Question 74 – What about indulgences, property and possessions, the crusades…?

This is also a very common objection to Christianity and one that presents a significant obstacle to it being accepted by many skeptical hearts. Do you disagree with this behavior? Rest assured — God does as well.

Before we reveal at least part of the background of these condemnable acts, it is necessary to emphasize another aspect of Christianity. We hear about the many vices of Christians (even false ones) at every turn, but we rarely hear about the good (and it's not a little) Christianity has brought to the world. It is essential to emphasize that Christianity stands behind the emergence of the fundamental pillars of the developed world. Western law, values, and culture were once based on Christian foundations. These values are gradually being destroyed and distorted, but without Christianity, we might still be in the dark ages, not to mention the respect for life, the selflessness of millions of Christians who selflessly cared and still care for the poor, the sick, and the despised. This question is not about the positive influences of Christianity, but I feel it must be mentioned as a counterbalance to the constant attacks on the foundations and the message of Christianity. But let us return to what troubles and pains many.

We have already mentioned that no Christian is perfect and often makes mistakes/sins. But here we are talking about offenses of a completely different nature. So how do we deal with these issues? In question no. 68, we briefly depicted the historical development of Christianity.

We said that true Christianity gradually became institutionalized and began to be overlaid with human teachings and traditions. Since this official "Christianity" was closely tied to secular power, inevitably, anyone who had no idea or deliberately ignored true Christianity could be a "Christian." Christianity also frequently became a tool for power-hungry and godless criminals. All of this led to much evil, starting with blackmailing ordinary people (indulgences), through accumulating wealth, to various murders, the Inquisition, or the abuse of children and youth by priests (among other things, as a result of the unbiblical dogma of priestly celibacy). God permits this for many reasons (free will), yet strongly disagrees with this behavior and the abuse of His name, and He will one day hold all wrongdoers accountable.

In many of the cases raised in this question, we can with a high degree of probability state that we are not dealing with genuine Christians here, since they acted in direct opposition to many of God's principles and commandments.

Summation

Christianity has several dark marks in its history for which we can rightly be ashamed. However, almost all of the reservations we hear about that people have because of these events are the work of godless or merely religious individuals. True Christians, who follow God's principles and are guided by His Spirit, would not commit many of these atrocities.