How Peaceful Is Christianity?
- Thread starter Markx
- Start date
There will of course be many answers.
It is necessary to distinguish between what the religion of that name (led and organised by human beings) has done in its (or rather Christ's) name over 2000 years and what its founder (who we christains would regard as God incarnate) actually said should be done.
Christianity as envisaged in the Gospels and other books of the New Testament is based on the primary principles of loving God and loving everyone as yourself. That's a pretty peaceful sort of aspiration.
Sadly of course everyone (including all christians) fail in that mission because of human frailty. And of course even those trying to live in accordance with that have to live amongst those who do not wish to live in such a manner.
Whilst there is always no shortage of quoting of the appalling history of inquisitions and anti-semitism etc., I have to say that there are many places in the world were a true apostolic version of christainity has resolved local confilicts and brought peace. Examples can be found in Honduras, Mexico, Abania and even in Messianic Christian churches in Israel where former Judaistic and muslim enemies now work together in the same communities, to name but a few of which I am aware.
Much of this goes on unknown because it happens on a local basis, but the practical outpouring of christian love is what is winning converts in many parts of the world (mainly outside of the west). This is particularly so amongst people in countries with previous authoritarian regimes which prohibited religious freedom such as former communist states.
Sadly these are often only small glimmers of hope in countries where extreme evil and violence have become the daily norm but hope spreads.
I shall now expect the normal tirade of (often far from accurate) references to history, invective about George Bush and standard atheistic abuse (very similar to the propaganda from authoritarian atheist regimes in fact) but truth is not changed by any of that!
regards,
Gordon.
It is necessary to distinguish between what the religion of that name (led and organised by human beings) has done in its (or rather Christ's) name over 2000 years and what its founder (who we christains would regard as God incarnate) actually said should be done.
Christianity as envisaged in the Gospels and other books of the New Testament is based on the primary principles of loving God and loving everyone as yourself. That's a pretty peaceful sort of aspiration.
Sadly of course everyone (including all christians) fail in that mission because of human frailty. And of course even those trying to live in accordance with that have to live amongst those who do not wish to live in such a manner.
Whilst there is always no shortage of quoting of the appalling history of inquisitions and anti-semitism etc., I have to say that there are many places in the world were a true apostolic version of christainity has resolved local confilicts and brought peace. Examples can be found in Honduras, Mexico, Abania and even in Messianic Christian churches in Israel where former Judaistic and muslim enemies now work together in the same communities, to name but a few of which I am aware.
Much of this goes on unknown because it happens on a local basis, but the practical outpouring of christian love is what is winning converts in many parts of the world (mainly outside of the west). This is particularly so amongst people in countries with previous authoritarian regimes which prohibited religious freedom such as former communist states.
Sadly these are often only small glimmers of hope in countries where extreme evil and violence have become the daily norm but hope spreads.
I shall now expect the normal tirade of (often far from accurate) references to history, invective about George Bush and standard atheistic abuse (very similar to the propaganda from authoritarian atheist regimes in fact) but truth is not changed by any of that!
regards,
Gordon.
For myself, I have my entire life as a Christian believed in live and let live. That asparation lead to constant bullying in school. Once a lot of the "tough" kids figured out I didn't fight back I was an easy target. I was forced to abandon my total beliefs in non-violence and realize that everywhere in the world, no matter how benigh you personally might be, there is always going to be someone out there who wants to hurt you and "Beacuse I can" is a good enough reason. No matter how much I would love to be a non violent individual again, I must recognize that others out there can and will attack my person, and even my entire way of belief simply because they take joy in hurting others.
Last edited:
I see lots of killings and wars credited to Christians or Christian armies... slaughter of 66 million people in WWII. Instant deaths of hundred of thousands in Millions killed in world war one, also included 6 plus million Jews.
Korean and Vietnam wars? I believe the majority involved in those conflicts were Christians?
Historically Crusades then war in Balkans, mass killing and genocide in Bosnia- All Christians right? Genocide in Chechnya and thousands are dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Why all the above have been ignored? Is that ok for Christian armies to kill each other and other nationalities?
What is the difference between Islamic extremist killing in the name of misguided beliefs and organized Christian armies killing in the name of greed, land, power, oil or whatever the reasons are to justify their wars?
