Similar to how the middle east wasnt always muslim, Europe wasnt always Christian. There were pagan religions (still practiced today by small amounts of people), until Europe was Christianized.
I think spreading Christianity by the Church and converting people from paganism to Christianity was a good thing obviously, but what about the church outlawing other religions and things like that?
Even though the Old Testament theocracy banned other religions, God's intention was that during the Old Testament he created a covenant with a specific group of people in a specific area, where they would serve him.
Christians view the OT as just that- an important part of God's history with his people-but its not the core and main essence of the Bible like Christ's story in the New Testament is. Its not the big picture.
Jesus didnt, nor did he order his followers, to destroy pagan temples, unlike Mohammad. The history of early Christianity is far different from the history of early Islam in the sense that it didnt involve forcing people to stop practicing other religions. The early Christians disagreed with and preached against it, but allowed people to practice false religions.
I wouldnt go so far as to call the Church's actions of banning other religions in medieval Europe "evil", but rather, they werent the will of God, and I disagree with them.
I highly doubt Christianization resulted in people being saved-it probably only resulted in cultural Christianity being more popular.
I think spreading Christianity by the Church and converting people from paganism to Christianity was a good thing obviously, but what about the church outlawing other religions and things like that?
Even though the Old Testament theocracy banned other religions, God's intention was that during the Old Testament he created a covenant with a specific group of people in a specific area, where they would serve him.
Christians view the OT as just that- an important part of God's history with his people-but its not the core and main essence of the Bible like Christ's story in the New Testament is. Its not the big picture.
Jesus didnt, nor did he order his followers, to destroy pagan temples, unlike Mohammad. The history of early Christianity is far different from the history of early Islam in the sense that it didnt involve forcing people to stop practicing other religions. The early Christians disagreed with and preached against it, but allowed people to practice false religions.
I wouldnt go so far as to call the Church's actions of banning other religions in medieval Europe "evil", but rather, they werent the will of God, and I disagree with them.
I highly doubt Christianization resulted in people being saved-it probably only resulted in cultural Christianity being more popular.