor would they still happen in places like Northern Ireland.  
Having said that, many atrocities have been committed under the guise of 
"Christianity" as a result of non-Biblical decrees by the Pope.  Sects 
and cults have claimed to receive new revelations and have distorted 
Biblical Christianity by inserted theology to fit their own agendas and 
beliefs.  This has caused among other things,  mass suicides and other 
violent conflicts with legal authorities.  Using scripture as a measuring 
stick, Hitler's actions showed us that he wasn't a genuine Christian.  

It should be noted that many of the genuine Christians left Germany and 
other European countries for the USA long before the start of the war (my 
great-Grandfather and most of my neighbors in the Midwest USA)  There are 
also whole Mennonite colonies in South America that fled as well.  As 
pacifists, fleeing was better than conflict and persecution.  Not all 
left for religious reasons as economic opportunities certainly were a 
factor in much of the immigration as well.  

Is Christianity dead?  Hardly. 

Christianity in fact will never die because Christ lives!

Duane Birkey

HCJB World Radio
Quito Ecuador 

http://members.tripod.com/~Duane_Birkey/index.html 


>I think the reason the European Holocaust is foremost in Western minds 
is that
>it occurred at all in Christian Europe. It strikes at the very heart and 
soul
>of everything we believe in. It comes down the generations to us like a
>running sore.
>We ask ourselves, why did our moral institutions fail us? Why didn't 
Western
>values prevent this horrendous crime? Why didn't Westerners as 
individuals
>meet the test? An even deeper fear underlies the Holocaust: What effect 
will
>it have on Christianity? Why did it fail in the crunch? Is Christianity 
dead?
>Did it die in Auschwitz? If so, what will replace it?