Korean and Vietnam wars? I believe the majority involved in those conflicts were Christians?
Historically Crusades then war in Balkans, mass killing and genocide in Bosnia- All Christians right? Genocide in Chechnya and thousands are dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Why all the above have been ignored? Is that ok for Christian armies to kill each other and other nationalities?
What is the difference between Islamic extremist killing in the name of misguided beliefs and organized Christian armies killing in the name of greed, land, power, oil or whatever the reasons are to justify their wars?
Last edited:
The existence of military leaders who claim Christian motivation for their crusades doesn't mean that Christianity is not peaceful.
It means that military leaders are not peaceful.
It is without doubt that many individual Christians are not peaceful, and many individual Christians are peaceful... but what is "Christianity"? It is the sum of the people? Is it some agreed upon code of ethics?
It means that military leaders are not peaceful.
It is without doubt that many individual Christians are not peaceful, and many individual Christians are peaceful... but what is "Christianity"? It is the sum of the people? Is it some agreed upon code of ethics?
No it is not alright for Christians to kill each other or unbelievers. Jesus Made that clear.
Matthew 5:38-39
38 "You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
Matthew 5: 43-48
43 "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Romans 12:17-21
17Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. 20Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
II Corinthians 10:3,4
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds."
Ephesians 6:12
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Ephesians 6:4
"And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."
Zechariah 4:6
"Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts."
1 John 5:19
"The whole world lieth in the evil one."
Revelation 13:10
He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Those who know Jesus listen to His Words. The rest are just fakes using the "Christian" brand name to flog their own doctrines.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Matthew 5:38-39
38 "You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
Matthew 5: 43-48
43 "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Romans 12:17-21
17Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. 20Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
II Corinthians 10:3,4
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds."
Ephesians 6:12
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Ephesians 6:4
"And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."
Zechariah 4:6
"Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts."
1 John 5:19
"The whole world lieth in the evil one."
Revelation 13:10
He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Those who know Jesus listen to His Words. The rest are just fakes using the "Christian" brand name to flog their own doctrines.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Pete said:
Christianity is not the sum of the people who claim to Be Christian. Christianity is the sum of the Message that the founder of Christianity taught. Christianity is the Word of Jesus.
The code is known by God and all who claim to be Christians will be measured by it.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Xevious said:
Yes there are many who take joy in inflicting hurt on others. That type of sprit is in evidance in this forum. But to join in their game is to justify it. I know it is hard to face victimisation i faced it myself. But in the end we have to rise above even unto death. Because nothing is more important than our eternal relationship with God. This world is not worth fighting for anyway and our lives in this world are not worth killing for. This world is a despicable place, filled with heartlessness and cruelty. Why desire life in this world. Better to die with nobility then to live like a savage.
John 12
25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Matthew 16
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Xevious said:
I didn't expect you to respond to the Love of the truth. Most people who reject the Love of The Truth seek to justify their decision. So be it. But the Truth reigns in eternity and your lifetime is as a drop of water in the ocean in comparison to it. Even that comparison is inadequate.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Markx said:
Both these were world wars. They involved people of all different faiths and of course in the case of the USSR officially no faith at all. The architect of the final solution and the prime mover of the conflict of World War Two, one Adolf Hitler may have been baptised as a Roman Catholic but I challenge anyone to say that as German Leader, he was truly an adherent to any form of the christian faith, or indeed any other form of organised religion.
Would you honestly have preferred that WWII was not fought and that the world had completely lost its freedom and entered into a new era of fascist barbarism and terror?
Markx said:
Neither the Koreans nor Vietnamese are predominantly christians (Koreans Buddhist, Vietnamese mixed with very few christians and in both cases they fought on both sides - they started out as civil wars). Whilst as with all conflicts, the actual causes are difficult to pin down precisely and will always be contentious, there is no doubt that trouble in the area was deliberately stirred up by (the totally atheistic communist) USSR, in order to spread its influence further. The current (atheist communist) North Korea is of course one of the most repressive regimes in the world and spends a greater percentage of its GDP on weapons than any other country, whilst its people languish.
