The Log in Your Own Eye
Cooking was done over wood burning fires well into the last century. The flames may have been in an open pit, a fireplace, or a metal stove. Regardless of the method, utensils that were not manufactured of black iron soon became black from the heat.
All pots and pans being black gave birth to the phrase, “The pot calling the kettle black.” This was an idiom used to claim that a person is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another.
That phrase comes to mind every time a Christian accuses Islam of being a religion of hate and violence.
Such statements reflect an abysmal ignorance of history.
Go back and read just a bit about the Crusades. This was the Catholic Knights Templar movement in the 13th and 14th Centuries to destroy Islam. In the process, thousands of Muslims and Jews were killed.
Was that Christian terrorism?
The apologists will claim that things have changed. The Crusades were too long ago to be relevant to today’s activities of that evil Islam.
So move up a century or two. Study the Inquisition, officially known as The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. This activity extended to every Spanish colony or protectorate, including those in South, Central, and North America.
The Tribunal was organized to enforce the order for all Jews and Muslims to convert to Christianity or leave Spain.
Although records are incomplete, estimates of the number of persons charged with crimes by the Inquisition range up to 150,000, with 2,000 to 5,000 people executed.
The inquisition was not abolished until 1834 in the 19th Century.
If that is still too far back, jump up to the last century. Study the Holocaust during the 20th Century when millions of Jews and others were exterminated by the homeland and descendants of the founder of the Protestant Christian movement.
Now there will be some serious back pedaling with claims that all of this was too far back in history and none involved the loving Christians here in the U.S.
Unfortunately, history is not that easy to ignore. Those white hooded, white robed Americans with a burning Christian cross as their symbol keep raising their heads
The scourge of the Ku Klux Klan with it its lynchings and terrorism is not confined to the South. It is found in one form or another in most states of the United States.
Does that small group of hate mongers define Christianity in the U.S.?
After a final meek agreement that maybe Islam should not be defined by the relatively few terrorists in its ranks because Christianity is not so tarnished with its history of terrorism and pillage by a few, there is one final gasp.
Now the argument is whether Sharia law might be imposed by those evil Muslims.
So back to the books for a history lesson on Christian Sharia law.
The “Blue Laws” that prevailed in Texas not too long ago prohibited the sale of nonessential items on Sunday. Could that have been based on the biblical admonition to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy?
How about the ban on the sale of alcohol on Sunday or, in some cases, before noon on Sunday?
Was prohibition established by atheists?
Historically, females are regarded as second class citizens under both Christianity and Islam. Until recently, the “habits” of some Catholic Nuns looked much like the burkas worn by Muslim women.
In the U.S., women were not allowed to vote in most cases until ratification of the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920.
Today, there are still frequent pleas for equal pay for women for equal work of men. There are even more frequent demands to restrict a woman’s decision about abortion.
So here’s the perspective.
The final history lesson for those Christians criticizing Islam as evil because of the actions of a few Muslims is from their own Bible.
They need to consider a few passages from the books of Matthew and Luke where they will find passages like, “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”
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