Thanks, Hal….another good channel to bookmark! When he spoke about the different Christian roots he had it reminded me of my own…raised Catholic, but my dad (WW2 vet cryptographer) raised Episcopal married my Catholic mom, in a rectory (since he wasn’t Catholic they couldn’t marry in church!), and then later in my life I went to different denominations….now, it is Christ, not religion. (And my son married a Catholic woman…..)
(Aside – Now where’s Koyote when I need him? Love you, brother and really, you’re never far away.)
Uh, a lot of good value here, but… He speaks of “that greatest generation of Christian defenders of the faith who fought and died from the 8th to 16th centuries protecting European soil and folk. I’m sure there were some who absolutely did that. I’m also sure there were some, who under the dictate of cruel and sadistic popes, went forth with the goal of FORCING this religion on many, many people, in many, many lands. Force with the threat of death. The Crusades.
And all the wars launched for such a cause, with freedom of religion likely being but a mere, distant concept. I cannot recall Christ saying, go out and spread my word and be sure to kill anyone who doesn’t follow it. Still came the infamous Spanish Inquisition, where perverse torture was the fate of those deemed pagans or heretics. There’s a 2006 film called “Goya’s Ghost” that dives into this; not for the faint of heart. So it is one thing to defend one’s own faith, but quite another to enforce it on others. Seems Christ’s message of love got lost in the shuffle, morphing into hierarchical control.
But I did like the old grandfather’s advice in this vid:
“And whatever virtues you’ve learned son, you just keep them in your pocket when they won’t protect you.”
Hmmm… Perhaps it is those very virtues that we have pocketed that will be the compelling momentum for standing and fighting. Perhaps.
Thanks, Hal. Not being an history expert I’ll admit I learned something here, but when he says, “There is no a comparison between Jihad and the crusades, certainly not a moral comparison,” with that I have to disagree. I mean ain’t what he’s saying a little like comparing a mom who lost her child to a cruel and senseless murder to another mom who lost 10 children to a cruel and senseless murder? Does the number endured by the second mom reduce the suffering of the first mom or make the crime visited on her child less offensive? I guess what I’m trying to say is they’re both awful, and that’s because of force and because of running over the lives of others. My own connection with Christ tells me both are reprehensible. And my study of the crusades tells me that they were not purely in the cause of “defending Christianity” but also hell-bent on persecution of heretics and the punishment and abolishment of paganism. I doubt I would have survived their standard for what it took to be a Christian in their eyes. They’d have killed me. Well, I bet the history books don’t all agree and we get different slants from different sources. But a good thing we have our Bill of Rights. Free to believe, or not. Free to half believe. Free to change one’s mind, over and over again. I do feel a real connection between The Bill of Rights and Jesus’s words: “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.” Win/Win.
Well, friend, I’m learnin’ as I go. Seems this goes on ad infinitum. Thanks for today’s history and philosophy lesson.
ps: Just found this film on the crusades. Don’t know if it’s substance or shite, but I’ll watch it over the next few days. In case you’re interested, from 2005, “Kingdom of Heaven.” Anyway, I think it will be a journey:
Beautiful & stirring!
Thanks, Hal….another good channel to bookmark! When he spoke about the different Christian roots he had it reminded me of my own…raised Catholic, but my dad (WW2 vet cryptographer) raised Episcopal married my Catholic mom, in a rectory (since he wasn’t Catholic they couldn’t marry in church!), and then later in my life I went to different denominations….now, it is Christ, not religion. (And my son married a Catholic woman…..)
🙂
(Aside – Now where’s Koyote when I need him? Love you, brother and really, you’re never far away.)
Uh, a lot of good value here, but… He speaks of “that greatest generation of Christian defenders of the faith who fought and died from the 8th to 16th centuries protecting European soil and folk. I’m sure there were some who absolutely did that. I’m also sure there were some, who under the dictate of cruel and sadistic popes, went forth with the goal of FORCING this religion on many, many people, in many, many lands. Force with the threat of death. The Crusades.
And all the wars launched for such a cause, with freedom of religion likely being but a mere, distant concept. I cannot recall Christ saying, go out and spread my word and be sure to kill anyone who doesn’t follow it. Still came the infamous Spanish Inquisition, where perverse torture was the fate of those deemed pagans or heretics. There’s a 2006 film called “Goya’s Ghost” that dives into this; not for the faint of heart. So it is one thing to defend one’s own faith, but quite another to enforce it on others. Seems Christ’s message of love got lost in the shuffle, morphing into hierarchical control.
But I did like the old grandfather’s advice in this vid:
“And whatever virtues you’ve learned son, you just keep them in your pocket when they won’t protect you.”
Hmmm… Perhaps it is those very virtues that we have pocketed that will be the compelling momentum for standing and fighting. Perhaps.
.
Mary, can your friend with the anal-retention issue please come by and put an end quotation mark after the word “folk” on line 5?
🙂
.
Thanks, Hal. Not being an history expert I’ll admit I learned something here, but when he says, “There is no a comparison between Jihad and the crusades, certainly not a moral comparison,” with that I have to disagree. I mean ain’t what he’s saying a little like comparing a mom who lost her child to a cruel and senseless murder to another mom who lost 10 children to a cruel and senseless murder? Does the number endured by the second mom reduce the suffering of the first mom or make the crime visited on her child less offensive? I guess what I’m trying to say is they’re both awful, and that’s because of force and because of running over the lives of others. My own connection with Christ tells me both are reprehensible. And my study of the crusades tells me that they were not purely in the cause of “defending Christianity” but also hell-bent on persecution of heretics and the punishment and abolishment of paganism. I doubt I would have survived their standard for what it took to be a Christian in their eyes. They’d have killed me. Well, I bet the history books don’t all agree and we get different slants from different sources. But a good thing we have our Bill of Rights. Free to believe, or not. Free to half believe. Free to change one’s mind, over and over again. I do feel a real connection between The Bill of Rights and Jesus’s words: “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.” Win/Win.
Well, friend, I’m learnin’ as I go. Seems this goes on ad infinitum. Thanks for today’s history and philosophy lesson.
🙂
.
ps: Just found this film on the crusades. Don’t know if it’s substance or shite, but I’ll watch it over the next few days. In case you’re interested, from 2005, “Kingdom of Heaven.” Anyway, I think it will be a journey:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320661/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
.
I like that movie. Don’t know about the accuracy, but I like the Fryer/Monk/Pastor dude, and the Nordic guy. Good battle scenes as well.
Been battling and warring of sorts from the beginning, sis. Nothing new under the sun.
I hear ya, brother. And then I got to wonderin’… What if there really IS something new under the sun? Hmmm… this mind of mine, it makes me its slave.
🙂
.