Interestingly you do not mention the much more recent invasion and continued occupation of the totally peaceful Buddhist country of Tibet by the atheistic communist regime of China.
Markx said:
The most recent war in the Balkans was actually western (notionally christian) nations' forces fighting and dying to aid and protect (largely) muslims against (very notionally largely christian) Serbians!
The campaign against Chechnya was initiated by the (atheistic communist) regime of the former USSR!
If you are going to quote history, you really need to learn a bit more about it and not allow your particular political philosophy to replace actual facts with prejudice (I presume your nom-de-plume is significant!)
Markx said:
Even if your historical facts were accurate, which as you can see they are not, the difference is very simple. Whilst what human beings do is often not much different and sometimes only the excuses are different, the basic tenets of the Christian faith are what Jesus said and did. Note even Judaism nor Jesus' enemies nor even those on this site have ever accused him of being a person who advocated and used organised violence.
Other religions with other founders may not necessarily be able to claim the same thing!
But remember the largest mass murders in the twentieth century involved Hitler (see above), Stalin (communist atheist), Mao Tse Tung (communist atheist) and Pol Pot (atheist communist).
If anyone started an 'Is Atheism Peaceful' thread - what would be the answer?
regards,
Gordon.
Gordon said:
According to the Bible all of these leaders were given their position and authority directly by God himself. They would have had absolutely no power to destroy the lives of millions unless God gave it to them.
Last edited:
SetiAlpha6 said:
Whilst I am sure you would like to divert the subject matter of this thread away from its original simple subject into deep philosophical debate about free will, God allowing evil and all the rest of it, I should first remind you that the proposition which concerns this thread is whether christianity is peaceful. I have made my contribution to that one. My last answer was to correct historical inaccuracies made by a previous contributor.
Your comment is not actually relevant to either.
It is of course logically false for an atheist to claim that God has done anything, since no-one can logically believe that something which they believe does not exist can have the power to act.
Whatever 'red herrings' you may produce, the simple fact is that neither christianity (nor even 'christians') have been responsible for most of the deaths in war and mass murders over the last 100 years or so. The 'honour' for that belongs firmly to atheists irrespective of any excuse they might make, although I cannot believe that Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot would appeal to any supposed biblical authority (although I do accept that someone with a very muddled view of 'destiny' like Hitler just might!)
So as not to be accused of avoiding the issue raised however, I shall comment on your point.
You seem to be saying that biblical scripture implies that if God allows someone to be in charge, they can do whatever they choose and that is God's fault and not theirs. They are in effect not personally accountable for their actions, because God has given them the potential to act in this manner by allowing them to have their personal power.
Apart form any logical falsehood in such a proposition, it is not what either Old or New Testament teaches. What is actually taught is that you should obey God (and his law) first and that providing that that is not contravened you should obey human leaders. This means that if you are a christian you have to use the free will given to you to decide what to do in difficult circumstances, where you cannot possibly obey both human leaders and God's laws. Note that judgment and scale of response also have to be used (God did not give us those powers for nothing). For instance you do not start riots for minor matters with all the associated damage and risk of injury(nor even burn down abortion clinics however seriously wrong you might believe abortion to be) as the 'treatment' may well be at least as great an infringement of Godly prinicples as 'the disease'. At the other end of the scale, you may however have to go to war against those who would commit genocide either internally or externally to the society in which you live.
By allowing free will, God does permit a limited amount of evil to be perpetrated by people for a period. One logically implies the other. If you were not to permit any evil to take place you would have to remove the ability for people to choose to do it, by taking away their free will and creating automata.
It is interesting to note that (despite all the odds) Hitler did not succeed and ended as a demoralised physical wreck who committed suicide, although still bringing appalling consequences to his fellow Germans for years afterwards. Both Stalin and Pol Pot are now almost universally despised even by (or perhaps particularly by) their own people. Pol Pot died from a heart attack and lack of medical care whilst the cause of Stalin's death is controversial and many believe he was murdered. In China Mao Tse Tung died of a heart attack, as a broken man having failed to achieve his desire for both China and the rest of the world. China now is very critical of Mao and is undoing most of his legacy very rapidly.
