Hello,
You said "Religion has never made a bad person do good things in it's name." And "Religion, in general, is a scourge and plight upon this entire planet." You also said "That goes for Christian, Muslim, and ANY other religion." I am not going to write about defending “religion” in general here, but since you mentioned "Christian," I have a challenge for you to contact or at least read about or watch a video of one of the many previously oppressed and exploited people who have been rescued from exploitation, violence, slavery, sex trafficking, even a near death situation, and contact them and discuss your perspective with them... talk to someone who has been rescued and given hope and freedom by a person or a group who say they gave their lives to rescue them, putting their own lives at risk for them, because the love of Jesus Christ compelled them. Contact or read about one of the many "bad" people who used to be responsible for such evil in the world but after encountering the love of Christ, having their hearts changed, went from being an oppressor to a deliverer, they stopped their violence and began to "do good things" and help people. At this very moment, today, there are some very poor people and children who are suffering from unbelievable oppression, and it is not followers of Christ who are oppressing them. They are crying for help, they need someone to go help them. So what are we going to do about this, just watch more movies and not care about them? Pretend they don’t exist, since its not in our neighbourhood or city or country? Many Christians go to help them. The stories and facts are out there. There are many websites, books and many real people with real true stories who encountered this hope. Watch one of the many thousands of videos out there. A true and sincere "quest for knowledge and understanding" leads to an open minded discussion and openess to truth and facts. When someone is, literally, rescued from a place without any hope, and given hope from Christ through someone proclaiming to be a Christian, and given a new life and they then have the opportunity to live in safety and receive an education and have the freedom to become anything they want to be in life… that is not “a scourge and plight upon this entire planet,” no, it is just the opposite, especially for those who receive this hope. William Wilberforce (depicted in the film Amazing Grace, 2006) attributed his unpopular and unwavering commitment to the abolition of slavery in his lifetime to his faith in Christ. Slavery eventually was abolished after decades of relentless and difficult and dedicated political pressure from certain Christian evangelicals (and others) against governments that professed “Christian” in word but practiced injustice in action (the endorsement of slavery), and were challenged by “Christians” of heart conviction who believed in freedom, justice, equality and “hope” for all people, regardless of their social status and ethnicity. True Christianity is not a religion, its about a person, Jesus, and His love for everyone of us, and this love demonstrated in acts of compassion.
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