Is Christianity inherently pacifist?
Christianity itself, the bible and Jesus words, engenders the most peaceful and loving religion on the planet. However, how men interpret those words and more importantly mis-interpret those words is entirely up to the individual. Therefore, we have the numerous sins of the Catholic Church, and other various crimes committed in the name of “Christianity” throughout the centuries. One note though whoever said Christians where responsible for concentration camps is about as far from the truth as me saying concentration camps never existed. – I noticed many posters mentioned the wars and vile occurrences in the Bible. To them I would like to say, please read the bible before you make statements. Their are wars in the bible, death, famine, plague, and murder. However, these are facts of life, the bible does not uplift them, it merely recounts events, and fervently condones any harmful behavior against a fellow human being.
With those verses, Jesus is telling His followers not to take the law into their own hands. I would not say this was pacifist teaching, because the Bible also tells us that God uses the government to keep order and justice (see Romans 13:1-7). If you are a member of the police or military, you are to use force of arms against the enemy. If you are a civilian, you are to look to the police for protection. God is not pacifist; He is a just judge. He just does not want His people taking the law into their own hands.
Just because Jesus came along, doesn’t undo all the evil that has been carried out by Christians. Christianity has been responsible for a lot of death and violence since Jesus. The bible may give certain verses about loving thy enemies, etc. but Christianity spreads violence and hate because they are unable to accept people who have different cultures and beliefs to their own.