The biblical view is that those who stand fast for what is right (and therefore of God) against what is wrong (and therefore what is against God) will prevail ultimately. This may mean standing against civil authorities if those authorities are themselves seriously against what is right. Those who stand for right may succeed within their lifetime or not. There are some recent examples such as Nelson Mandela against apartheid South Africa (in his lifetime) or such as Martin Luther King and black civil rights in the USA (after his murder). Another way to look at this is that God does not condone evil but knowing it will happen, uses it to His own purposes.
I believe that one of the reasons human beings love stories like 'The Lord of the Rings' is that the concept of evil prevailing for a period but then ultimately being overturned by good (usually with the assistance of very ordinary type people - even children) is because this reflects the much greater epic story of real life and is therefore programmed into us as a form of inate knowledge (although we can as always suppress our knowledge of it or pretend it is something else).
regards,
Gordon.
Gordon said:
Hi Gordon,
I appreciate your comments!
My basic point is simple: With ultimate control comes ultimate responsibility.
The Bible teaches that no one in authority has that authority unless God has given it to him or her. The Bible also clearly teaches that God is absolutely sovereign, in the book of Romans and elsewhere. I would guess that you might agree on this point, at least. Even with the existence of man's freewill, God can still influence people as He wishes and make history unfold as He sees fit. And according to the Bible, He does exactly that. He is in the total and ultimate control of everything, whether good or evil, that has ever happened or ever will happen on this earth. And absolutely no one can “do whatever they choose” as you might be suggesting. I can give you the scriptural basis for this if you wish. So if an evil dictator is in a position of power and authority, he is there because God directly placed him there.
Even in the face of a terrible mind numbing disaster like the World Trade Center, people still say, “God is in control.” And when they pray, they are probably, at times, directly asking God to either bless or curse someone else, often against the will of that person. Have you ever done that? Have you ever asked God to just wipe someone off the face of the earth? Hopefully not! I am sorry to say the model for this kind of thinking certainly does exist in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.
My Conclusion: The God of the Bible, according to the Bible, is ultimately in control of all evil, therefore He is also ultimately responsible for all evil. If He is ultimately responsible for all of the evil that has ever occurred on this earth then He is actually not peaceful and neither is His religion.
If I am wrong, then where does my logic break down?
Thanks Gordon!
Last edited:
Gordon said:
Thanks Gordon, nice try to defend certain aspects and you succeeded to the most part. However there are some questions.
Who decided that USSR is an Atheist country or the starter of wars were atheist? It was both Russia and USSR which invaded chechnya twice.
Interesting thing is that 75% of Russia is Christian, However even if take the practicing Christians not just people who call them some Christians, the number is around 20 plus Percent. The Majority accounts.
http://www.russiannewsnetwork.com/religion.html
"The most common religion in Russia is Christianity. Christians in Russia have their own special type of church. It is called the Russian Orthodox Church."
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia
Above can help you clear that misunderstanding of yours. So, In a way I stand correctly that it was the Russian majority which is 75% Christians who started the war and killed almost all of the Chechnya's Muslim population. In some cases you can say that only 20-25% are Christians but again majority counts.
I will address the rest tomorrow. I have very limited access to internet.
Thank you.
Gordon said:
Since I have been accused of not knowing the history, I hope that Encyclopedia Britinica can help me out and clear my position.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011972
Balkan Wars (1912–13), two successive military conflicts that deprived the ... {b}The immediate cause of the war was a religious quarrel. ..."[/b]
"They were characterised by bitter ethnic conflicts between the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between the Serbs or the Serb-controlled Yugoslav army and a different ethnic group: Slovenians, Croats, Bosniaks and Albanians. The conflict had its roots in various underlying political, economic and cultural problems, as well as long-standing ethnic and religious tensions."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_wars
I can't think of anything more direct then the following?
Thousands Of Bosnian Muslims Killed In Ethnic Cleansing
Morning Edition, March 13, 2000 · Host Bob Edwards talks to reporter Geraldine Coughlan about the latest trial before the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague. General Radislav Krstic has been charged with genocide in what is considered the worst massacre in Europe since the Holocaust. Krstic is accused of leading the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims at the U.N. designated safe haven of Srebrenica. Thousands of civilians were killed.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1071481
The history is filled with the information. If you like I can post million links to prove my point, but there is no point to re write the history since the facts have already been recorded.
