Death of a Scotsman (Re: the "no true Scotsman" fallacy)

Relating Hitler to Christianity is in someway to say that Christianity had something to do with it.

Christianity was one of the many tools Hitler used to further his plans. I may be an unpleasant reality.... but it is a fact.

So lets set the record straight right here and now and define a Scotsman, then we can go from there.

I know of no rule books on being a Scotsman, or any other criteria other than just living in Scotland.Being Scottish would be no more than just living in Scotland, or being of Scotish decent.

But it's not clear just exactly what a Christian is.I mean to me it is, but the definition is so broad.

Also if someone wasn't following the ten commandments, something I think all Christians should subscribe to, then are they acting in the name of Christianity, and would Christianity be to blame?

Relating Hitler to Christianity is in someway to say that Christianity had something to do with it. That's racism, without the race. Something we would all agree here on this forum that is intolerable, and holds no logic.

How true.

You just don't know if I am truely a Christian or not.Sure I do. I merely ask you. If you say that you are then I know that you are, until you choose to tell me different.It's actually very simple.

I'll agree not to hold Christianity responsible for everything bad that you do so long as you don't try to credit Christianity with everything you do that's good.

Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who keeps saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, drove out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name, didn't we?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'Away from me you evildoers; I never knew you!'"If Jesus says this about people who at one point in their lives have great enough faith to do miracles 'in His name' and cast out demons, then surely many who think they are "Christians" are not really His true followers. Only the person who keeps doing the will of the Father is a true Christian.

The Bible is the easiest book in the world to understand. A little child can understand it. It is only the impure motives of the heart and the false doctrines of men that get in the way of a true understanding of the Word and what it means to be a "true follower" worshiping in Spirit and in Truth.

If that's the criterion, your ranks are thinning rapidly, and there aren't enough true Christians in the world to matter.

I responded with a short list of a few barbarous acts that were done by Christianity.* when the conquistadors arrived in South America they burned all of the religious tracts they found and outlawed the practice of any religion except Christianity.
* North American Indian children were forced from their homes, their clothing changed, hair cut, language forbidden and the Christian religion forced upon them.
* Jews were expelled from England in 1290 under the Edict of Expulsion. They were barred from the Isles until the mid 1600s.
* in the 1400s all Jews were expelled from Spain. Interestingly, it was the Islamic world that opened its arms to them, even sending fleets of ships to take them back to the Islamic world and providing them with homes and opportunity.
* Jews were required throughout Europe to live in Ghettos, and were restricted in what positions or emplyment they could hold.
* throughout the Christian World, witches were killed, usually through burning.
* as far back as 1215, the Fourth Council of the Lateran required that Jews wear identifying marks or clothes.
* the Crusades which were attempts to redirect internal violence towards a non-aggressive outside neighbor.
* a continuing practice of outlawing other religions such as the banning of the old ways that happened in Hawaii.
* the Wars of the Reformation including the Peasants War which began in 1524 and on through the Thirty Years War.
* the four Great Inquistions beginning with the Middle Ages Inquisition of 1184.I pointed out that Christianity continues today to be intolerant, for example Faiths quote about Islam. It is also oppressive, supporting denying human rights to homosexuals.I ended the message with the Confession.

Christianity cannot do those things, it is not a person.

Who's Christianity?

The hitler example only shows that evil can be done by christians or those who profess to be christians. It also shows that chrisianity can be used as a tool for evil. It does not mean that Christianity is inherently evil.

If we think he was somehow special and not human we forget to be on guard.

Speer was warning against the no-true human fallacy as Jar is trying to warn Christians against the "no true Chistian" one.

Christ put all kinds of conditional clauses on who his true followers were. It seems ridiculous to me to ignore all these and posit that everyone who claims to be a Christian is a true follower of Christ when that is clearly not the case.