Do you see my point? They were not atheists or budhist or were they?
They weren't any tanks and planes attacking the christians nationalists, no armies of muslims killing the christians, but the recorded history shows that it was the opposite. Not that hard to understand.
Just to add a little bit more from Human Rights website:
Bosnia Genocide - 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
In the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.
Bosnia is one of several small countries that emerged from the break-up of Yugoslavia, a multicultural country created after World War I by the victorious Western Allies. Yugoslavia was composed of ethnic and religious groups that had been historical rivals, even bitter enemies, including the Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Croats (Catholics) and ethnic Albanians (Muslims).
During World War II, Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany and was partitioned. A fierce resistance movement sprang up led by Josip Tito. Following Germany's defeat, Tito reunified Yugoslavia under the slogan "Brotherhood and Unity," merging together Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, along with two self-governing provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina.
Tito, a Communist, was a strong leader who maintained ties with the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War, playing one superpower against the other while obtaining financial assistance and other aid from both. After his death in 1980 and without his strong leadership, Yugoslavia quickly plunged into political and economic chaos.
A new leader arose by the late 1980s, a Serbian named Slobodan Milosevic, a former Communist who had turned to nationalism and religious hatred to gain power. He began by inflaming long-standing tensions between Serbs and Muslims in the independent provence of Kosovo. Orthodox Christian Serbs in Kosovo were in the minority and claimed they were being mistreated by the Albanian Muslim majority. Serbian-backed political unrest in Kosovo eventually led to its loss of independence and domination by Milosevic.
In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia both declared their independence from Yugoslavia soon resulting in civil war. The national army of Yugoslavia, now made up of Serbs controlled by Milosevic, stormed into Slovenia but failed to subdue the separatists there and withdrew after only ten days of fighting.
Milosevic quickly lost interest in Slovenia, a country with almost no Serbs. Instead, he turned his attention to Croatia, a Catholic country where Orthodox Serbs made up 12 percent of the population.
During World War II, Croatia had been a pro-Nazi state led by Ante Pavelic and his fascist Ustasha Party. Serbs living in Croatia as well as Jews had been the targets of widespread Ustasha massacres. In the concentration camp at Jasenovac, they had been slaughtered by the tens of thousands.
In 1991, the new Croat government, led by Franjo Tudjman, seemed to be reviving fascism, even using the old Ustasha flag, and also enacted discriminatory laws targeting Orthodox Serbs.
Aided by Serbian guerrillas in Croatia, Milosevic's forces invaded in July 1991 to 'protect' the Serbian minority. In the city of Vukovar, they bombarded the outgunned Croats for 86 consecutive days and reduced it to rubble. After Vukovar fell, the Serbs began the first mass executions of the conflict, killing hundreds of Croat men and burying them in mass graves.
The response of the international community was limited. The U.S. under President George Bush chose not to get involved militarily, but instead recognized the independence of both Slovenia and Croatia. An arms embargo was imposed for all of the former Yugoslavia by the United Nations. However, the Serbs under Milosevic were already the best armed force and thus maintained a big military advantage.
The end of 1991 brokered a U.S.-sponsored cease-fire agreement between the Serbs and Croats fighting in Croatia.
In April 1992, the U.S. and European Community chose to recognize the independence of Bosnia, a mostly Muslim country where the Serb minority made up 32 percent of the population. Milosevic responded to Bosnia's declaration of independence by attacking Sarajevo, its capital city, best known for hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics. Sarajevo soon became known as the city where Serb snipers continually shot down helpless civilians in the streets, including eventually over 3,500 children.
Bosnian Muslims were hopelessly outgunned. As the Serbs gained ground, they began to systematically roundup local Muslims in scenes eerily similar to those that had occurred under the Nazis during World War II, including mass shootings, forced repopulation of entire towns, and confinement in make-shift concentration camps for men and boys. The Serbs also terrorized Muslim families into fleeing their villages by using rape as a weapon against women and girls.
The actions of the Serbs were labeled as 'ethnic cleansing,' a name which quickly took hold among the international media.
Despite media reports of the secret camps, the mass killings, as well as the destruction of Muslim mosques and historic architecture in Bosnia, the world community remained mostly indifferent. The U.N. responded by imposing economic sanctions on Serbia and also deployed its troops to protect the distribution of food and medicine to dispossessed Muslims. But the U.N. strictly prohibited its troops from interfering militarily against the Serbs. Thus they remained steadfastly neutral no matter how bad the situation became.
Throughout 1993, confident that the U.N., United States and the European Community would not take militarily action, Serbs in Bosnia freely committed genocide against Muslims. Bosnian Serbs operated under the local leadership of Radovan Karadzic, president of the illegitimate Bosnian Serb Republic. Karadzic had once told a group of journalists, "Serbs and Muslims are like cats and dogs. They cannot live together in peace. It is impossible."
When Karadzic was confronted by reporters about ongoing atrocities, he bluntly denied involvement of his soldiers or special police units.
On February 6, 1994, the world's attention turned completely to Bosnia as a marketplace in Sarajevo was struck by a Serb mortar shell killing 68 persons and wounding nearly 200. Sights and sounds of the bloody carnage were broadcast globally by the international news media and soon resulted in calls for military intervention against the Serbs.
The U.S. under its new President, Bill Clinton, who had promised during his election campaign in 1992 to stop the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, now issued an ultimatum through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) demanding that the Serbs withdraw their artillery from Sarajevo. The Serbs quickly complied and a NATO-imposed cease-fire in Sarajevo was declared.
The U.S. then launched diplomatic efforts aimed at unifying Bosnian Muslims and the Croats against the Serbs. However, this new Muslim-Croat alliance failed to stop the Serbs from attacking Muslim towns in Bosnia, which had been declared Safe Havens by the U.N. A total of six Muslim towns had been established as Safe Havens in May 1993 under the supervision of U.N. peacekeepers.
Bosnian Serbs not only attacked the Safe Havens but also attacked the U.N. peacekeepers as well. NATO forces responded by launching limited air strikes against Serb ground positions. The Serbs retaliated by taking hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers as hostages and turning them into human shields, chained to military targets such as ammo supply dumps.
At this point, some of the worst genocidal activities of the four-year-old conflict occurred. In Srebrenica, a Safe Haven, U.N. peacekeepers stood by helplessly as the Serbs under the command of General Ratko Mladic systematically selected and then slaughtered nearly 8,000 men and boys between the ages of twelve and sixty - the worst mass murder in Europe since World War II. In addition, the Serbs continued to engage in mass rapes of Muslim females.
On August 30, 1995, effective military intervention finally began as the U.S. led a massive NATO bombing campaign in response to the killings at Srebrenica, targeting Serbian artillery positions throughout Bosnia. The bombardment continued into October. Serb forces also lost ground to Bosnian Muslims who had received arms shipments from the Islamic world. As a result, half of Bosnia was eventually retaken by Muslim-Croat troops.
Faced with the heavy NATO bombardment and a string of ground losses to the Muslim-Croat alliance, Serb leader Milosevic was now ready to talk peace. On November 1, 1995, leaders of the warring factions including Milosevic and Tudjman traveled to the U.S. for peace talks at Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Ohio.
After three weeks of negotiations, a peace accord was declared. Terms of the agreement included partitioning Bosnia into two main portions known as the Bosnian Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation. The agreement also called for democratic elections and stipulated that war criminals would be handed over for prosecution. 60,000 NATO soldiers were deployed to preserve the cease-fire.
By now, over 200,000 Muslim civilians had been systematically murdered. More than 20,000 were missing and feared dead, while 2,000,000 had become refugees. It was, according to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, "the greatest failure of the West since the 1930s."
Last edited:
SetiAlpha6 said:
Your logic breaks down when you derive that God causes evil. When God only allows evil. God can allow something without endorsing something.
So yes the evil powers that be in this world are allowed to be by God. But the evil powers of this world are a snare for power hungry and evil men. They are allowed to follow their evil desires on the path that leads to their own eternal destruction. Just as other men are allowed to reject the powers that be in this world and their evil games to follow the path to eternal life.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days